Our College-Prep Resource Feature series gives parents and students an opportunity to learn about a valuable resource available to them on their college-bound journey. Once or twice a month, we choose a new resource that we have found valuable. Many of the resources we feature are free, while others cost – we always try to include some kind of discount when we share these type of resources!

Resource: Gift of College

**In a few sentences, explain the purpose of Gift of College:**

GiftofCollege.com is a gift registry for college savings plans that lets friends and family contribute easily online or with gift cards. Gift cards are redeemable at GiftofCollege.com for deposit directly into any existing or newly started 529 plans and student loan accounts. Gift of College also provides a social savings platform where parents can promote their child’s education within its community, making saving for college, simple, fun and top-of-mind.

What’s the story behind Gift of College?

Founded in 2008, GiftofCollege.com was born when founder Wayne Weber discovered just how complicated it was to donate to a college savings account. This realization fired up Wayne’s initial goal, which was to simply streamline the process and design an innovative social savings platform that makes it easier than ever for friends and relatives to help over-burdened parents save for a child’s college education.

How does it work?

Get started by registering your existing 529 college savings plan or student loan account with GiftofCollege.com.

Encourage friends and family to contribute by either

Going to the site and finding your profile thru a last name search in our database
Providing them a direct link to your profile

Then there are many ways they can choose to contribute:

Using a credit card online
Purchasing an e-gift card.
Purchasing a physical gift cards at select ToysRUs and BabiesRUs nationwide

You can also turn unwanted gift cards into college cash (GiftofCollege.com e-gift cards).

Please check out our Gift of College How It Works video.

Why is Gift of College so important?

Why Gift of College Registry and Gift Cards?

It’s a smart and timeless gift
It’s clutter free and won’t be outgrown
They’ll thank you!

Who does this benefit?

Parents get relief with help to save for rising college costs.
Kids get the gift of a bright future.
Graduates that were given a student loan debt sentence get help to fast track their loan payoffs.
Relatives that go thru the “crazy” of what do we give now?

When should someone start using Gift of College?

Your child will be going to college before you know it and it’s never too early or too late to start saving.

Why should you start saving now?

A child is 6x more likely to attend college knowing someone is saving money for them to go.
Every dollar saved is more than a dollar that you won’t have to borrow for college costs.
Education pays. Those with a college degree can earn over a million dollars more over a work lifetime than those without.

What struggle or problem does you solve?

Facing the rising cost of college – We offer a way for families to make it easier for friends and family to contribute toward a child’s higher education and change traditional patterns of gift giving.
Student Debt Crisis — Millennials in debt can use giftofcollege.com to reach out to relatives and contribute toward paying off their crushing college debt.

Do you have any tips or tricks to share with families on the college-bound journey?

Start saving now
- You can open a 529 with as little as $25
- Auto-deposit any amount you can afford weekly/monthly
Stop Buying It: Your kids don’t need any more “stuff” so encourage all your relatives to support your saving effort:
- Purchase gift cards online or at ToysRUs/BabiesRUs nationwide.
- Gift of College gift cards have a price point between $25 – $500.
- So purchase a higher price point and place it in a card OR
- Purchase a lower price point and attach it as an add-on to a gift
Invitations to those special events:
- Include your personalized link to your giftofcollege.com profile when sending out those special invitations all year long.