Some of parents’ bad behavior may stem from misconceptions about college savings accounts.

CNBC reports.

Raiding your kids’ 529 college plan is mean and dumb

Cringe-worthy as it is to dip into your kid’s piggy bank, it’s probably the nicer financial move compared to raiding his or her 529 college savings account.

Nearly half of parents with college savings for their children have withdrawn some of the balance in the past two years, according to new data from T. Rowe Price, which surveyed 1,086 parents with children ages 8 to 14. Of the 282 who had taken money from their child’s college savings, just 18 percent used at least some of the funds to pay for their kids’ education — and only 3 percent used the money solely for education.

The rest, as you can see in the chart above, spent college savings to cover a range of expenses from monthly bills and other debts to discretionary purchases including vacations and weddings.