I also agree that saving for 4-year public college will be hard for a lot of people. I calculated $5,000 contribution each year for 17 years and invest to gain 10% per year to get to $250,000 — not easy.

My wife and I are planning to have 2, so saving for both will be very hard. So they may have no choice but to go to public elementary and high school.

My son is 3.5. We’ve been saving for college since he was about a year old, but we’ve also had a couple of small but very timely inheritances that were earmarked for his college education. So it’s easy for me to say “I’ll save enough for a 4 year state school.” I know even that is an almost unattainable goal for most people.

Other advantages: We plan to have only one kid. And we plan to send him to public elementary and high school even though we live in a city and the public schools aren’t too fantastic. So it will be easier for us to save for college because we won’t be paying tuition between preschool and college.

By the way, you just described my situation. My parents spent their life savings to send me and my sister to Ivy League school. While I am very appreciative, I am also very regretful. If I’d know the sacrifice they’ve made, I would have made a very different decision regarding my education.

Right now, both of them are living with me and I am very happy with the arrangement. At the same time, I am also very concerned about how I can be a good son and provide for them in their later years.

So, it’s really one big trade off because I didn’t have to worry about my education and got early start financially, but I have to worry about their retirement. Personally, I do not want to burden my child with such a responsibility.

To be honest, a lot of parents think that it is their money and they have the choice as to whether they give it to their children. The schools, and the federal government, tend to look at it as another cost of raising a child — and functionally it screws the kid over financial aid-wise when the parents don’t meet their part of the EFC.

@ Brip Blap – consider:
1) It’s a lot more expensive than it used to be to go to college, just because you could pay for it doesn’t mean your children will be able to
2) More people go to college than before, and it is considered more important for getting a “good job” than it ever has been

@Pinyo
There are many excellent ways to teach your children money management, and many excellent ways to let them learn life lessons when they become college students. Most of these do not preclude you having the ability to help them pay for college. Personally I knew the value of money well before my parents sent me off to university.

Also, I work with several Chinese people and the subject of college and retirement savings came up. I was amazed to realize they viewed their *children* as key components of their retirement plan. Better to send your kid to a better school, let them focus on studying and not working, have them become a doctor, and let *them* support you.

I’m not sure this is the “right” way to go about it, but it’s another view. And I think it’s a good response to people who think providing for your children’s education is somehow “spoiling” them. Providing for their own car when they are 16, yes that’s a touch on the spoiling side. Investing *with* them in their education- that is not about to ruin them.

As far as the excess money, that sounds like a good plan. Although, I still have to find out exactly what happens to the excess in 529 plan.

When TBH made his comment, I really liked the idea of shared responsbility, and remember how irresponsible I was because I didn’t have that burden. I learned life lessons a lot faster when I had to stand on my own two legs.

@KMC – Yearly review and adjustment sounds like a good plan. Thank you for responding.

This is one saving area one want to nail as close as possible. Here, it is possible to ’save too much.’ With that in mind, we’re prepared to adjust a little bit either way if we’re not on track many years from now.