Parents affording college for children tops financial concerns

The fear of being unable to afford college tuition for their children is the top financial concern for parents, according to a new Gallup survey released on Monday.

Seventy-three percent of parents whose children are younger than 18 worry about paying for college, the poll found.

The poll found 85 percent of parents whose annual household income is less than $30,000 are concerned about affording college for their children. The same goes for about three-quarters of parents whose income is between $30,000 and $100,000 and 61 percent whose income is $100,000 or more.

For lower-income households making less than $30,000 per year, affording medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident is a major concern. Seventy percent cite is as a worry.

Affording retirement is another major concern for most of those polled.

The survey is part of Gallup’s Economic and Personal Finance Survey. Since 2001, the polling organization has asked more than 16,000 people how much they worry about each of eight different financial issues.

The survey polled 16,302 adults between April 2001 through 2015 and has a 1 percentage point margin of error.