I'm considering preschool. Not for myself—although I would definitely like the whole afternoon nap thing. No, I'm looking at preschools for my 2-year-old to attend next year.
As I'm contemplating theidea, it's got me thinking about college savings. For parents anyway, the journey from preschool to college seems so long—there are years and years of science projects 
, soccer games, and school plays ahead before you have to worry about your kid's ACTs and housing applications.
But really, that 14 years is just the blink of an eye in financial terms.
So, are we saving enough for college? Between working in the student loan industry and having a daughter in college right now, the thought is never far from my mind.
While I do have a few years to keep contemplating the question, there are probably a lot of you who don't. What can you do if college is coming up fast and you're worried about paying for it? First, don't panic. There are plenty of ways to pay for college. Here are few quick things to remember:
- Get the picture. Go to your college website and find out the cost breakdown of tuition, fees, housing, etc.
- Look into scholarships. The earlier the better.
- Talk to the financial aid adviser at your school. They know a lot, they've seen it all, and they're there to help.
- Apply for financial aid early, no matter what your financial situation. (Seriously, there are many, many people who think they don't qualify for aid and just don't apply . Financial aid is not always based on your income, so go ahead and apply.)
- Start saving now, as much as possible. The costs of college can seem so overwhelming—if you're getting a late start on saving, it's hard to feel like you could even make a dent. It might help to set small goals, like saving enough to cover the cost of books for the first semester.
Hopefully, this is a helpful short list to get you started. But what about those of you who do have college savings? You may have some good info to share.
I was lucky. My mom did save enough for my college education, but an unforseen financial emergency caused us to have to use those savings for something else. Luckily, I qualified for the state's free tuition program. While I didn't qualify for the whole time I was in school, it helped enough. Now I don't have any student loans to worry about!