--- title: These Simple Moves Can Make Paying College Bills Easier description: Don't fret when the tuition bill comes. These simple moves can ease the financial burden of your child's college costs. authors: - name: Kim Clark url: https://money.com/author/kim-clark/ at_money_since: 2013 articles: 62 covers: - Education - Housing - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance social: - https://x.com/Money_College former_staff: true published: '2016-04-05T10:30:06.000Z' modified: '2024-04-02T05:29:29.000Z' section: Education tags: - 529 plan - College - college fund - college savings - grant - Paying for College - payment plan - tax break - tuition bill word_count: 283 canonical: https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![college tuitions](https://img.money.com/2016/04/col04_a.jpg?crop=103px%2C410px%2C1878px%2C1056px&quality=85) If you've been saving money in a 529 plan for your child over the years, now's the time switch into spending mode. Joe Hurley, founder of [Savingforcollege.com](http://www.savingforcollege.com/), suggests starting to pay as many bills as you can out of that account and continuing to fund it while your child is in school. In most states, you'll get a tax break on the money you contribute, even if it's in the plan only briefly before you spend it. If your relatives want to chip in too, ask them to hold off until the spring of your child's sophomore year. That way, the college won't reduce any need-based grants because of the extra family resources. And to reduce your risk in a stock market meltdown, make sure your 529 is invested in a target-date fund based on your child's age or move the money into bond and stable-value funds. When tuition bills come due, bear in mind that you probably don't have to spring for the whole semester at once. Nearly every college offers parents some sort of interest-free payment plan, sometimes with a modest set-up fee of $50 or so, notes Paula Bishop, a Bellevue, Wash., CPA who specializes in college planning. [![Best college education image](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/college-site-banner-02.png)](https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges/?xid=cm-mcpFindTheCollegeWidget) Typically those plans let you pay in six to 10 installments throughout the school year. Some schools, such as the [University of Colorado](https://money.com/best-colleges/), require that the payments be made via automatic debit from a checking or savings account. A handful of colleges, such as the [University of Southern California](https://money.com/best-colleges/), let you pay with a credit card without an additional service fee, which means you can rack up some frequent-flier miles or get a little cash back to put into your college fund. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Education", "item": "https://money.com/education/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Paying for College", "item": "https://money.com/paying-for-college/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "These Simple Moves Can Make Paying College Bills Easier" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/", "name": "These Simple Moves Can Make Paying College Bills Easier", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-04-05T10:30:06.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:29:29.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "These Simple Moves Can Make Paying College Bills Easier", "articleSection": "Education", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/04/col04_a.jpg?crop=103px%2C410px%2C1878px%2C1056px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "COL04_A" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kim Clark", "url": "https://money.com/author/kim-clark/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kim-clark/#author", "image": "https://money.com/content.money.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/14-05-21_bio_author_clark.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C190px%2C190px&resize=640%2C640&quality=85&strip&ssl=1", "email": "Kim_Clark@Moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/Money_College" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-04-05T10:30:06.000Z", "description": "Don't fret when the tuition bill comes. These simple moves can ease the financial burden of your child's college costs.", "abstract": "Don't fret when the tuition bill comes. These simple moves can ease the financial burden of your child's college costs.", "@id": "https://money.com/simple-moves-paying-college-bills-back-easier/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:29:29.000Z", "wordCount": 283, "keywords": [ "529 plan", "College", "college fund", "college savings", "grant", "Paying for College", "payment plan", "tax break", "tuition bill" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Education", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Student financial aid in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_financial_aid_in_the_United_States" ] } ] } ] } ```