Title: 5 Ways to Fund Your Child's College Education Word Count: 702 Summary: A degree level education is probably

the most expensive single cost in bringing up children today. Unless parents take action early the chances of their childre n graduating without substantial debt are minimal - that's if they can afford to go to college at all. Keywords: education savings plans, education savings, college education Article Body: Did you know that the cost of a 4 year degree program is around $20,000 dollars per year. The cost of a college education is probably the most expensive item in bringing up children today. When you take into account tuition fees, exam fees, living ex penses, accommodation, books and computers it's not surprising that the average cost of college education is over $20,000 per year and that's before the social side of college life. Today we live in a world where only the best educated and most prepared can succ eed. The Job market is probably the most crucial and competitive element of our society and having a college education and degree goes a long way towards succee ding in it. When our children are ready to enter the world of work it will be even more diff icult and a college education will be essential to succeed. Here are 5 ways to f und your child's college education. 1. The usual method of parental funding of college education is out of current i ncome, that is out of your weekly or monthly salary. Whilst this is the most common method of funding college education it is one tha t only the very rich or highly paid can afford to do with ease. Even if there ar e 2 salaries most families find it difficult and will require sacrifices, even m ore so if you have more than 1 child. At best most parents can only afford to co ntribute part of the costs of college education out of current income. Additiona l sources of income will be required. 2. Your child can work his or her way through college. Many students have to work whilst studying but many find the experience of juggl ing a job, lectures and a social life very difficult. Often the result is that s tudents drop out of college education, fail their exams or don't do as well as t hey could. 3. Your child may have the opportunity to take out student loans to fund their c ollege education. Today the vast majority of students are forced to take out student loans to fund all or part of their college education. Usually to subsidize parental contribut ions, student loans are the most common way of students funding their own colleg e education. Many students however, leave college with substantial debt and even

with interest rates at historically low levels today's students can expect to h ave to pay substantial monthly repayments for many years. 4. Your child may obtain a scholarship or be entitled to grants from either fede ral or local funds towards the cost of their college education. There are many sources of student scholarships or grants and with a bit of resea rch most students today can find some grant funding. These sources however canno t be guaranteed for the future. Whilst scholarships and grants do not have to be repaid and as such are preferable to loans they are not guaranteed or predictab le and therefore relying on them for our children is a risk. 5. Take out an education savings plan to fund college education. An education savings plan is a regular saving plan into which you and your child ren can contribute. The plans are administered by colleges or state authorities and can be taken out for any child including a newborn babies. Because of the ef fects of long term compound interest the earlier you take out your plan the easi er it will be and the lower your contributions will be. Because the funds are bu ilt up prior to going to college students do not have to rely on scholarships, g rants or loans and they can concentrate on their studies. There are a number of options to fund your child's college education but the onl y way funds can be guaranteed is by you taking out an education savings plan. Wi th the education savings plan you decide what you can invest and your child can also contribute to his or her college education. With luck scholarships and gran ts will still be available as will loans to top up if necessary. If your child d oes not go to college the fund can be cashed in. Taking out an education savings plan early will give your child the real opportu nity of a college education and the best prospects for a job when they leave col lege.