I wrote the following in another thread.
As a kid growing up in a Jewish family, I absorbed a few values. The first value was the importance of education. This was the most important investment that parents could make in their kids. (Makes sense if they are always kicking you out of countries – human capital is the only kind of capital you can take with you). My parents were not rich but paid for four kids to go to college. Two got PhDs. Mine was in a math-y field and so I had fellowships for all four years to cover tuition, room and board (not living high on the hog). My sister’s was in clinical psychology and I believe that she had assistantships to cover her tuition and expenses, though my parents may have covered some stuff. But, a younger sister went to law school and they paid for it in full. They would have paid for a masters in education for my brother, but he was able to use an apprenticeship program in our state to get certified. The second value was the importance of putting your all into school (and into success at work after school was over).
As a consequence, I think I considered it something of a moral imperative to help my kids with their education. I don’t remember saying this, but apparently I told my wife at our wedding that we should start saving our cash wedding gifts for the kids’ college educations. She was baffled as there were no immediate plans for kids and we didn’t have lots of household stuff. I’m making no moral judgment about others who do differently, but it feels like something I really must do if I can. And I have been able to do so.
In the other thread, someone took offense that I was saying that Jews are somehow more interested in education than others. I was not saying that. I just took that from my upbringing.
As mentioned above, we started saving for college before we had kids and I am getting ready to put away money for currently non-existent grandkids’ education.
I wanted my kids to start their careers with no debt but with a strong sense of the importance of embarking on career paths that create value in the world, enable them to support themselves (and families), are are personally fulfilling and that they put serious effort into being successful in their careers. Both kids are now following very different career trajectories that play to their strengths and interests. Both are working hard and doing well. I’m proud of both of them.
As the cost of universities continues to escalate much faster than the rate of inflation, I think most universities will fold or find alternate, cheaper methods of delivery of education. I don’t think Stanford or Princeton or Amherst or Williams will go away, but I think the current trends are not good for a) many LACs and lesser universities; or b) job opportunities for professors 10 or 15 years hence.