They’re just ages 10, 11, and 13, but already, Cassandra, Nick, and Molly Menounos have big dreams about attending big-name colleges -- Brown, Yale and Dartmouth – that are as expensive as they are prestigious.
They have, though, a powerful ally: Their 82-year-old grandfather, Nikitas Menounos, who emigrated from Greece to the U.S. in 1951.
He said, “I said to myself, whenever I have grandchildren, I want my grandchildren to be educated, because I didn't have the opportunity for me to go to college … Me and my wife, that's all we're thinking, to educate the grandchildren.’’
Already, he’s helped two of the Menounos siblings’ cousins through college and has sent up 529 savings plans for Molly, Nick, Cassandra, and their three-year-old little brother Luke.
They’ve learned from their grandfather to appreciate receiving something far more significant than toys for their birthdays. “We’ll buy them small things, and then we put money away for college in the 529s. When they were baptized, we did the same thing. Any holidays, Christmas, it’s the same thing.’’
College savings expert Martha Savery of the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority says the Menounos family approach epitomizes three of MEFA’s five pillars of smart college savings: First, have a plan or a roadmap. Second, commit to saving regularly through a 529 plan or the like. And third, involve grandparents, family, and friends if they'll help out and if you’re comfortable proposing they contribute cash to a college savings plan as an alternative to conventional birthday presents. “It's a great gift. It's a great gift. It’s lasting a lifetime,’’ Savery said.
MEFA’s fourth pillar is what Savery calls “saving where you spend.” So, for example, if your little one just finished up daycare and is now attending a less expensive preschool – or has moved from preschool to kindergarten – see if you can put the amount of money that move saves you into their college savings account.
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Or just think about what spending $3 less a day on take-out coffee and putting that into a 529 could do: Just $100 a month invested and growing at 7 percent annual returns for 18 years will become, adjusted for inflation, nearly $25,000.
“It’s really not making huge life-altering changes,’’ Savery said. “It's really looking inwardly and saying, ‘What are we spending money on? And how can we take that and put it away into a college fund?’ ‘’
And number five for MEFA: Take advantage of the abundant help and counseling that they and other groups and organizations offer for designing and fulfilling a college savings plan, because that can make the difference between good intentions and actually getting it done.
With video editor Lauren Kleciak, videographer John E. Stuart, and supervising field producer Melissa Simas Tyler
