Morningstar's Guide to College Savings

College savers are investing for a critical goal and a fixed time frame. Given the high financial and emotional stakes involved in choosing and paying for college, investors should feel confident about their choice of savings vehicle and investment options.

In this guide, you'll find what you need to know about college-savings options in terms of their tax treatment and their effect on financial aid eligibility. We'll also help you figure out how much to sock away to reach your goal, and how to take that first step to set up a plan and start saving.

Much of our content is devoted to 529 plans, which have become popular vehicles for college savings because they allow a significant amount of money to be saved, and they have money-saving tax advantages. We answer frequently asked 529 questions and tick off the main considerations that should drive your 529 plan selection. We've also included our complete list of 529 plan ratings to help you home in on the best option for your situation.

The Basics A Guide to Your College-Savings Options We compare and contrast a few of the most common college savings vehicles.

How to Allocate Asset for College Savings Families must contend with competing challenges: steep glide paths and high inflation.

How Much Should You Save for College? Uncertainty surrounding cost inflation and investment performance makes it difficult--but not impossible--to estimate how much you should save.

Can I Use a Roth IRA to Pay for College? Here are the pros and cons of using Roth IRAs for college savings.

What Is a 529? We take a close look at these popular college-savings accounts.

529 Plans

Getting Started with a 529 College-Savings Plan If setting up a college savings account is on your to-do list, here are some tips for getting going.

For Most College Savers, Prepaid 529 Plans Don't Make the Grade Investment in prepaid 529 plans continues to decline, and in many cases it's not hard to see why. A Primer on Prepaid 529 Plans Here's how these vehicles differ from conventional 529 plans and what each state has to offer.

Rating the Top 529 College Savings Plans We upgrade nine plans and downgrade eight, shaking up our Gold and Silver ratings.

The Cost of Not Saving Early for College What do college savers miss when they put off investing in a 529 plan?

College Savings Plans Get Graded Learn which states' plans are excelling and which go to the back of the class.

College Aid

Why You Should Fill Out the FAFSA (Even If You Think It's a Waste of Time) The FAFSA for the 2019-20 school year is available. Put it on your to-do list.

Students, Here's How to Make the FAFSA Application As Easy as Possible Tips from a prior first-generation student.

Taking a Loan to Pay for Kids' College? Read This First Data shows that more parents are taking out loans for college funding. We take a look at the pros and cons of different funding sources.

Morningstar's Student Loan Calculator Use our new tool to determine how much student loan debt is affordable for your student.

5 Misconceptions About College Aid Don't disregard the FAFSA when planning how to pay for college.

For Advisors

How Advisors Can Help Clients Think About 529 Plan Benefits and Disadvantages

Are 529 Plans Worth It? Why 529 Plans Are Right for Some Families and Not Others