Own The Dollar was recently recognized by eCollegeFinder as one of the Top 50 financial resources for college students. The recipients were identified for helping college teach students how to maintain their financial health while enrolled in school.

The impressive list of websites and blogs provide an outstanding resource for college students looking to learn personal finance and how to be successful with their money from their first day in the workforce. Each site was also asked to provide what they felt was the most important tip for students just starting their careers.

Here are some of my favorite tips….

Studenomics – Get into the habit of saving money ASAP. Even if you start saving $20 a week, you’ll be better off than your friends that are acquiring debt.

Bargaineering - Life is about enjoying the things you love doing and spending time with the people you love spending time with.

Buck$ome Boomer – Participate in your employer’s retirement plan (at least up to the match) as soon as eligible.  Contribute throughout your working life and don’t touch the money.  You’ll be set for retirement.

Cash Money Life – Chase opportunity and dreams, not money. If you are good at what you do and you enjoy it, the money will follow.

Financial Samurai – It’s important to give yourself the best chance possible for employment by networking and getting good grades. The people who tell you that grades don’t matter are just making excuses. Having solid grades is the minimum great employers are looking for. After that, they are looking for character strengths. If you never spend more than you earn, and pay off your credit cards in full each month, you will never be poor.

Free From Broke – Take a real interest in your personal finances now! Too many wait until they are in debt to try and understand their finances. Students are at a time of their lives where they can build wealth for later on.

Learn Save Invest – Spend less than you earn. Start saving and investing as soon as you leave college. Get in the habit now and reap the rewards later.

PT Money - Try to avoid taking on too much debt in college through student loans and credit cards. Also, try and focus on getting a degree that will pay you back. Everyone says follow your passions, but that doesn’t have to replace common sense. Get a steady career and do your passion on the side.

singleguymoney.com - Don’t get into credit card debt. If you can’t afford to pay off the balance in full the following month, don’t charge it. Start saving money as soon as you can. If you start early, you will have a nice nest egg when it’s time to retire.

eCollegeFinder is an online resource that helps students advance in a current job or launch a new career by offering degree programs that match their unique educational needs.

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This is a guest post by Caroline Palmer who is an associate attorney at Oak View Law Group. To find out how to guest post on Own The Dollar, check out the site’s guest posting guidelines.

With the cost of education rising every year, more and more students face no alternative but to take out loans to get through college.  And with the current state of the economy and the large numbers of college graduates in the job market, many people find themselves unable to pay on their student loans which end up in collections.  However, there are ways graduates can get themselves out from under their student loans with a little work.

What Kind Of Loan? The first thing every graduate faced with student loan problems is to determine what kind of loans they have.  Student loans are first divided in to broad categories, government and private loans.  Private loans are from a private lender, usually a company.  Government loans are provided by the Federal Department of Education. Private loans used for education are the same as any other loan.  A student pays the same interest rate on a private loan as any other consumer and does not get any special treatment under the law.

However, if a student takes out Federal loans, the situation is better.  There are a variety of different loan programs offered by the Federal government, including Stafford loans.  There is also the Perkins loan program, the PLUS loans, the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), and the William D. Ford Direct Loan program (Direct loan program).  The last two loans are not borrowed by the student, but the student’s parents.  Unlike private loans, all Federal loans are disbursed directly to the school and not to the borrower.

Stafford loans are by far the most popular and the best known of Federal Student Loan programs, usually because of the hassle every student and their family goes through every year to fill out their FAFSAs.  Stafford loans are divided into Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford loans.  Subsidized Stafford loans are based on financial need and interest does not start accruing until the student graduates.  Unsubsidized Stafford loans are available to any student who is enrolled on at least a half-time basis, and the student will be charged interest from the time the loan is disbursed.  One advantage Unsubsidized Stafford loans have over Subsidized Stafford loans is the tax advantage to paying interest on student loans.  Any interest paid on any Federal Student loan is tax deductible to the party paying the interest in the tax year it is paid.  Government loans have some serious drawbacks. The first being, that if you get behind on your loans, the government does not have to take you to court in order to get a lien placed on your wages and other assets.  If you become delinquent on your loans you can also have your state and federal income tax refund withheld or taken to pay your loans.

