Legislation over the past ten years has brought about numerous savings and funding opportunities for members of the military and their families.  These options, along with other programs already available, have made the daunting task of saving for college much more attainable for our military members.

The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is the nation’s largest and most influential association of military officers. It is an independent, nonprofit, politically nonpartisan organization.  Through MOAA’s website (www.moaa.org) you will be able to find information on the vast offerings of their services and benefits.  One such area of assistance is with college …

Hope Credit

Lifetime Learning Credit

Amount of Credit
Up to $1,800 credit per eligible student 1
Up to $2,000 credit per return

When Available
Available ONLY until the first 2 years of post- secondary education are completed.1
Available for all years of post-secondary education and for courses to acquire or improve job skills.

Educational Pursuit
Student must be pursuing an undergraduate degree or other recognized education credential.
Student does not need to be pursuing a degree or other …

Loyalty programs, also known as affinity programs, provide a rebate to the consumer in exchange for shopping at particular retailers or purchasing particular products or services.

Typically, such programs do not require you to show a membership card to get the rebates. Instead, you register your credit cards with them and they track the purchases you make at participating merchants using the cards. You can also earn rebates by shopping online through the company web sites. This makes the programs a painless way to earn a little extra money for college.

Affinity programs with a college savings emphasis include:

BabyCenter
BabyMint
FutureTrust…

Variable Life combines life insurance with a tax-deferred investment account, and provides tax-free access to the cash value of the policy. Some insurance companies promote variable life insurance policies as a college savings vehicle because the value of the policy is sheltered from financial aid need analysis formulas.

The advantages of a variable life policy are as follows:

The money is sheltered from the financial aid need analysis process and has no impact on financial aid.
Very high limits on the amounts you can invest.
The parent retains control over the money.
One can withdraw or borrow contributions tax-free …

Generally, if you take a distribution from your IRA before you reach age 59½, you must pay a 10% additional tax on the early distribution. This applies to any IRA you own, whether it is a traditional IRA (including a SEP-IRA), a Roth IRA, or a SIMPLE IRA. The additional tax on an early distribution from a SIMPLE IRA may be as high as 25%.  However, you can take distributions from your IRAs for qualified higher education expenses without having to pay the 10% additional tax. You may owe income tax on at least part of the amount distributed, but …