Lifetime Expense

Education Ideas

Each family member has standard expenses to address throughout their lifetime. Implementing creative solutions for housing, education, healthcare, and living expenses, can effectively increase benefits and wealth for a family over generations. Similar to cultivating assets, reducing and planning for these necessary lifetime liabilities has the potential to greatly improve lifestyle while further extending resources.

Free College Tuition

Options can be reviewed for reduced or free college tuition at quality colleges. At the time of this writing, many Ivy League schools had specified free tuition for household incomes below certain thresholds, such as Princeton ($100k), MIT($140k), and Harvard ($75k). Numerous other US colleges also offer free tuition under certain conditions, including NYU Medical School.

MIT https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-students/the-cost-of-attendance/making-mit-affordable/

Harvard https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/why-harvard/affordability

List of Colleges https://www.collegeconsensus.com/rankings/best-tuition-free-colleges/

Low Cost College Tuition Abroad

Options can be reviewed for reduced cost college tuition at quality colleges abroad, often taught in the English language. At the time of this writing, many countries have low or near zero cost Bachelor and Master degrees, including several European nations.

Germany https://www.mygermanuniversity.com/articles/tuition-free-universities-in-germany-taught-in-english

Finland https://www.studyinfinland.fi/admissions/fees-and-costs

Spain https://www.studying-in-spain.com/plan-your-studies/universities/cheapest-universities-in-spain/

Spain, Barcelona https://www.unipage.net/en/93/university_of_barcelona

https://beyondthestates.com/

Direct Payments of Tuition Expenses

Payments of tuition (for example by grandparents), regardless of the tuition amount (meaning tuition excluding other educational expenses) which are made directly to an educational institution are typically not regarded as taxable gifts and therefore have no impact on the donors’ annual gift tax exclusions or the lifetime gift exemption. Even prepayment of full tuition (for example 4 years worth) directly to a school may not not incur gift tax.

Low Cost Online College Courses, Programs, and Certificates

As online education continues to grow, the options increase for lower cost accredited college level courses, degrees, and certificates. Entities such as EdX make available opportunities from various prestigious schools including Harvard and MIT for very low cost.

Related:

https://www.edx.org/

https://www.coursera.org/

High School Programs with College Credit

Options may include whether a child’s high school offers an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, or facilitates Advanced Placement courses (AP) and testing for possible college credit, or offers a a dual enrollment program (college-level courses offered to receive college credit AND credit that can be used to satisfy high school graduation requirements).

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/ap-classes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement

https://edtrust.org/issue/dual-enrollment/

A 529 Plan Together With the Roth IRA Rollover Option

As you may know, 529 plans are educational financial tools to help families save money for college and use that money, tax-free, to pay for college tuition and expenses. In 2023 a new 529 related rule allows beneficiaries of a 529 plan to roll over up to $35,000 over the course of their lifetime from a 529 account in their name into a Roth IRA in their name. Even if the money is not used for college, rather than losing the associated benefits, the account beneficiary can instead end up with $35,000 in a Roth IRA if all the necessary requirements are met.

https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/roll-over-529-plan-funds-to-a-roth-ira