4 strategies for resetting college savings

In evaluating your personal spending, try to find ways to cut out unnecessary expenses so you can put that extra money toward saving for college, says Kevin Gallegos, vice president of operations for the Arizona office of Freedom Debt Relief, a financial services organization with headquarters in San Mateo, Calif.

He advises consumers to start by looking for ways to reduce their insurance, cable and telephone costs. "If you can shop around and find a better price for the same level of service, you can take the extra cash and put it toward savings," he says.

Another option is to take advantage of a new Social Security payroll tax cut of 2 percent for employees in 2011, says Carey. With this tax reduction, employees who make $50,000 in wages can save about $1,000 a year in Social Security taxes, while six-figure earners would see their tax bill reduced by about $2,000 (the maximum amount of earnings subject to the tax is $106,800).

"If you're able to take that amount and save it, it can be like found money to put away for college," says Carey.