^ “and of course we never saved a dime for it.”
This is a good point. Starting to save for kids’ educations, particularly using tax-efficient structures such as 529 accounts will just give parents more options when the kids reach 18, due to the time value of money, ability to take on riskier investments due to the long-term time horizon, etc. This is particularly true for us baby-boomers many of whom (myself included) took some financial hits during the Great Recession. Obviously, I realise that many parents don’t have the ability to save when their kids are small but if they do, it can make a big impact in their kids’ university choices.