Consolidate Loans. But, there are ways to avoid becoming delinquent on your student loans.  The first and best way is to choose your repayment option with care.  You can choose to make your payments in fixed monthly payments, fixed or graduated annual payments, or in payments based on your income.  These options are also available if you consolidate your loans.  Student loan consolidation is a good option for those graduates who have multiple loans from a variety of sources and would like to make one payment a month.  Loans can be consolidated once they have entered repayment and at least one loan must be in repayment, grace, deferment, or default.  Direct consolidation loans (loans given to the student and not through their parents) have fixed interest rates that cannot be more than 8.25%.  This interest rate is not determined by the market, like with a private loan, but is determined by the type of loans you are consolidating.

When looking at consolidation loans, even if you have other debts you want to consolidate, it is better to consolidate your student loans separately from your commercial debts.  Consolidation programs through the government for student loans are more favorable to the borrower than even low interest commercial consolidation loans. While this means you’ll be paying on two loans, your consolidated student loans and a debt consolidation loan, if you choose to consolidate your student loans with an income dependant plan, you can defer paying your student loans until you have repaid the consolidation loan.

Loan Deferment. The next option is to try to get your loans deferred.   Deferral is a temporary suspension of your student loan payments and if you have a Subsidized loan, the interest as well.  Deferment is allowed while the student is enrolled in at least a half time basis, an active member of the military, national guard, or reserve while on duty and for 13 months thereafter, or if the borrower can show they are experiencing economic hardship the loan can be deferred for three years.

Loan Forbearance. If you don’t qualify to have your loans deferred, you can also try to get forbearance.  Forbearance is a temporary postponement of or reduction of payments due to economic hardship.  Unlike with deferral, whether the loan is subsidized or unsubsidized, interest keeps accruing.  In addition, a lender is only allowed to grant you forbearance for 1 year at a time, for a maximum of 3 years.

Loan Forgiveness. If none of these options work to keep you out of default, you can try to enroll in one of the Federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.  This program is available for any direct loan, or any other loan consolidated with a direct loan after you have made 120 payments under your repayment plan while working full time for a qualifying public service employer.  A graduate looking to try to get into a Public Service Program should be aware that they may have to pay taxes on the amount of their loans that is forgiven.

Graduates facing default should also be aware that two of the options to get rid of their overall debt are not available for federal student loans.   The Department of Education Student Loan division will not negotiate a lower payment with a borrower accept through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.  In addition, recent changes to bankruptcy law do not permit a debtor to get their student loans discharged in full or in part under any chapter of bankruptcy.

For more information regarding student loans and the options you have to repay, check out the Federal Department of Education’s Student Loan information website at http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/students.html.

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Once you have made a commitment to get rid of your debt, you can find money for all sorts of other investing goals. You can direct your savings goals towards your children’s education. Ramsey emphasizes in his book, “The Total Money Makeover“, that it is important to save for your children’s college in order to provide them with the proper incentive for staying out of debt. Therefore, in order to save for your children’s education, you can concentrate on directing funds to either a 529 Plan or Education Savings Account.

529 College Savings Plans. Actually, there are two kinds of 529 plans that can be used for saving for college. Prepaid 529 plans permit you to buy tuition credits at current rates and can be used later on down the road. The other plan, a savings account, is the more typical 529 College Saving Plan and usually consists of a mutual fund of stocks in which the investments become less aggressive once your child nears college age.

Tax-Exempt Status. While the prepaid 529 plans are often administered by colleges, the 529 savings plans are overseen by individual states with mutual fund companies typically taking care of the administrative portion of such plans. In addition, the money saved in a 529 plan is tax-exempt at withdraw if used for qualifying expenses.

