Each birthday when she was growing up DeLine received a Holstein cow from her parents. Some of those cows had calves, and the herd grew to 30. When it came time for college, DeLine sold the herd to help pay for tuition. It was a Wisconsin dairy farmer's solution to saving for college.

In October, DeLine co-launched a website called LittleGrad.com, Silicon Valley's solution to saving for college.

"What my parents did was creative. That's the spirit of Little Grad," DeLine said.

Through on-line shopping and a system that Little Grad has set up with online retailers, parents can actually make money for their children's education.

Retailers such as Target, Amazon, eBay, Nordstrom, and BevMo (Beverages and More), will deposit a percentage of the cost of the order, which Little Grad calls a rebate, directly into a Little Grad account.

"It's simple. To me it's like free money," said Sunnyvale's Lisa Parker, a mother of one.

Little Grad boasts a long list of affiliate companies that rebate an average of three percent to five percent on orders placed through the Internet at no additional cost to LittleGrad.com users.

For example, Target.com rebates three percent, Amazon.com rebates four percent and Shutterfly.com rebates eight percent of orders placed online. Several companies pay out rates as high as 25 percent, and others, such as Snapfish.com, give varying flat dollar returns.

It works because retailers are drawn to the Little Grad concept. Research shows that shoppers who come to them through affiliate, or partner sites, such as Little Grad are purchasers, not just window shoppers.

Parents set up accounts for their children through Little Grad's website. From there, the shopping and savings can begin, but shopping directly through the Little Grad site isn't required. A software program called Little Grad Savings Manager tracks purchases made directly through merchant's sites. Pop-up reminders ensure rebates are applied appropriately.

Parents can get family and friends involved, too. Through an invitation prepared by Little Grad, parents can ask anyone to link their online shopping to their child's account at Little Grad. DeLine said her sister has proven to be her best family contributor so far to her children's college fund. Little Grad has also made it easy to thank contributors for participating with a thank you email message system.

A personal secure website is also available on Little Grad so parents can post photos of their children.

Any purchase, including the purchase of gift cards or gift certificates, can earn money.

"Fifty dollars will get you $2 at Amazon," DeLine said.

Referral fees are added for users who get other families to join. There are other perks, such as Nordstrom offering a discount on children's shoes this month to Little Grad users.

Little Grad estimates that a typical online shopper can earn--conservatively--$15,000 over 18 years, but DeLine said the estimate does not take into account the shopping behavior of children who reach their teens and begin to do their own online shopping. That, she said, could add quite a bit to the total.

The website makes its own money by keeping a small transaction fee but does not charge for signing up and does not earn interest on holding the rebates in an account.

Little Grad makes transfers quarterly to bank accounts or 529 college fund accounts.

DeLine, who has lived in Sunnyvale since 1994, said she was approached by her friend and Little Grad founder, Anh Vazquez, with the idea of becoming the chief marketing officer and co-launching the company. DeLine said she was "drowning in guilt" because she believed that she had not done enough yet to start saving for her children's future. When she heard the concept and thought back to the years it took to pay off her Northwestern University degrees, she was hooked.

Her parents are both college educated--something she said is unique among dairy farmers--and they made sure their children had at least a portion of their college tuition saved before they reached college age. In her hometown of Stetsonville, Wis., cows were a way of life.

With a population of 30, "three churches, two bars and a post office," DeLine said she earned extra college money off the cows by entering them in state fairs and other competitions.

"My first cow was named Bunny. She was all white, which is unusual for a Holstein, so she would win at a lot of fairs," she said.

But in Silicon Valley, it's high tech, not Holsteins, that reign.

The rebate concept is not new, and DeLine also has a college fund account for her children at Upromise.com, but what's different about Little Grad is that it's based solely on Internet shopping, while Upromise rebates are only for in-store purchases. There's no need to give personal credit card numbers to Little Grad. Social Security numbers are needed, but DeLine said there are two layers of security to protect users.

For more information email suzy@littlegrad.com.