College Resources & News from CFNC

This Halloween, there’s no reason to get spooked by the prospect of paying for college. Instead, get prepared. We tell our kids all the time how important it is to prepare. Prepare for that big test. Prepare for that big game. Practice, practice, practice.

Enter The #NC529Halloween Costume Contest for a chance to win big for you and your future graduate! Share a picture of your child in his or her Halloween Costume on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and use the hashtag #NC529Halloween for a chance to win $100 deposited directly into your NC 529 account!

We had so much fun at the Marbles Kids Museum Kick Off to Kindergarten this month that we want to continue celebrating the back-to-school excitement! We’re giving away Marbles admission tickets and tickets to the IMAX Theatre at Marbles to celebrate the first day of school.

The graduates cross the stage and the diplomas are awarded. Adoring parents look on proudly as excellence in academics and the arts are announced. The graduates are bursting with excitement, but still a little fearful about what comes next.

Warmer weather is here and that means it’s time for summer vacations! Take a step back from everyday life and shake things up; even a short period of time where you can break out of your routine can really refresh and rejuvenate your mind. However, the perfect vacation is going to take some preparation – including plenty of planning and saving.

With rising tuition costs, North Carolina families are seeking convenient and affordable options to pay for college. College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC), a free college assistance service of the State of North Carolina, is committed to raising awareness about college savings plans in the workplace that can help secure a student’s future.

Starting kindergarten is a big life event for both students and parents. Like with most big changes, the key to a successful transition into a new environment is preparation. Upon entering kindergarten, students should be on their way to mastering skills like spelling their name, memorizing their address, reciting the alphabet and more.

When it comes to saving money to pay for college, many parents are doing it the old-fashioned way: that is to say, they’re hoping for a miracle! A survey conducted in January of this year found that 57 percent of the parents polled had saved less than $10,000. But the survey found that parents do have high savings hopes.

When Kate opened an NC 529 Account for the first of her four children, she was still paying off her own school loans from undergraduate and law school. She had been the first in her family to go to college and she scrimped, saved, and worked all the way through school and still came out with a sizable 10-year loan that she eventually refinanced into a 20-year loan.

There are optimists and there are pessimists. There are leaders and there are followers. And in the world of economics, there are savers and there are spenders.