WHERE SHOULD I INVEST FOR COLLEGE?

Short answer … you don’t have enough time to make any big returns except by taking huge risks. Your best bet is some sort of Gov’t bonds or CDs. The return is low, but the money is safe.

If you want to gamble … this down stock market is not a bad time to buy if you can find a good company that is being pounded by the general panic, but is basically sound and will come back. However, you’re pitting your stock-picking against people who do it for a living, and have much better access to information. The odds aren’t in your favor. If I were going to do it, I’d probably look at ‘Spiders’ (SPDR – Standard and Poors Depository Receipts.) They basically track the S&P 500 index. If the market as a whole rallies in the next two years, you win, but the index as a whole is much less risky than buying one stock. If this whole paragraph is incomprehensible, you need more explanations than you’re likely to get here.

It ain’t sexy, but something like US savings bonds that mature when you expect to need the cash are probably your best bet.

Good luck in school.