<p>I doubt colleges let you pre-pay your family contribution for future years, do they?</p>
<p>Actually some schools (one of the ones D applied to, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are others) do offer the option to pre-pay all 4 years’ tuition at the current year’s rate, and be protected against future increases. It was in the acceptance letter, or maybe the FA letter. I got a good laugh out of that since we don’t have that kind of money sitting around, but if I had a sudden windfall like the sale of a piece of property I’d consider it. Tuition tends to increase year to year at a higher rate than savings account interest or even most 529 appreciation.</p>