Plastic That Earns Tuition Dollars

After all, the annual cost to attend now averages $29,026 at four-year private schools; $12,127 for four-year public institutions, according to the College Board's Annual Trends in College Pricing 2005 report. If prices continue to go up at roughly 6.5% (as they have for the past five years), in 18 years, those figures will be $90,173 and $37,674 respectively.

One easy way to add a little more to the stash: Using a credit or debit card that generates contributions to a college savings plan with each and every swipe. Just this month, MasterCard and college-savings program Upromise signed a deal to offer a college savings rewards program linked to your debit card. You'll earn 1% to 5% back on every purchase, plus bonus rebates for shopping with select merchants.

Here's a rundown of available credit cards specializing in college savings:

Which card is right for you? Here's what to consider:

Look to the future
"Make sure the program is going to be around when your kids are ready for that college education," says Scott Bilker, founder of DebtSmart.com, a web site dedicated to helping consumers manage their credit-card debt wisely. Two good signs: The program has a lot of big-name retailers associated with it (like Upromise) or it's tied to a credit-card company with numerous offerings.

Weigh the perks
Beyond the set rebate per purchase, many programs offer bonuses. The Future Trust MasterCard, for example, participates in Tuition Rewards, a program that automatically matches your contributions dollar for dollar should your child attend one of the more than 150 private colleges participating in the program.

Most programs offer bonus rebates — up to 30% — for shopping with select retailers. Check that list of merchants before banking on this perk, cautions Curtis Arnold, founder of card information web site Cardratings.com. At BabyMint's program, you'll notice most major retailers, like Target, Sears and Linens 'n Things offer rebates of 2% to 7%. The higher rebates only kick in for niche retailers such as Art Gazebo (15%) and Entertainment.com (21%), as well as one-time purchases like a Food & Wine magazine subscription (30%).

Keep saving
Your maximum contribution limit to a 529 plan depends on the plan itself, as well as your state. Some are as high as $300,000. While racking up some extra dollars on your credit card is nice, consider it the icing on the cake. You'd have to do a whole lot of shopping to generate even a modest contribution. Many cards also put limits on the size of the contribution you can generate.

For example, to get the maximum annual contribution of $300 from the Citi UPromise card, you'd have to charge $30,000 a year. And for the Fidelity card? That $1,500 maximum would be equivalent to $75,000 in credit-card charges. Ouch.

Read the fine print
Pay attention to which 529 plan the card is partnered with. Some programs, including Fidelity College Rewards and Upromise (via Vanguard), require you to use their house plan, while others, such as Future Trust, let you pick the plan.

Take advantage of online portals
No matter what kind of credit card you have, sign up online for bonus reward programs. Upromise, Futuretrust, BabyMint and Investment Rewards all offer free programs that can be linked to your existing debit and credit cards. You'll receive rebates of up to 30% when you use the site to link to, and shop with, participating retailers.

Circle the wagons
All of these programs allow multiple cardholders to contribute to the same account. So get your relatives and friends to sign up, too.