How to Start a College Fund Through Upromise Shopping

Save some of your regular spending in a Upromise college fund.

Parents want the best for their children. Saving money for college-related expenses helps ensure that your child will have access to a college education without being saddled with debt. But it is easy to put off saving for college, especially if your child is young. Upromise offers a solution: When you make everyday purchases through brick-and-mortar or online Upromise participants, Upromise deposits a percentage of each sale into a college fund for your child.

Instructions

1. Visit the UPromise website.

2. Register with Upromise by clicking on the "Get Started Now" button located on the right hand side of the screen. You will be prompted to enter a user name, an email address, a password, a secret question, your mailing address, information about the child for whom you are saving, a security verification code (like Captcha) and a promo code, if applicable. If you have a promo code, it will jump start your savings by adding a few extra dollars.

3. Register your grocery "Club Card" or "Pharmacy Rewards Card" with Upromise. It is common for local and chain supermarkets to support Upromise. You can find your participating stores at the Upromise website by clicking on the "Grocery" icon on the left-hand side of the screen, and then entering your zip code in the field that appears on the right-hand side of the screen.

4. Do your regular shopping at a participating Upromise grocer or drugstore using your linked "Club Card" or "Rewards Card", and you will begin to accumulate money in your Upromise account when you purchase participating brands. A full list of Upromise brands is available at the Upromise website. Additionally, you can select monthly ecoupons from the Upromise website that puts your coupon-savings into your Upromise account instead of taking the money off of the purchase price.

5. Shop at participating online retailers through the Upromise website, and earn a percentage of the money back in your Upromise account.

Tips & Warnings

• Combine Upromise savings with other traditional coupons and deals to maximize your savings. Upromise also allows multiple individuals to save toward one child. If you can convince your co-workers or family members to sign up for Upromise on behalf of your child, the savings effect will be cumulative.

• Upromise allows you to save money for yourself to attend college or to pay back outstanding student loans.

• Upromise also allows you to save money for college using a Upromise credit card. For some highly disciplined consumers, this might be a good choice. However, it is never a good idea to "save" money by accumulating debt, regardless of how good the deal is.

References

• Upromise: Need Money for College?

Resources

• Upromise: Homepage