Where The Money Goes. If you opt to save for your children’s college by stashing money in a 529 plan, you will be able to later use the funds for your children’s tuition as well as any ancillary expenses, such as supplies, computers, equipment, books and fees. You can also allocate funds from the account for your children’s housing, as long as they are attending school at least part-time.

Taxation And Penalty. If you make distribution from a 529 plan and it is not used for the aforementioned educational costs, the money will be subject to taxation and a ten percent penalty. This penalty is waived however if the beneficiary passes away and the money is distributed to the estate or to another listed beneficiary. It is also not assessed if a beneficiary becomes disabled.

A Major Benefit. Nevertheless, one of the main benefits recipients of the 529 plan enjoy is in respect to the breaks they receive tax-wise. That is because states offer deductions for a portion or the entire amount of contributions made to the plan.

Removing Funds Early. If you are making contributions to a 529 plan for your children’s education and are in charge of the account, you can even change your mind and remove the funds if you so wish. However, you will still be liable for the amount of the taxes and a 10% penalty. Another option is to transfer the funds to another one of your children.

Signing Up. Opening such a savings plan is very easy. To enroll in a plan, you simply fill out the required paperwork and fund the account with a specific amount, or sign up to have money taken out of your checking account whenever you are paid. In addition, there are no limitations with respect to age or income like a Roth IRA. One of the best websites to find additional information about 529 College Savings Plans is SavingForCollege.com.

Education Savings Accounts. Education Savings Accounts (ESA), also referred to as Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, offer tax benefits for the saver and beneficiary too. Money in an Educational Savings Account is permitted to grow tax-deferred and can be withdrawn for the proper educational expenses tax-free, not only at colleges and universities, but also at elementary and secondary schools as well.

Contributions. Also, Education Savings Accounts have lower contribution limits. As of right now, contributions can made up to $2,000 in an Education Savings Account for each child. On the other hand, 529 plans do not typically carry any restrictions in this regard.

Some Restrictions Apply. Contributions made to an ESA account must be distributed by the time the beneficiary reaches the age of 30 in order to avoid any kind of taxes or penalty. There are no limitations in this regard for holders of 529 plans. An individual’s yearly income can influence the amount of money that can be contributed to an ESA while it doesn’t have a bearing on an ESA account.

Working Dave Ramsey’s system from “The Total Money Makeover“ works if you follow the baby steps in order. Eliminating your debt will allow you to accomplish all of your financial dreams and goals such as saving for your children’s education.

A Review of the Basic Steps for Saving, Eliminating Debt, and Building Wealth

Ramsey’s program and book, “The Total Money Makeover“, include the following baby steps to financial freedom…

• Step One: Save $1,000 for an emergency fund
• Step Two: Use the debt snowball method to pay off your debt
• Step Three: Complete the emergency fund
• Step Four: Invest 15% for retirement
• Step Five: Save for your Children’s college
• Step Six: Pay off your mortgage
• Step Seven: Start building wealth

For the next seven days, I will be detailing each one of these baby steps in more details. So, please check back or sign up to get all of the posts in this series in your favorite RSS Reader or by E-Mail.

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This guest post is contributed by Emily Thomas, who writes about top online colleges. She welcomes your questions and comments at emily.thomas31[at]gmail.com. To find out how to guest post on Own The Dollar, check out our guest posting guidelines.

Simply because it’s in the stages of relative infancy, the online degree model is often viewed as suspicious by those who have been raised with the idea that a “brick and mortar” school–the ivory towers of academia–are the only places where one can receive a quality education. The problem with this logic is that it stifles innovation, and online education is all about innovation.

