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New Grads Vow to Pay for Children’s College

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Student loan debt in the United States has reached $1 trillion. (Not a typo.) One group that's taking this number seriously is the recent grads themselves, who have pledged to start saving for their children's college much sooner than previous generations.

According to a recent survey by the College Savings Foundation, 79 percent of recent grads possibly or definitely expect to save for their children's education. Of that number, 78 percent expect to start saving in the next five years.

In contrast and of necessity, new grads are delaying other financial milestones, such as buying a home, or getting married, or having actual children to save for.

  • Forty percent of grads said they planned to delay buying a home for financial reasons, as compared to 22 percent who graduated seven years ago.

     

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  • Nineteen percent of grads said they would delay getting married, versus 8 percent from seven years ago.

     

  • Twenty-one percent said that they would delay having children, compared to 13.5 percent from seven years ago.

     

    Perhaps most significantly, only 70 percent of those polled currently had a job, and it tended to take longer to land that first post-college gig than in previous years. Seven years ago, 55 percent found employment within three month. This year, that number was 46 percent.

    No wonder 36 percent of those who responded said that they had to live with their parents longer than they expected.

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    Collegefund

    (Photo Credit: Tax Credits/Flickr)

  • Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
    Read more from Jen

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