September 30th 2010
How to Save For Your Grandchild’s Education
With the costs of higher education skyrocketing, many parents are faced with having to tell their children they must earn scholarships or go the student loan route to pay for a degree. If you’re a grandparent and you want to stave off these eventualities by kicking in to help save for college while a child is young, Section 529 savings plans can give you and your grandchildren a fairly big financial boost.
These savings plans enable a fairly rapid savings of money to take place in the name of a single beneficiary. While they do have some specific rules and a few limitations, they can prove very useful for helping put away a sizeable amount of money in a short amount of time for a child’s future education.
Section 529 savings plans are different and more flexible than Section 529 pre-paid tuition programs. Under the savings plans, parents, grandparents, other relatives or friends can establish an account for a child that will:
Grow tax-free – Section 529 savings plans are not subject to taxes on the interest as long as the money is held for educational purposes.
Enable tax-free distributions – Section 529 savings plans offer tax-free distributions when the money is used to pay for education related expects when a child attends an accredited college or university. Allowable expenses include tuition, books, room and board and some other living expenses. The accreditation requirement means that both public and many private institutions of higher learning will be eligible expenses.
Allow for fairly sizeable deposits – The tax-free status of a Section 529 savings plan will hold firm as long as a grandparent contributes $11,000 or less a year. Grandparents (couples) can contribute $22,000. Going above this amount will kick the federal gift tax into action. Initial deposits to fuel a savings plan can be for as much as $110,000 for a married couple, but this will stall contributions for five years. If a contributor dies before the time is up, some of the money might go back into the deceased’s estate for taxing purposes. Only one account may be set up per child per state. The tax-free status, however, is set up on a per-child basis.
Offer some flexibility and control – Other college savings plans don’t offer the contributors as much control as Section 529 plans do. In this case, contributors decide when to withdraw and how much to take out. These accounts can even be transferred to a new beneficiary. If necessary, contributors can reclaim funds, but they will be subject to taxing rules and a tax penalty of 10 percent.
With the average cost of a four-year college degree now at more than $100,000 for a private institution, many grandparents find themselves wanting to pave the way for their grandchildren to enjoy a brighter future. Section 529 savings plans offer a viable way to save money and earn interest. The only word of caution on this type of account lies in the possible sun-setting of tax-free provisions in 2010. If Congress does not renew or extend the law, some taxation may occur. The actual anticipated taxation hit, however, is low.