The online education model is basically a response to the fact that our 21st century lives have become more technologically complicated, in almost every sense – whether it’s at work or at home. Attending a traditional university takes time and money, and, in a world where time and money are becoming increasingly rare (and thus, more valuable) resources, we must allot said resources more carefully. I’m certainly not one to argue that a traditional university is a waste of time. I myself attended a traditional university, and it was an unforgettable experience. However, my academic needs were slightly different than some (or most) people, because I did not initially have business aspirations – I first wanted to be a professor.

For those who are more focused on clear-cut career goals – you know exactly what you want to do, you know what it takes to get there, and you don’t want to spend time “finding yourself” – then an online education is right up your alley. This is especially true of business-minded people, because you can have a full-time job while you get your degree. And now, in the current state of the economy, employers are placing a greater emphasis on experience, coupled with education. I myself had a hard time finding employment simply because I had no meaningful experience, even though I could talk at length about Shakespeare.

Online degrees are generally cheaper and less-time consuming, although successfully working on an online degree takes a considerable amount of self-discipline, since you won’t have a physically present professor to constantly remind you of deadlines. Many online classes don’t have frequent deadlines, meaning you’ll have to consistently study on your own. If, however, you possess the sort of driven, do-it-yourself mindset, then an online education is ideal.

If you are really interested in a fast-paced, modern education, then you will have to do your research, since online universities are a dime a dozen, and many aren’t accredited. For more information about accreditation and other things you’ll need to know before going the online route with your degree, read last year’s Own The Dollar online college degrees resource article.

Side Note From Hank – I have had the benefit of both a “brick and mortar” and online college education. Both of these degree programs have their benefits and negative elements associated with them. Like the infusion of Facebook and Twitter into our everyday lives, both work and private, I think that we will continue see online degrees become more and more popular, mainstream, and accepted.

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Saving for the cost of college has never been easy especially with the average cost of a bachelor’s degree at public college in the US coming in at over $30,000. Another hard choice is where to invest your savings so you can have enough saved in eighteen years to be able to start paying for your children’s collegiate education.  The website Upromise helps people save for the cost of college tuition while making ordinary purchases at select retailers online and in their brick and mortar stores. This process has helped many people over the past decade afford college tuition. The company’s philosophy itself states that they believe that everyone has a right to higher education, and they provide a service to help make that happen.

The website’s members have a choice of either accumulating savings in their Upromise account or converting it into a 529 college savings plan which grow tax free in mutual funds for college expenses. So, where does all this money in your Upromise account actually come from?  The money is accumulated from purchases that members make at participating merchants. A percentage of each purchase made at participating retailers is given back to you in the form of the savings in your Upromise account from which you get to invest. The members earn money on a daily basis depending on what they purchase.

The website has a number of partners that include clothing stores, dining areas, grocery stores, and even drug stores. From everyday purchases to special occasions, you can save money for college tuition from just about anything you buy as long as they are a partner of Upromise. Another option for existing members is to increase their earnings when you introduce your family and friends to the program. This referral system helps increase savings by as much as doubling the amount of money returned to you to invest.

For example, there is a Food Lion right next to my house were my wife and I do our grocery shopping.  By just linking our MVP loyalty rewards card that we receive form the grocer, we earn money for our Upromise account as well.  Upromise has teamed up with the free loyalty card programs of Lowes Foods, CVS, and many others.  Join Upromise and earn up to 8% of your bill in college savings rewards when you dine out at any of over 8,000 participating restaurants.

Today, more than 8,000 restaurants and 21,000 drug stores and grocery stores are listed as partners on the website. Its availability makes it easier for members to reach them in order to accumulate more in their college funds at a faster pace. Now, members can also save more and more by just purchasing online through Upromise’s portal which links directly to the stores’ websites. You can earn between 1% and 25% of your purchase price back to invest.  Some of the online retailers that you can earn rewards from for your Upromise account include BestBuy.com, Sears.com, Walmart.com, Macy’s, Barnes & Nobles, and that is just naming a few of the national retailers you can earn money just by using.  With over 600 online stores covered, Upromise has made saving for your children’s college tuition a much more reachable goal.  

