Online Resources for Saving for College
by Lee Hudspeth
(This article appears in The Naked PC #5.23, November 14, 2002)
** 02. Online Resources for Saving for College (by Lee Hudspeth)
If you have--or are planning to have--children or grandchildren
and want to see to it that they have an opportunity to attend
college, here are some helpful online resources to further that
goal.
One site you'll want to study early in your search is
Savingforcollege.com. Here you can learn all about 529 plans,
defined by the site's author/founder Joe Hurley as follows, "It's
an investment plan operated by a state designed to help families
save for future college costs. As long as the plan satisfies a
few basic requirements, the federal tax law provides special tax
benefits to you, the plan participant (Section 529 of the
Internal Revenue Code)." The site's FAQs explain the benefits in
detail, clarify some misconceptions about state (public)
universities and 529s, financial aid issues, refund issues, tax
issues, transfer issues, and more. Other powerful features on
this site include a tool for comparing 529s, college savings and
financial aid calculators, info on Coverdell Education Savings
Accounts (formerly known as Education IRAs or EdIRAs), a 529
"consultant finder," and a message board.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee1
Click here for more information on the latest edition of Hurley's
book "The Best Way to Save for College: A Complete Guide to 529
Plans, 2002/2003."
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee2
If you're a Quicken user, and upgrade to (or buy) Quicken
Financial Planner 2, that module includes costs on 1,700+
colleges and universities nationwide; Intuit states that these
costs include tuition, room, and board as well as other costs. (I
am not currently running Quicken for personal or evaluation
purposes, so I can only report what the Intuit Web site has to
say about Financial Planner 2 and college savings.)
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee3
My Dad ran across this particular Web site that includes, among
many other tools, a college tuition calculator and several dozen
other financial calculators.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee4
Here's another helpful site that has college-related financial
calculators.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee5
This next site offers a CollegeQuest search engine that includes
the ability to search by tuition, as well as other criteria like
location, major, size, GPA, sports, and so on.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/523/tr.cgi?lee6
If you have any favorite tools or resources you use when
evaluating college savings plans or strategies, drop me a line.
(c) 2002, Lee Hudspeth
You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com
You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com
To go to Lee's main page and see a list of links to his other articles and supplemental pages, click here.
To go to The Naked PC's articles index page, click here.
To go to The Naked PC's home page, click here.
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