<p>I’m another parent who started saving when my kids were born. I saved $100/per kid each month. I also had a heart to heart with grandparents when they were born (not at a holiday, by the way) and told them that I’d really appreciate even a $10 deposit to their college accounts as a birthday or Christmas present instead of toys, especially when the kids were too young to have expectations for presents. When guaranteed college savings accounts came into existence, I rolled all of those savings into the 529 accounts. When I had a “windfall” from an accident, I put $1000 into each of the kids savings accounts. By the way, my spouse wasn’t happy with all this college saving and kept arguing that we should be using the money to pay off bills instead. I felt that if we deferred college saving, there would always be a reason to defer…whether it was bills, family vacations, or some other expense.</p>
<p>I raised my kids with the expectation of going to state universities. I bought them the T-shirts, we visited the campuses a few times so they were familiar with the schools, and followed the sports teams. I didn’t want my kids to have expectations that they might choose to go to hugely expensive liberal arts schools, and thought that being familiar with the state university would help them to look forward to being a student there. </p>
<p>I know that many posters will disagree with me, but I also talked to them from childhood about majors. I wanted them each to pursue practical degrees that would let them earn a living when they graduated. If they wanted to pursue less practical interests, I explained that they could take on minors or pursue those other interests on their own once they were earning a living.</p>
<p>We also discussed the fact that they could graduate from the state universities without debt, which would make a huge difference for them if they chose to go to graduate schools.</p>
<p>It worked for two of them, who attended state universities without undergrad debt. One is now a lawyer (passed the bar and found a job, thank goodness) and one is in pharmacy. </p>
<p>One did choose a $45,000+ year private school for nursing, BUT the “deal” was that the cost had to be the same as the public university or the student would be solely responsible for paying the difference. Fortunately, scholarships brought the cost down. This student also has decided to live at home to save room and board costs.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine facing college expenses without 18 years of prior college planning. Some of my kids’ friends parents just threw up their hands and told their kids that they were on their own. Two of them chose ROTC scholarships to get through college. Another kid was fortunate to have earned great scholarships, and a few took out big loans. Many chose state schools to keep the costs down, and another two went to CC for their first two years to save money. Many of those expensive schools are always hunting for students, and are happy to take transfer students.</p>