More Parents Use Retirement Accounts to Pay for College
Some families dip into their retirement accounts to help pay for college. A Sallie Mae and Ipsos survey of 1,601 college students and parents of undergraduate students found that 7 percent of families took a withdrawal from a retirement account to help cover college costs in 2014, up from 5 percent in 2013. The average retirement account distribution also grew from $2,710 in 2013 to $8,870 in 2014. And 1 percent of families took retirement account loans to pay for college, with loans averaging $5,062 in 2014, up from $3,952 in 2013. However, using a retirement account to pay for college can trigger a variety of penalties and fees…Read More