How to save for college in 10 years first starts with doing the math. If college costs are $40,000 for four years, then you need to save $4,000 per year to afford college. The great news is that you have an entire decade to save up the money for your kids.
College costs are on the rise, rising faster than inflation or wages. College costs increased by 169% since 1980 but pay for young workers is up by just 19%. Yet, college became a necessity because it’s the best way for the everyday person to achieve upward mobility today.
College paid off in spades for me. Could I have gotten a better return if I pursued a different path? Yes. However, that doesn’t mean that I still didn’t gain positive returns from attending college. It’s what allowed me to earn six figures in my early 20s when the rest of America doesn’t earn as much.
You are asking the right questions if you are asking how to save for college in 10 years. Although I took useless classes, it was still a net positive return on investment for me. We are becoming a knowledge economy where the most knowledgable wins.
Knowledge is powerful. It’s an important product that companies and people are willing to pay a premium for. However, knowledge got more expensive over the years. Therefore, strategizing to figure out how to pay for it is an important step into having access to that information.
Even though college is expensive, it’s more than possible to afford it.
How to Save for College in 10 Years: 9 Ways
How to save for college in 10 years is more than possible with some careful planning and discipline. Below are the 9 ways to get there.
1) Do the Math
The first thing that HAS to be done is the math. If tuition is $15,000 per year, then that’s $60,000 over 4 years. Less if your child graduates earlier through high school credits and additional classes. How to save for college in 10 years requires math to figure out just how much you need to save.
Without a concrete plan, it’s just hope. And hope is not a good strategy to plan crucial life events such as saving for college. It’s best practice to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Your child has the possibility to earn scholarships to attend college during and after high school.
However, that’s a best case scenario that doesn’t always work out. It’s best to plan for how much you’ll have to pay out of pocket and do the math than to plan for scholarships and then find out you needed to save even more throughout the decade.
The math gives a concrete plan for how you’ll afford college. This is the step that sets the foundation for your action.
2) How to Save for College in 10 Years: Actually Start
There are people who just wants to save for college in 10 years but never actually starts doing so. How to save for college in 10 years actually requires work and sacrifice. It means not eating out every single day. It means saving money by using coupons frequently.
$20 here and there adds up throughout the year. Imagine how much it adds up to over 10 years. Effort and money compounds over time. Especially more so when you are intentional about saving your money. Saving gives you a sense of security.
Like you’re working and making progress towards something you know is crucial. A decade is ample time to save up for college. It’s only going to get more expensive down the road so using tricks, tips, and strategies makes a huge impact.
Nothing really matters unless you start to take action and execute on your plans.
3) Make Your Child Get a Job Eventually
If you are wanting to know how to save for college in 10 years, your child is most likely 8 years old. They’re not old enough to get a job yet. However, eventually, your child should get a job when they meet the legal age requirement to do so.
When I was 17, I worked a minimum wage job as a Sears cashier. It was a wonderful time in which I actually earned money when I wasn’t even going to do anything for the summer anyway! I wish I found that job earlier because earning money felt great and amazing.
How to save for college in 10 years is a collective effort. Parents shouldn’t have to bear all of the burden themselves. There’s nothing wrong with your child pitching in to afford one of the biggest expenses they’ll incur in their lives.
Not only do they earn money, they get to learn marketable and sellable skills as well. They’ll get even more ahead than their peers.
4) Invest in Quality Assets
We don’t have to save our way to riches, we can always invest in quality assets to increase our earnings more. How to save for college in 10 yers is shortened when you invest in quality assets such as the stock market. 10 years is a good time horizon to see a good amount of returns.
Something like the Lost Decade of 2000 – 2010 could happen in which your gains are negative to flat after a decade. Therefore, it definitely depends on your personal risk tolerance on how you want to approach investing. This is just an option you can take if you feel like you can take.
I’ve been investing money for the past seven years and it’s one of my favorite ways to increase my savings and net worth. I estimate I made close to six figures through my investing efforts and I can’t imagine just how much further it will go.
As with everything, investing always comes with risk and college savings is money that you don’t want to be fluctuating. It’s everyone’s personal decision.
5) Start a Side Hustle
Side hustles are great because you have an entire ten years to save money for college! I’ve been working on a side hustle and it’s a great venture, one that’s worth taking. Not only do you earn money you learn valuable skills that future employers would be willing to pay for.
These days, anyone can start their own personal brand and their own Shopify or eBay store from which they sell their products. Side hustles are amazing. Even more so amazing if you involve your own child into the equation in which they learn valuable skills.
