FAMILY MONEY
College Saving
Made Simple
(and Tax-free!)
BY NIKKI DUCAS
W
hat steps are you taking to prepare
for making your children's higher
education a reality rather than a
grave undertaking?
As a parent, the very thought of how my
son will pay for higher education has kept me
up at night. When our son was just 2 years
old, my husband did some research and then
set up a Virginia College Savings Plan — or
VA529 — to help prepare our family for the
extreme increases in tuition costs at public,
four-year institutions. The VA529 will at least give our son
the monetary support for higher education in an affordable
manner and give us peace of mind.
We started our son's VA529 with $2,000, and each
month we purposefully set aside a few hundred dollars
to add to the plan. As Virginia taxpayers, we are able to
deduct up to $4,000 per year, and this holds true for
each account, if needed, with an unlimited carry-forward.
And as an added bonus, these earnings grow free from
federal tax.
continued on pg 28
28 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • August 2013
