Item saved to your backpack!

The College Savings Foundation this week released the results of its fifth annual State of College Savings Survey [PDF file], which found that parents throughout America are increasingly relying on savings, current income and education loans to pay for college, rather than counting on financial aid or assistance from grandparents.

"We are seeing a strong shift to self-reliance among parents who are better informed about the costs of college and strategies for funding it," Richard Michaud, Chair of the College Savings Foundation, said in a statement. "At the same time, parents are worried that even their best efforts will not keep them and their children out of long-term debt."

Key findings include the following:

• 60 percent of parents expect to cobble together some college funds from current income
• 40 percent of parents are not very confident that they can reach their college savings goals
• 34 percent of parents say they know how much they need to save to fund their child's college education, up from 27 percent last year
• 48 percent of parents are looking to education loans to pay for college, most of which will be signed over to their children
• 29 percent of parents expect financial aid to cover up to a third of college costs, down from 35 percent last year
• 38 percent of parents expect no financial aid at all, up from 28 percent last year
• 69 percent of parents won't ask for college funding from friends or family instead of material gifts, up from 62 percent last year

Seventy-six percent of parents with 529 college savings plans have saved more than $5,000 per child:

• 15 percent of 529 owners have saved between $5,000 and $10,000, compared to 10 percent of those without a 529
• 20.5 percent of 529 owners have saved between $10,000 and $25,000, compared to 8 percent of those without a 529
• 20.5 percent of 529 owners have saved between $25,000 and $50,000 per child, compared to 4 percent of those without a 529
• 11 percent of 529 owners have saved more than $100,000 per child, compared to 3 percent of those without a 529

The poll was conducted by the College Savings Foundation using a online Zoomerang survey of 843 parents nationwide.

For related news and information from Schools.com, see:

• The 529 account: Get a tax break while saving for college
• More 'boomerang' kids returning home after college
• Most expensive colleges: Is yours on the list?
• New metric ranks college debt-to-degree ratio
• Sorry, Junior: retirement trumps college savings for more Americans