Got dreams of being the cool girl on campus? If so, you’d
better start saving your pennies…and say see-ya to your Saturday shopping
sprees. According to
Time, one in
four parents now expects their children to start saving for college as
preteens. In fact, ya might wanna have the money talk with Mom and Dad now
instead of during your junior year of high school, since 6 percent of parents
don’t plan to help their kids at all with college expenses. Yikes.
These stats come from a yearly study conducted by Fidelity
Investments, and there isn’t a whole lot of cheery news. Though 75 percent of
parents plan to help their kids out, only one fifth intend to cover all
expenses. And potentially worse, though parents plan to pay around 57 percent
of the total cost of their children’s education, they aren’t saving enough now
to do so in the future. Experts predict they’ll only have about a third of the
necessary amount in the bank when you hit the halls of your university of choice.
We’ve already
reported on your generation’s thriftiness—most of you are learning from
your parents’ bad saving and spending habits and are socking away far more for
the future. But instead of just saving up to nab a big-ticket item, it’s a good
idea to start thinking farther into the future. Ask Mom and Dad to help you set
up a savings account if you don’t have one yet, and see if they’d be interested
in matching the amount you put in there on a monthly basis. If you start now,
you could be sailing through school on interest. Talk about smart!
BY BRITTANY TAYLOR ON 9/4/2012 5:33:00 PM
POSTED IN crack the college code, college 101, In the News, Make more money