Once you choose to make saving for a child’s college education a financial priority for your family the next step is creating a plan to make it actually happen.  Here are a few tips to find and begin carving out savings:

Examine your budget.  If you have never budgeted before now is the time to start.  Having a budget will show you how much you are currently spending, what you are spending money on and just knowing those two things will help you figure out how you could begin making even small changes to carve out some savings.  Use our interactive budget worksheet to begin estimating and working from a family budget.

Make it easy; make it automatic.  You are much more likely to create a significant amount of savings for your child’s college education if you make it a regular discipline.  Instead of waiting for a time when you have “a little more money,” make a habit now of saving even just $25 per paycheck or per month and putting it into a college savings vehicle.  The huge benefit to making your saving automatic is that it will earn interest which will compound (grow at a faster rate), thereby ensuring that you have even more money for your child’s college bills.  Talk to your employer or bank about how to have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a college savings account.

Bank the bonus “extras”.  When you or your spouse receive unexpected income such as a bonus from work, extra commission or an income tax refund, consider banking it toward your children’s college education.

Get the grandparents involved.  Encourage your children’s grandparents, and other supportive family members, to make a tax-deductible gift to a qualified child’s education fund such as a 529 state-sponsored savings plan, Coverdell ESA or UGMA/UTMA accounts.

Take tests to get credits.  When your high school student takes and scores high enough on an Advanced Placement (AP) test he/she can get college credit for free.  Your child should meet with his/her high school guidance counselor to learn more about taking AP courses and exams.

Earn credits locally first.  Your student may be able to take college courses at a nearby community college to earn credits that will transfer to the four-year school of their choice.  Or you may want to discuss with your child the option of enrolling at and attending a local junior, community or less-expensive four-year college to earn credits (that costs less) and then transferring to the school of their choice.  Not only is the tuition likely to be much less but you could also save money if your child lives at home and forgoes the cost of room and board at another school.  When considering either of these possibilities it’s important to learn what college credits would transfer to the school of your student’s choice.  You don’t want to spend time and money on credits that wouldn’t transfer.   You also don’t want to encourage your child to start something—and not finish.  This strategy should always be in the context of earning a degree so that all the work pays off for your child in the context of additional accredited skills or a degree.