How To Sign Up For Upromise. All you need to do is sign up for a free Upromise account, register a credit card or grocery store card (like Food Lion’s MVP card) with Upromise, shop like you normally do, and let the earnings roll in.

Benefits of Joining Upromise:

• Earn college savings through eligible everyday spending.
• Learn about different ways to pay for college.
• Receive additional discounts by shopping through the Upromise website.
• Use Upromise to repay student loans.

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You may remember that I recently said that American teachers are not qualified to teach personal finance to our children in our schools.  And, they still aren’t.  The article turned out to be one of the most popular postings for Own The Dollar, and it brought about the most comments and the most passionate comments of any posting I have ever written so far. 

Now, the JumpStart Coalition For Personal Finance Literacy, a national coalition of organizations dedicated to improving the financial literacy of kindergarten through college-age youth, has put together an interesting graphic showing which states require personal finance education in the classroom for graduation. 

 Only three states require a separate semester long course dedicated solely to personal finance education.  Eighteen other states require that the topic be covered as a prerequisite to graduation.  Those eighteen states satisfy the personal finance instruction requirement by teaching the subject during a portion of economics, social studies, or civics classes already required for graduation.

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Make no mistake about it.  You should save for your own retirement first by max out your Roth IRA (if you qualify) or getting your employer’s match to for your 401-k plan before you save a dime for your children’s college education.  I know that it is a hard choice to make because everyone want to give their children a better live than the ones that we lived.  But, not saving for your retirement will not only jeopardize your future but your children’s as well. 

College Is Expensive.  College is expensive but so is retirement.  According to SavingForCollege.com, the average public college costs an $18,326 per year and private schools cost $37,390 per year on average.  Financial planners, such as Dave Ramsey, estimate that you need to save approximately 15% of your income for retirement to ensure that your nest egg will have the greatest chance to outlive you in retirement.  So, for example, if you make $50,000 a year, you should be trying to save $7,500 for retirement.  You can save up to $5,000 per year in a Roth IRA (some restrictions apply), and your investment, capital gains, dividends, and interest can grow tax free even after your withdraw it in retirement.  I’m a big fan of Roth IRAs over 401-k plans if you do not have a company matching plan.

You Cannot Borrow For Retirement.  Lets face it.  While it is no one’s preferred course of action, college students can receive loans for the cost of their education.  The average college student graduates with a Bachelor’s Degree and an average of $23,186 in student loans.  No bank will ever loan you money to enable you to retire.  Think about it.  No one is going to give you money to quit your job and go play golf everyday at the country club.  That one fact alone should motivate you to stash money in your retirement accounts before you tackle the problem of funding college for your kids.

Do Not Rely On Children In Golden Years.  I love my children, but I do not want them to have to take care of me financially during my retirement.  My Golden Years are their prime years when they should be starting their own families and investing for their own retirements.  They should not be burdened by helping me in retirement because I did not plan properly.  As greedy and selfish as it sounds, you must take care of your own retirement needs by fully funding your retirement accounts and investments early in your children’s lives before you save for their educations.

There Are Other Options.  Children can work throughout college.  There is no hard and fast rule that says that parents have to pay every dime of the cost for our children’s college degree.  It would be nice, but it is not practical.  And, it should not bother you if you do not save 100% of the cost of their college tuition, room, and board.  There are also a plethora of scholarships and grants available to students lately that can be tapped into to help defray the cost of college. 

How should you prioritize saving for your children’s college education and funding your own retirement? The prioritization is a very personal thing. Typically retirement comes first and education is a close second.  It is a hard choice to make, without a doubt, but these are the choices that will make a very big difference in not only your life but your children’s for years to come.

