Connecticut’s 529 College Savings Plan
This post was sponsored on behalf of Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET). All opinions stated are my own.
The CHET Program is Connecticut’s 529 College Savings Plan. It’s the Connecticut Higher Education Trust program. All 3 of my kids have a CHET account, and we make a deposit 1-3 times a year into each of their accounts. One thing I love about CHET is there aren’t minimum amounts required for contributions. If I have $50 or $5000 to contribute, the process is the same and the contributions will grow at the same rate.
Opening each of the accounts was really simple, took just a few minutes, and now they have some money growing that’s going to help them with their higher education costs after high school. CHET monies can be used an accredited college or university in the country, and some abroad- and the monies can be used for tuition, room & board, computer, supplies required for courses, etc. You can also roll money from one child’s CHET account into another if your child doesn’t use the savings. So, if one child gets a big scholarship to their chosen university, the money can be rolled into their sibling’s account.
Her first day of Kindergarten- she’s already in 5th grade- she will be off to college before we know it!
How does CHET work?
CHET works like a Roth Retirement account, your contributions grow tax free along the way, and are tax-free when you use the money for college. It’s open to anyone, but CT taxpayers can take advantage of the CT state tax deduction on the contributions you make to CHET each year, up to $10K for joint filers and $5K for single filers.
Kindergarten graduation comes and goes in the blink of an eye…
Calling all babies!
Something new from CHET is their CHET Baby Scholars initiative. Every baby born in the state of Connecticut is eligible for the CHET Baby Scholars program! If you open a CHET account for your baby before their first birthday and opt-in to CHET Baby Scholars, CHET will will be eligible to receive up to $250 into the account! That’s like free money for college, and will grow right along with your child!
This is my youngest, she’s clearly sad that she was born before the Baby Scholars initiative began!
SPECIAL 5/29 PROMOTION for #CHET529Day
5/29 Day is coming up – a CHET-proclaimed ‘holiday’ and reason to celebrate! All throughout the month of May CHET is offering a chance to enter to win one of three prizes. Grand prize is a $1,529 CHET contribution, two runner-up prizes of a $529 CHET contribution. Enter at https://www.aboutchet.com/buzz/529day.shtml
Have questions? Want to learn more, or open your child’s (children’s) CHET accounts now? Check out the CHET Enrollment Book for additional information on features and benefits.
Travel Blogger says
Saving for college can feel both expensive and overwhelming. I love that this breaks it down, save you money and makes it feel more manageable.
Heather lawrence says
This sounds like a great way to prepare for the future!
Here we have RESP (Registered education saving plans) so we got one for all three of our little ones. We add too it and the government matches what we put in. Easy way to plan for the future and not have to worry!
Jesica H says
You are right time flies by soooo fast! That one day we will start a savings plan for college and before you know it they are half way there! This sounds like a really great program, I am going to discuss it with the hubs!
diana says
Thanks for sharing! College is getting more expensive than ever and this plan sounds like a great way to start saving. I definitely need to look into this.
Angela Bethea says
College or any education in my opinion is very expensive.We all want the best as far as education and schooling. This is truly amazing and thank you for sharing.
Ann Bacciaglia says
This sounds like a great way to save money for school. I am glad we started as early as we did. I now have one in University and one in College.
Jamie says
These plans are great ways to save for your kids. We just moved to MI, so I need to research our options here.
Jacqui Odell says
I love the idea of having a savings plan. With 4 kids…college could expensive.
Kathy says
Sounds like a wonderful program. I’m always worried about my girls going to college. I just hope that we can continue to help save with them so they can get the best education.
Melissa Dixon says
I have been worried about paying for college ever since I was pregnant. This takes the stress off, thanks for sharing!
Lynndee says
So good to know about this. One more year and our son is already in high school and before we know it, he’s already in college. We need to really look into something like this now.
Rebecca Swenor says
This sounds like a great way to save for children’s college plan. It is so important for parents to prepare when their children are younger because college is not cheap now days. I have one in college and wish we had started something like this when he was a baby. Thanks for sharing and love the picture caption at the bottom with the precious little one cry.
Amanda says
My husband is a financial advisor so I inadvertently know quite a bit about 529 plans. It is so incredibly important to start saving as early as possible–every little bit adds up!
Chrystal | Nevermore Lane says
I love that more and more companies and even people are starting to look for ways to help with college tuition. I wish they would of had these when I was younger. Maybe my college bill would not be so high right now.
Annemarie LeBlanc says
This is a very wise investment. You may think it is too early to start saving for the college education of your infant child, but think again, the days (and years) go by faster than you think. I think CHET program is a very good way to help parents secure a college degree for their kids.
lisa says
This is a great way to save for college. I have multiple children and I know how expensive college can be!
Stacie @ Divine Lifestyle says
This sounds great! College can be so expensive. Anything we can do to make it more affordable is always a plus.