<p>I am more and more grateful that my son "only" got accepted (and applied) to Cal States as they seem to be on the very affordable side of things. </p>
<p>For any of you who had the discipline and foresight to sit down with an actuary 18 or so years ago, do you remember what their projections were for the cost of college today? Did they predict the outrageous price tags on many of these private schools?</p>
<p>On another note, I'd like to point out to students (and parents) that a BIG reason so many kids want to attend prestigious, expensive schools is that those schools spend a lot of money on marketing. Marketing is a big part of college admissions but it might help students (and parents) to put all the glitz and glamor aside and focus on what's fundamentally important with regard to our children's college education and experience.</p>
<p>That would be interesting to know! What I can tell you is that when I went to a private university in the 70’s, my dad looked at the $6000/yr. for tuition room and board, and declared with great certainty that by the time my kids went to college, the federal government would be paying the entire bill for college for everyone, because if costs got any higher, no one could afford to pay their own way.</p>
<p>22 years ago our financial planner told us to plan for a minimum of $80,000 for our state flagship. We could not believe it! The actual number when S1 went off to college 4 years ago was amazingly close to that number. We used that 80,000 as a benchmark. My S1 (did not go to the flagship) total cost was roughly $87,000 inclusive tution, room, board, books, travel, etc. etc I owe a last payment this month of $240 and we’ve got one down and two to go… I haven’t had the stomach to project where S2 will end up in 3 years …he’s just finishing his freshman year. I haven’t begun to think about where S3 will end up…</p>