We did (private school) too for both of our son with the exception of the student loans they all seem to be offered $5500 per year I think. While we did not dip into retirement savings for this, we did put in less for retirement because of it. I’m glad we did though because we now have 2 independent sons who have chosen careers that there will always be jobs in and they are both able to take care of themselves. That, to me, is key. DH and I have very little debt and although we can’t retire yet, if one of us were to lose our job it would not be a catastrophe. We could get by on much less than we are making now. The key I think is to amass as little debt as you can and provide the tools your children need to become independent adults whether they live at home or wherever. One son lives at home but that is only because his job worked out to be 1 mile from our house. It wasn’t planned but it allowed him to pay off his student debt in one year. We now only have to take care of ourselves, and that is a huge freedom retired or not.