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1. 50% of Americans have less than one month of savings saved for emergencies [1].
2. You can expect to earn approximately $25,000 more per year with a Bachelors Degree than just a high school diploma [2].  Earning a graduate degree will net you another $20,000 per year on average.
3. Students graduate with an average of $23,186 in student loan debt and $4,100 credit card debt [3].
4. 56% of people did not know that credit score is the single most important factor when applying for a loan for a house, a car or even a new credit card [4].
5. The average loss in real housing value during the current housing crisis has been 13% [5].
6. People spend 12-18% more when using credit cards than when using cash [6].   Fast food giant, McDonald’s, found that the average transaction rose from $4.50 to $7.00 when customers were allowed to use plastic instead of cash in its restaurants.  Research shows that people spend more using credit cards despite paying off the balance every month.  When you spend with a credit card, there’s no pain until you get the bill weeks later.  The separation in time between when you make the purchase and when you get the bill allows you to spend more.  The convenience of using a credit card also allows you to spend more often.
7. You can save $112,000 over a lifetime by bringing your lunch to work in a brown paper bag [7].
8. A recent study by Harris interactive found that 57% of households do not have a budget [8].
9. Money magazine poll, “43% of readers who lent to family or friends weren’t paid back in full; 27% hadn’t received a dime.” [9].
10. 61% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 49% last year and 43% in 2007 [10].
11.  More than one in five of those earning $100K or more still live paycheck to paycheck [11].
12.  32% of Americans say that thrift is the new norm [12].
13. The difference between a 670 FICO Score and a 760 score can save you almost two thirds of a percentage point on a 30 year mortgage which translates into almost $28,000 in extra interest payments on a $200,000 mortgage [13].
14. 32% of all home loan applications were rejected last year, and only 40% of all applications closed in new home purchases [14].
15. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 3.0% in August 2009, compared with 4.0% in July [15]. 
16. There were 159 million credit cardholders in the United States in 2000, 173 million in 2006, and that number is projected to grow to 181 million Americans by 2010.
17. As of March 31, 2009, there were 318 million Visa credit cards and 346 million Visa debit cards in circulation in the United States.
18. As of June 30, 2009, there were 220 million MasterCard credit cards and 127 million MasterCard debit cards in circulation in the United States.
19. As of December 31, 2008, there were 54 million American Express credit cards in circulation in the United States.
20. At the end of 2008, Americans’ credit card debt reached $972.73 billion, up 1.12% from 2007. That number includes both general purpose credit cards and private label credit cards that aren’t owned by a bank.
21. Average credit card debt per household was $8,329 at the end of 2008.
22. According to The College Board®, the average 2008-2009 tuition increase was 5.9% at private colleges, and 6.4% at public universities. The ten-year historical rate of increase is approximately 6%. These figures are substantially higher than the general inflation rate.
23. The average cost of a 4-year public college is $7,625 per year and $29,150 for a year of tuition, room, & board at a private college in the United States.

Which statistics did I leave out that you thought should be here?  Let me know by leaving a comment below.  Thanks…

Back to top

Sources:

[1] Monster.com poll
[2] 2008 US Census Data
[3] FinAid.org and Sallie Mae
[4] The Monitor newspaper
[5] Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
[6] Dunn & Bradstreet study
[7] Own The Dollar
[8] Harris 2009 Financial Literacy Study
[9] Money Magazine
[10] Careerbuilder.com poll
[11] Money Magazine
[12] Money Magazine
[13] Informa Research Services
[14] Federal Reserve
[15] U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis 
[16] U.S. Census Bureau
[17] Visa.com
[18] Mastercard.com
[19] American Express
[20] Nilson Report, April 2009
[21] Nilson Report, April 2009
[22] SavingForCollege.com and The College Board
[23] SavingForCollege.com and The College Board

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I finished college, earning a Bachelors Degree in four years.  I am beginning to be the outlier among my generation.  Getting a Bachelors Degree in four years is no longer the rule of thumb it once was.  It has increasingly become the exception rather than the rule.  More and more college students are taking longer to earn their degrees.  For example, in one state first-time recipients of bachelor’s degrees in 1999-2000, who had not stopped going to college for 6 months or more, took about 51 months from first enrollment to degree completion assuming that they did not transfer schools. 

