The Cline Family Pose For A Picture At The 2024 OU Homecoming Football Game

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

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529 Short Course: New Parents

5 things every new parent needs to know about saving for education

  1. Why Ohio 529?
    529s are specifically created for higher education savings. Unlike a traditional banking account, a 529 account benefits from tax-free earnings and tax-free withdrawals. For Ohio residents, there is also a state income tax deduction for those contributions.
  2. It’s simple to start.
    You can open your 529 account online in minutes with as little as $25. With ready-made portfolio options, you don’t have to be a financial expert to feel confident in your savings plan choices.
  3. Set it and forget it with automatic deposits.
    The sooner you start saving, the longer your account benefits from the Ohio 529 tax advantages as well as compound interest. Many new parents take their 529 contributions off their to-do list by setting up small automatic deposits from either their banking accounts or paycheck. Also, with our ReadySave 529 app, it’s also easy to track and adjust your account right on your mobile device.
  4. Save for college, career training, and more.
    Ohio 529 can be used at over 30,000 schools of all kinds, nationwide, including universities; community colleges; trade, technical, and vocational schools; certificate programs; and apprenticeships. Your Ohio 529 account can also pay for K-12 tuition at a public, private, or religious school. And, if it’s not needed for educational expenses, you can now roll over your 529 to a Roth IRA.
  5. Others can help.
    It’s easy for family and friends to contribute to your child’s account and receive tax benefits for themselves. You can share your account’s unique Ugift number with others to contribute online without creating their own 529 accounts. Those who live in Ohio will also receive a state income tax deduction for their contributions. Also, you can sign up to have reminder emails sent to you and loved ones for the big milestones in your child’s life.

Hoping to find gold at the end of the rainbow? If you are saving with Ohio 529 CollegeAdvantage, you have the benefit of Ugift with your account, which is savings gold.

Ugift makes it easy for others to give to your Ohio 529 account. With Ugift, you generate a unique code which allows loved ones to contribute to your Ohio 529 savings plan without needing the actual account number. Once they have the Ugift code, your friends and family can visit Ugift529.com to make their online gifts directly to your 529.

When friends and family ask for gift ideas, share that you are saving for your child’s future education with Ohio 529. Then invite them to join in with gift contributions to your Ohio 529 account with Ugift. After all, a gift for your child’s education will truly last a lifetime.

The quickest and easiest way to pass along your child’s Ugift code is with the ReadySave 529 app, which you can access as an Ohio 529 CollegeAdvantage account owner. At the bottom of every page is an Ugift icon. Click on the gift symbol to view your Ugift code which you can send immediately as an invitation via texts, emails, and Facebook/Instagram chats from your phone.

Or log into your account online to view your child’s Ugift code to send to family and friends who would like to give the gift of education.

The Ugift code doesn’t expire. Which means whenever there is an occasion to celebrate­ like baby showers, holidays, birthdays, graduations, and special achievements, your family and friends can give to your Ohio 529 account. And they can choose to contribute as much as they want whenever they want. It can be a one-time gift or recurring gift; all they need is that Ugift code. Your loved ones’ contributions - whether big or small – will add up over the years. Added to the power of compound interest, these gifts will power your 529 savings to cover even more college and career training costs.

An added bonus for gift givers who live in Ohio: They are also eligible to receive a state income tax deduction for their Ohio 529 gift contributions, up to $4,000 per year, per beneficiary.

To learn more about all of the gifting options with Ohio 529 and order cards for special occasions, visit  529 Gift Central.

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