Can I use my traditional IRA for Collage Education of my kids? Any penalties?

Question

Can I use the money in my traditional IRA account for the education of my kids, before I am 65? If I do so, are there any penalties?

Answer 1

There are exceptions to the 10% penalty for distributions prior to reaching 59 1/2 and paying for qualified higher educational expenses for yourself, spouse, or children/grandchildren is one of them.

The only tax you will pay is ordinary income tax.

Ron, ChFC

Answer 2

I believe you will get penalties if you withdraw from your IRA no matter what the reason. That's the nature of the way the account is set up.
You should have a Roth IRA or a education IRA for your kids.

Answer 3

Yes. You will have to pay income tax on the money withdrawn, plus a 10% penalty.

Answer 4

Be very careful when taking retirement to pay for college. You can get loans for college (and sometimes some really cheap ones) you cannot get loans for retirement. You might consider taking out the loans for college (regardless of whether the parent or the student pays it back) rather then eating up your retirement.

Answer 5

You can do any thing you wish. BUT yes there are penalties for early withdrawls and the tax hit you are not going to like at all. About 50% to answer your question. Have you ever thought about student loans that they apply for in their own names and what ever you do do not co-sign for them.