Guess Who's Paying for College?

You know who has a college savings account already? Who has her own 529 in the state with the most favorable tax treatment? Who will be able to choose between Harvard and UGA without worrying about the price tag?

Not you, sg. Sorry, sweetie.

Arica and I are still paying for our BAs and BSs, and there is a little bit of "if it was good enough for us, it's good enough for our kids" at work here.

But that's not the only reason sg will have to start her own college savings account; there's also this:

• As someone said to us recently, "there are scholarships and loans for college; they don't have those for retirement, so you have to pay yourself first."
• As far as debt goes, student loans are the good stuff, with government regulated rates and flexible repayment terms.
• Maybe sg won't want to go to college! Or maybe she'd prefer to take out loans for college and have us make a down-payment on her first house, instead. Or maybe she'd prefer a startup investment in her first business. "Sorry, snookums, but if we don't spend the 529 money on tuition, Mommy and Daddy suffer undesirable tax treatment."

The way we figure it, if we make good decisions for the next 18 years, we'll be in a good position to help sg do what she wants to do.

And what if she wants to drop out of school and go live with her dirty hippy boyfriend at a pottery commune? Well then Mommy and Daddy can spend that wad on a nice tropical vacation.