UPromise: Save for College Painlessly

UPromise is a great, free program to help you save money for college through 529 college savings plans. It helps you save for college for your kids, as well as for your nieces, nephews, & grandkids. According to the Wall Street Journal, you can also use UPromise funds to pay down student loans!

How does it work? The idea is that you can save money for college simply by buying things you already buy every day - like groceries. UPromise tracks this via your grocery store frequent shopper cards. Every time you purchase an eligible good or service with a Upromise contributing company, a portion of your purchase price will be contributed to your Upromise account. To help you save even more, you can invite family members and friends to also join Upromise and contribute into your account.

You then direct your UPromise funds into a 529 College Savings account. For more information on 529 plans to connect to your UPromise account, go to Saving for College.

In addition to the everyday savings you can also increase your UPromise earnings significantly by getting a Upromise Citi Card. 1% of all your purchases go into your Upromise 529 account - plus you receive extra money for different types of purchases - gas, groceries, etc. Key point: you need to have a UPromise account and a 529 account (many different ones are allowed, but easiest is to open one with them, of course. NOTE: you can’t connect to a Fidelity 529 with UPromise)

Another 529 credit card is the Fidelity 529 College Rewards Card. It has an amazing annual limit of $1,500 but must be connected to a Fidelity 529 plan.

See more posts on staying sane & organized while having fun with the kids at: http://noodleheads.typepad.com/