Resolve to save for your child’s college education

It’s the beginning of the New Year, a time when many resolve to exercise, improve their diets or increase their wealth. Are you one of them? If you are the parent or grandparent of a schoolaged child, you might consider a personal pledge to save for your child’s or grandchild’s future.

By planning and saving now, you can give your child the gift of higher education — a gift that provides significant lifelong benefits. The difference in lifetime earnings between a college graduate and a high school graduate is about one million dollars, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Starting a college fund does not have to be complicated or overwhelming either, given the step-by-step resources available to help you.

One such resource is a free Web site, www.TripTo College.org. Developed by the Indiana Youth Institute for parents of students in grades K-12, the site provides a college planning timeline, figures and information about preparing and paying for a child’s college education, a savings growth calculator and information about Indiana colleges.

By exercising your options for college savings and feeding your plan a steady diet of dollars, you will experience less belt-tightening when your child is ready to go off to college. With planning, college — and the benefits that come with a degree — can be a reality for every Hoosier child.

Kevin Bain Trip To College Project Director

Indiana Youth Institute