<p>Lots of things can happen in 18 years. The US higher education system may change drastically, otherwise you may look at $100k per year Cost of Attendance at a lot of private colleges; the public universities may suffer from deep budget cuts. Your child may or may not have developmental issues–my very bright nephew has ADD and borderline Asperger’s, which led his parents to think about his college education with very different criteria from ours. The children of two profs I know dropped out of college after their freshman year. You may suffer economic reversals; you may move to a state where the flagship university does not offer the kind of education you child wants. And so on, so forth.
Here are a few CC aphorisms: “love the kid on the couch” (from Blossom). Your kid is not even on the couch, yet!
“The best laid plans of mice and men oft gang agley” (from Robbie Burns).
The standard advice is to secure your retirement and save as much as is feasible for your child’s (or children’s) higher education. Enjoy parenthood!</p>