College is expensive. Helping an adult child or grandchild fund their college education is something that they will remember and appreciate for their entire lifetime. If you are thinking about helping out a child or grandchild this way, you have a few options to consider when paying for college.

Gifting the Money Directly

The easiest way to do this is to just gift the money directly to your child or grandchild. There is an individual tax exclusion (that can vary, be sure to check) that will limit the total amount you can give to one person, so make sure to keep your gift under that amount.

There is a small amount of trust with funding an education this way as well. There is no guarantee that the recipient of your gift is going to spend it on tuition. Make sure that you trust them to use the money the way you wish.

Paying the College or University

A more secure approach is to take care of the bill for them. This way you know that the money is going directly to the college that they are enrolled in and can see that it is going for tuition. Paying tuition directly to the school makes it exempt from the gift tax, so you could also gift money to them in order to pay for books or living expenses.

For any legal advice on assisting loved ones with college tuition, or any other elder law issue, contact the elder law experts at Stano Law Group.