IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Having kids? You'll need $500,000 for college

Parents scraping together cash for this year's tuition bills may have it relatively easy. By the time today's newborns graduate from high school, the total cost to attend a four-year private college could tally nearly $500,000. Intimidating? You bet. Manageable? Certainly—and it'll be a lot easier if you start early. I talked to certified financial planner JJ Burns of JJ Burns & Co. in Melv

Parents scraping together cash for this year's tuition bills may have it relatively easy. By the time today's newborns graduate from high school, the total cost to attend a four-year private college could tally nearly $500,000.

Intimidating? You bet. Manageable? Certainly—and it'll be a lot easier if you start early.

I talked to certified financial planner JJ Burns of JJ Burns & Co. in Melville, N.Y., for some tips about what parents need to consider to get started, including where to stash that cash and whose name it should be in. (Hint: Not your child's.)

Burns also recommends signing up for rewards programs like Upromise, which generate cash back in a college savings account for purchases made on linked credit and debit cards. It might not amount to much extra, but that free money can make a big difference over 18 years of saving.

The total amount parents need to save might not be quite so high, either. Factors such as what college a child attends, and whether he or she gets scholarship money, can reduce the total needed by 50 percent or better.

By CNBC.com's Kelli B. Grant. Follow her on Twitter@KelliGrant.