How to save for college in 10 years is helpful when you add a side hustle into the equation. Side hustles are a good way to boost your income because it even has the potential to surpass your income after a number of years. Many people’s side hustles took 4+ years to take off.
But once it took off, it really took off. There’s an infinite number of possibilities today.
6) Get a Better Paying Job or a Promotion
How to save for college in 10 years becomes that much easier when you increase your #1 income source in the first place. A 9-5 is almost always someone’s #1 income source. When you put in enough effort to get a promotion or a raise, magical things happen.
A decade is an insane amount of time to work hard and snag a promotion. Many people get promotions after 2 – 3 years and it’s common for high performers to get a promotion even earlier than that. However, there’s a time to push for a promotion and there’s a time to not push for a promotion.
If your company isn’t making any money or is suffering a downturn, then now’s not the time to ask for a promotion. If the economy is not doing so well, causing the company to not do so well, then it’s time to let a year go.
Be happy that you even have a job in the first place, if there’s layoff news on the horizon. Overplaying your hand is the worst thing you can do at a 9-5.
7) Open Up a 529 Plan
A 529 plan offers tax incentives and benefits to pay for qualified education expenses for a designated beneficiary. Earnings in a 529 plan grow federal tax-free and will not be taxed when the money is taken out to pay for college. That’s a phenomenal tax advantage.
I wish I took out this plan when I was saving up for college expenses. They add up more than you know. How to save for college in 10 years means knowing what options are even out there to take advantage of in the first place. Too many people discount how valuable tax advantaged accounts are.
Many people think the tax advantages are minimal and sleep on the benefits. Until 20 years pass and it becomes too late to contribute to take advantage of the tax-advantaged account. The benefits compound over the years and it’s a significant difference between the two.
A 529 plan is something MANY parents overlook because they don’t even know it exists in the first place. But that won’t be you.
8) Motivate Your Child to Get Scholarships
All of the burden of saving up for college shouldn’t lie on you. Your child is responsible for getting good grades and having extracurricular activities on their resume. That doesn’t just look good on a resume, it can translate into real dollars. Scholarships are life saving.
The biggest thing about scholarships is to not sleep on the little dollars. $200 here and there $500 here and there makes a huge difference. My high school principal gave the top 10 students an $800 gift. How to save for college in 10 years means getting free money when it’s available.
I received around $5,000 in scholarships which 100% went towards my tuition. It didn’t cover all of the tuition but it still made a huge difference. I fortunately graduated debt free and hit the ground running to building wealth. When many of my friends graduated with $10k – $20k of debt.
It’s a start that many college graduates only dream of.
9) Encourage Your Children to go to a State School
There’s no need for a private college degree. 2 + 2 will ALWAYS equal 4 in a community college, state school, or a private school. There’s only so many ways you can slice a topic into multiple ways to teach the information.
State schools are not only usually cheaper, they have even better alumni networks because of how many people go to state schools at all. Some state schools even have better alumni networks than even the private schools. The connections they have are out of this world.
Just because a college is twice as expensive as another does not mean they are twice the quality. More expensive does not equate to more quality. It just means the seller is getting richer twice as faster than their counterparts. Nothing more and nothing less.
There’s no need to attend Stanford or Harvard to be successful. Plenty of people go to Harvard and end up a nobody.
How to Save for College in 10 Years is Doable
If you’re thinking about how to save for college in 10 years, you have the benefit of time. Too many people scramble to save for college in a year or two, let alone 10 years. A year is an eternity amount of time to get after your goals.
Multiply it by 10 and you really got something. After going through an entire year of the corporate life, I experienced firsthand just how long of time an entire year actually is. A year is an insane amount of time to accomplish your goals.
If people can save for a car in 1 year, you can save for college in 10 years. A college graduate who graduates debt free is so far ahead of their peers. It’s the biggest head start you can give your child and they will be eternally better off as a result.
While the entire burden isn’t on you, you can easily contribute towards their education. Education has the biggest payoff more than any other investment you make. As long as your child takes their schooling seriously, everything works out by the end. Opportunities are endless.
How to save for college in 10 years is a commendable goal. Millions of college graduates’ lives are better because they pursued higher education. It’s a goal worth pursuing and worth having. The great part is that it is completely doable.
College will change your kids’ life and yours as well.
How to Save for College in 10 Years: 9 Ways Shortlist
- Do the math
- How to save for college in 10 years: Actually start
- Make your child get a job eventually
- Invest in quality assets
- Start a side hustle
- Get a better paying job or a promotion
- Open up a 529 plan
- Motivate your child to get scholarships
- Encourage your children to go to a state school
