OP- a better public service would be to remind families that there is NO substitute for covering off the basics- an emergency fund (in cash, not gold coins, a Picasso lithograph, a restored Corvette); life insurance, and a tax advantaged retirement account.
It’s April. In addition to the financial turmoil caused by Covid, I’m hearing about families turning themselves into knots trying to figure out how to come up with the dough to pay for… drum roll… Villanova. NYU. Fairfield. Trinity. Northeastern. Drexel.
These are fine schools. But I would not be taking out a HELOC right now to get bragging rights. Folks have short memories and it’s starting to feel like 2008 all over again- but worse- because people are dying.
I told one neighbor (at an appropriate distance of course) “read the fine print before you decide to raid your 401K for tuition” (she had said “we are going to the mat to figure out how to pay for little Susie’s first choice”, which is a perfectly fine but not academically outstanding or rigorous college) and her response was “who the heck has a 401K?”
This is a family with a home, two nice cars, just did a fancy home addition to install a “game room and home theater”, takes frequent vacations, etc. They are wondering if they are getting a refund from their country club if the “season” never opens.
So OP- do a public service and remind people that college lasts four years- financial ruin can run for a lifetime. And an unfunded retirement won’t last forever (at some point you die) but it can sure feel like forever if you are living on social security in a rented room because you used your home equity to pay for your kid’s college tuition.