Preparing for your kids’ college can be an emotional money decision for parents. We don’t want to feel like we’re denying our kids their “dreams,” and that can make the financial side of college planning feel overwhelming.
Before getting into specific strategies, it’s important to start with the basics. One of the best ways to financially prepare for your kids’ college is actually pretty unglamorous: getting your own debt and spending under control. Stability at home creates options later.
It’s also important to recognize that college planning depends a lot on discretionary income. In most situations, prioritizing your own financial foundation — staying out of high-interest debt and saving for retirement — needs to come before saving aggressively for college. It’s rarely wise to sacrifice retirement savings or pull money from a 401(k) to fund tuition.
Once those fundamentals are in place and you do have extra money to work with, that’s when you can get more creative. Saving for college through tools like 529 plans can be very effective, especially when started early. And the more time you have, the more flexibility compounding gives you.
Saving is only part of the strategy. Scholarships, grants, work-study, and academic effort all play a role. The most important step is starting open, transparent conversations with your kids early, so expectations and decisions can align.
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