TRENDING

These stats come from a yearly study conducted by Fidelity Investments, and there isn’t a whole lot of cheery news. Though 75 percent of parents plan to help their kids out, only one fifth intend to cover all expenses. And potentially worse, though parents plan to pay around 57 percent of the total cost of their children’s education, they aren’t saving enough now to do so in the future. Experts predict they’ll only have about a third of the necessary amount in the bank when you hit the halls of your university of choice.

We’ve already reported on your generation’s thriftiness—most of you are learning from your parents’ bad saving and spending habits and are socking away far more for the future. But instead of just saving up to nab a big-ticket item, it’s a good idea to start thinking farther into the future. Ask Mom and Dad to help you set up a savings account if you don’t have one yet, and see if they’d be interested in matching the amount you put in there on a monthly basis. If you start now, you could be sailing through school on interest. Talk about smart!

by Brittany Taylor | 2/1/2016