Parents want their children to have a bright future. There are many things parents do to try to secure a strong future for their kids. One such thing is save up money to help with their children’s future college costs.
Building up college savings for the kids is something that has been becoming increasingly common among parents in recent years. According to statistics from Fidelity, between 2007 and 2013, the percentage of families who reported saving up for future college expenses for their children rose from 58 percent to 69 percent.
Many challenges can arise in connection to building up a strong college savings fund for one’s children. Some are related to the fact that college expenses have been rather steadily rising. The estimated average annual cost of tuition and fees for a 4-year public college or university in the 2013 to 2014 period ($8,893) was 27 percent higher than the estimated average cost for the 2008 to 2009 period ($7,008) and a little over 50 percent higher than the average estimated cost for the 2003 to 2004 period ($5,900). And many expect college expenses to continue to rise. Some estimates have predicted that, by 2020, the average annual expenses associated with attending a private or public 4-year college will be 38 percent greater than they were in the 2012 to 2013 period.
The increasing costs of college may cause some parents to feel anxiety about their saving efforts. In a survey in which parents were asked to give themselves a grade on their college saving efforts, the average grade given was a B-. This would seem to indicate that many parents are concerned about whether their college savings efforts will be sufficient.
There are situations in which a parent may feel even greater worry about their college savings efforts than usual. One is when they are in a divorce. Divorces can have very big financial implications. Divorcing parents may be concerned about how these implications could impact their ability to save up for their children’s future college expenses. Family law attorneys can help divorcing parents for whom saving for college for the kids is a high priority with understanding what divorce financial issues could touch on college savings matters and help them with developing a strategy for the financial matters in their divorce aimed at helping preserve their ability to meet their college savings goals for their kids.
