College fund for kids

[Nebraska girl]

Has anyone heard of a college savings registry? I came across it recently, can't remember how or why. You set up a profile for your kids, link it to your 529 plan and then family/friends can get on there and contribute to their college fund anytime! I thought it would be a good idea for people who doesn't want to buy the kids more toys or don't know what to get them.

Our son won't be able to get candy for Halloween, so family could do a couple dollars to that if they want!

Just thought it was interesting that I'd never heard of these registries before and hadn't heard anyone talk about them. They probably aren't too popular yet!

The ones I liked were GradSave and GiveCollege - go check it out!

But I'd like to know what people that have used them think of them, or people that have looked into it!

[TheKayla]

Yeah crowdfunding is growing in popularity, and there are several for post-grads who want to start a business or organization and those still in school or about to start school. It's an excellent idea, never took advantage of it though.

[cooliemae]

I looked into gradsave, but ended up deciding that it was better to not open an account with them. It's basically just a savings account with Bank of America that allows anyone to deposit money to it. Then you have to link the account at gradsave to your 529 plan.

Personally, I just made it know no friends and family that donations to our son's college plan were always welcome and that they simply needed to tell us that when they send the money. It also is a benefit to us because we can get a tax deduction for some of the contributions, whereas if someone else makes the deposit we can't.