The Today show had a segment this morning on how to pay for college in tough times because 529 plans have been hit along with everything else.

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Great video deemom!!! I agree with everything they said. I know we have small amounts of money invested for each of our kid's college (not in 529 though) and it's taken a HUGE hit. So we're using our inheritance now for DD's room & board since it was getting just simple interest and "hoping" the value comes back up by next year. If not, we're in a world of hurt.

Also the stuff about merit scholarships and how to get them. My DD took tons of AP classes and got decent grades and excellent SAT scores and is having her whole tuition paid for. So we're pushing my DS to get his grades even higher than hers and looking into SAT prep stuff for him (he doesn't traditionally do as well on standardized tests as DD always did) and he's taking his first AP class this year as a sophomore. I just think it's really important to push hard on academics.

Having just gotten a DD into college, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for parents to start planning early for this stuff.

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We didn't invest any college money in the market (we have a college freshman and high school junior). Right now, I'm so thankful for that.