<p>It seems like every time I start thinking about needing to get tuition money out of the college fund I time it just a bit wrong. I am not an expert on watching the signs and interpreting the tea leaves on a global scale. It seems to be going generally up but if I wait with my luck the middle east will explode and tank the market before I can get the tuition out. </p>
<p>So are there any experts out there who can tell me when to do it?</p>
<p>Haha, I always tell people when I am about to pull the money that it is time to invest because the market is about to skyrocket. Obviously, I can’t help you but I empathize with you. </p>
<p>Is it in a 529 plan? You can usually make one change per year. Earlier this year, I moved 25% to a conservative fund for next school year. If the market is down, I can withdraw from that fund. If the market is up, I can take from the growth fund.</p>
<p>It’s probably best to do the reverse of dollar cost averaging; withdraw a set amount at regular intervals without trying to time the market.</p>
<p>We set our plans in an age based plan and as they got older it got more and more conservative. Once in college it’s all cash. I thought you’d be asking when to take the money out of the 529 to pay the tuition. We struggled with that as well. I’m not sure if you should have the bank send the money directly to the school or if it should be paid to us then we pay it. And I don’t now how long it takes to get the money either. Might be time to figure it out, we’re withdrawing for the first time to pay fall’s tuition.</p>
<p>I’ve hears that if you pay directly to the school it can mess up your financial aid. I work for a financial advisor and we always send the fund to the parent to reimburse themselves. Just keep a record of your distributions and your qualified expenses.</p>
<p>It goes from Coverdell mutual fund to money market “holding pen” then to my checking to pay. I pay tuition twice a year so am just trying to not hit the sell day really wrong. The market is over 17,000 now so I guess does it stay around where it is? keep going up? or plummet based on world affairs or some other indicator? At this stage I’m not planning to completely restructure what I do, and at this stage it isn’t THAT much money 
I’m just wondering if anyone has a good read on when in the next 1.5 months to act.</p>
<p>I don’t know if we are even trying to time it. We just took out the reimbursement (housing deposit plus college deposit) plus 1st semester bill. It was sent to us with in 8 days and then we payed the university.
We stopped putting money into that 529 when we were worried it might be too much. We started a neutral account earmarked for college but more flexible if wanted for retirement.<br>
Still waiting for 2 years for 2nd kid’s college cost-</p>
<p>I agree that you need to have an amount you are comfortable with (for us a year of tuition and expenses) in cash or equivalent as a cushion in case market tanks and you will need time for it to recover. </p>
<p>I’ve been living my life all wrong!! :(( </p>
<p>Still . . . at this point I’m looking micro not macro.</p>
<p>If you think the market will go down and stay down in the next month raise your hand.</p>