Personal Finance: Ask the Experts: More financial tips for parents of college-bound students

Personal Finance: Ask the Experts

Get advice on money matters from The Bee's Claudia Buck and a panel of local experts

August 20, 2012

More financial tips for parents of college-bound students

Column Extra: My Sunday column on "freshmen finances" covered money-management advice from college families and financial experts. Here are a couple more resources/suggestions:

Get campus help

Don't overlook campus financial aid offices, which have numerous resources for students. Hundreds of universities, including UC Davis and CSU Sacramento, offer their students free access to CashCourse.org, which has tips on budgets, saving money, even how to "eat cheap" in college.
Sac State's website also has "Financial Aid TV" videos on money basics.

Complete important documents

Once a student turns 18, Sacramento estate planning attorney Trudy Nearn recommends they fill out three documents: a financial power of attorney, an advance healthcare directive and the medical records release form known as HIPAA.

The HIPAA form says your medical records can be shared with whomever you designate; the health-care directive states who can make medical decisions on your behalf; and the financial power of attorney gives a parent (or another designated person) permission to make/postpone loan payments, talk with landlords and access bank accounts, if a student is incapacitated or unavailable.

"It gives parents some ability to help out or deal with situations as they arise," said Nearn. "Not just emergencies, but things like an apartment lease, car payment or loan that's in the student's name and comes to the home address."

Typically, students designate a parent on these forms, said Nearn, but siblings, grandparents or family friends could also serve.

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Claudia Buck is The Sacramento Bee's personal finance columnist. Read all her columns here. Contact her at cbuck@sacbee.com

Terri Carpenter

Terri Carpenter offers advice on job hunting, retraining and career counseling. Carpenter works at Sacramento Works Inc., the career and job training arm of the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA). With 15 years in the field, she has hands-on experience with everyone from first-time job seekers to career professionals seeking advice after a layoff or looking for a mid-career change. Ask her a question.

Carlena Tapella

Carlena Tapella is a partner in the law firm of Webb & Tapella Law Corp. in Sacramento. The firm specializes in estate planning and probate, such as estates, trusts, conservatorships and litigation. She is a past president of the Sacramento County Bar Association's Estate Planning & Probate Section. Ask her a question.

Kimberly Foss, certified financial planner, is the founder of Empyrion Wealth Management in Roseville. With nearly 30 years in the financial industry, her clients include women in transition, small business owners, retirees and "pre-retirees." Ask her a question.

Gregory Burke, a CPA and tax expert with John Waddell & Co. in Sacramento since 1984, worked as an IRS tax auditor for six years. He’s a past chairman of the California Society of CPAs. Ask him a question.

Daniel Tahara takes your questions about California taxes. Tahara, a spokesman for the state Franchise Tax Board, has 10 years of experience as a tax auditor. Ask him a question.