Paying For College With A Children's Savings Account

Educational expenses are rarely cheap, and secondary schooling can put heavy burdens on both students and their parents. Naturally then, it becomes advisable for parents to begin putting money away for their children's education at an early state. Doing so can greatly reduce the financial stresses associated with college and secondary education.


To meet this end, many parents will open up a Children's Savings Account. In the past, one such account for accomplishing this was the Education IRA. However, more recently, a revised and renamed version of this investment type has taken hold. An Educational Savings Account, or ESA, is now one of the better options for investing in your child's future.

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An ESA is a Children's Savings Account which works very similarly to a traditional IRA. Like IRAs, ESAs provide excellent investment vehicles for beneficiaries. Non-deductible investments are made annually on the behalf of the parents, guardians, or others to an account, where the funds continue to grow until the child reaches 18 years of age.

The benefits associated with these accounts are considerable. Most notably, any growth in an ESA account is sheltered from taxation. Moreover, withdrawals made to pay for legitimate educational expenses are also free of tax. For the beneficiary with high educational costs, this untaxed income should prove invaluable.

However, like any investment vehicle, there are rules and regulations regarding its use, and it is important that you be familiar with all legal and financial aspects of an account. Failing to understand any requirements can quickly result in heavy financial penalization. For an ESA, this will often become most relevant for issues of withdrawals and contributions.

For any given year, the sum of investments made towards an ESA cannot total more than two thousand dollars. Additionally, specifications regarding the adjusted income of potential investors limits who may make a contribution. Lastly, once the beneficiary turns 18, no further money can be invested into the account.

In as far as withdrawals are concerned, there are two major rules worth noting. The first one states that all distributions must be paid before the beneficiary reaches 30 years of age - otherwise taxation and penalization will occur. Secondly, money taken from the account which is not put towards educational costs is also taxed and penalized.

Ultimately though, this Children's Savings Account is very straightforward, and it is not too difficult to familiarize oneself with its workings and limits. It is still one of the best ways for investing in your child's future and schooling, and it can prove far more powerful than relying solely on loans and borrowing techniques.