For higher education, it's possible for parents to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, paying for their children’s college. A few programs can help.

The price of college today is enough to send parents into sticker shock. Even if they stay close to home at U.H. Manoa, tuition, housing, meals, books and parking add up fast, more than $12,000. And, that's a bargain compared to what Mainland bound students will shell out. Financial experts say parents can take some of the sting out of it by saving in a 529 account.

“You are saving for a college education and it's a tax advantage way for you to do that and basically you can choose any college,” said Keri Nishimura, a private banker.

You can do homework on Hawaii's colleges savings program at hi529.com. One other option to consider is prepaid tuition. Hawaii schools don't offer it, but many out of state universities do.

“A prepaid tuition plan is basically you're locking in today's tuition costs,” said Nishimura. “Avoiding the basic inflation on tuition which is rising at about a 6-percent rate these days.”

You can actually put the money in well before your children head off to college. The earlier you start, the better off you'll be.

“You want to start when they're really young because that gives you the best advantage for saving because of the compounding of interest and investments so you have a lot longer time to save for them,” said Nishmura.