In celebration of our 35th anniversary, Ohio 529, CollegeAdvantage, has asked longtime account owners from across the state, and across the generations, to share their families’ Success Story and how the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority helped them achieve their goals. We are fortunate to have these encouraging stories of how families prioritized their children’s higher education and are sharing them again. If you would like to share your Success Story, please contact Amy Lyle, Communication Coordinator, at alyle@collegeadvantage.com.
Our twin girls were born in 2001 and as with any newborn, they were a lot of work. As they progressed to toddlers, we talked about our expenses as we needed two of everything, including two college educations at the same time.
My husband is a first-generation college graduate who worked, had grants, and used an Air Force scholarship to pay for his school. I am a second-generation college graduate who had a scholarship, worked, and had parental financial assistance. Together we agreed that it was important to us to have funds available to help our girls attain a college education.
We felt naïve about the options available to us for saving for our kids’ college education; however, we had a financial advisor that recommended the Ohio 529 Savings Plan.
The funds were easy enough to set up and we opted to have a monthly contribution deducted electronically from our checking account – each girl had their own account. The contribution was a manageable amount that we eventually didn’t miss in our budget, and we also didn’t have to remember to make the contribution. The Ohio 529 accounts grew, and we didn’t have to do a thing.
We received account updates via the mail and meetings with our advisor kept us informed of projections and that we would have the money needed to fund the majority, if not all of the girls’ tuition expenses.
Our girls graduated high school in 2020 in the middle of COVID. As the fall drew near, the college to which they had been accepted opted for online education at that time. Our dining room became the educational Zoom room that hosted lectures, exams, and labs. When January 2021 came, the college opted to have students on campus but not in the classrooms. You had the choice to Zoom from your dorm room or from home. Our girls chose to Zoom from home, and we managed to save approximately $15,000 of the Ohio 529 funds each due to not paying for a dorm room or meal plan for their first year of college.
When tuition was due, we notified our advisor of the amount we needed, and it was a seamless transfer into our checking account for us to write a check to the university. By taking advantage of College Credit Plus in high school, the girls graduated a semester early with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry.
Due to the funds saved from undergraduate year one and graduating a semester early, the Ohio 529 plans has paid for the first semesters of graduate school.
Ohio 529 made saving for college easy. The funds that accumulated over 15 years with manageable monthly withdrawals grew to be more than what was needed to pay for college expenses. Ohio 529 was a blessing to our family as we weren’t scrambling for where the college tuition and expenses were going to be paid from.
Bill and Sue Cline
Marietta