Think going to community college for the first two years will help you get that degree on time?  Think again.  A recent study found that students who begin at public 2-year colleges or universities took about a year and one-half longer to complete a bachelor’s degree than students who began at public 4-year institutions (71 vs. 55 months). 

Historical research based on data collected by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Census Bureau has shown that college completion rates had changed very little between 1972 and 1992 (between 66% and 67%). But, in the mid-1990′s measurable changes in students who stayed in college five years or longer became evident.  Students in the mid-1990′s were found to be more likely to be enrolled 5 years after they began their postsecondary studies.  

More students are staying in college longer.  More students are also moving back home with their parents after college as well.  In a recent online survey by CollegeGrad.com, a job search Web site, 68.9% of the more than 2,000 respondents said they would move back in with their parents after graduating from college and stay there at home until they found a job. That is up from 64.6% in 2008 and 62.6% in 2007.

So, what does this mean for parents?  And, more importantly, what does it mean for their wallets?  What does this mean for the students overall earning power?  Not only are our parents footing the bill for our generation’s living expenses and college tuition in most cases, but now many parents are having to delay their own retirements as well.  The sacrifices parents are making may not even be the worst of it when you consider how much earning power is lost by delaying entry into the workforce.  According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median weekly income in 2008 for a college graduate is $978.  That is a median annual income of $50,856.  While most college graduates do not start out making the median amount, you will still lose quite a bit of earning power with each extra year you stay in college.  In my profession, a brand new middle manager, 22 years-old, straight out of college with a Bachelors Degree can expect to earn my company’s baseline salary of $45,000.

If you save 15% of your income for retirement each year, you will miss out on $6,750 that would have compounded over 43 years (65 years-old minus 22 years-old).  That $6,750 alone would grow into $82,600 over those 43 years at 6% annual interest.  If that is not an incentive to study hard and finish college in four years, I don’t know what is.  You can also bet on your total earning to be reduced by every year you are not in the workforce.  If you retire at age 65, you will lose that year of $45,000 to $50,000 in income because you were in college at age 22.  Or, you will have to work an extra year to make up the difference.

So, what does this all mean?  It might benefit everyone if our college age children found their passion earlier in their lives.  Our children need to head off to college having a good idea of what they want to do with their lives career wise after graduation.  It is never too early for a freshman to start thinking about his or her major and their future after receiving their diploma. Finishing your education in four years and getting out of college needs to be everyone’s goal, parents and students alike.  Your pocketbook and your child’s may depend on it.

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). “The Condition of Education 2003″ and “College Persistence on the Rise? Changes in 5-Year Degree Completion and Postsecondary Persistence Rates Between 1994 and 2000″

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Upromise is a free rewards program that gives its members a small percentage of each purchase that is made at participating stores to use for college education.

How UPromise works. Upromise links your credit card, debit card, or grocery store card to your UPromise account. Each time you make a purchase at a participating store or website, a percentage of the transaction will be deposited into your UPromise account (you continue to earn your regular credit card rewards as well). You can have your rewards deposited into a 529 plan, use your rewards to pay down student loans, or you can have a check mailed to you to pay for college expenses.

How to sign up for UPromise. All you need to do is sign up for a free UPromise account, register your credit card or grocery store card with UPromise, and shop like you normally do. You will then receive rewards for certain transactions. You can automatically earn rewards money for everyday purchases at grocery and drug stores, gas stations, restaurants, retail stores and online shopping sites.

While you won’t make enough to replace a 529 College Savings Plan for your children with UPromise, it will be a great supplement to your college savings.  One of the best things about UPromise is that you can have your family register as well and their rewards can go toward your children’s college savings. Sign up for a free UPromise account and get started today!

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