Off-Topic

Send them to school abroad - that's what my parents did (McGill, Montreal), and I got a top tier education for $15,000 per year.

That said, the price of post-secondary education in the US might be the worst thing about this country and the worst form of capitalism. Students in Quebec are protesting and striking against a $1500 increase over a seven-year period - completely absurd and ridiculous when you consider that the price of Quebec students is going from $3000 to $4500. But when you look at their reaction and other countries' dedication to making sure that everyone has a chance to attend university, the American system just looks very sad and pathetic.

That's just not true. I don't know why such an overwhelming majority of people keep repeating this line of thought. Are you guys not properly reading/applying for unsubsidized Stafford loans? Federal unsubsidized Stafford loans DO NOT REQUIRE A SHOWING OF FINANCIAL NEED.

Staffordterp, I feel your pain and I only have 1. Our plan was to have our house paid off by the time ours entered college. It sounded good at the time but now we realize that mortgage payment will only pay for about half of her tuition/room and board at a 4 year, in state school. So if she left today as opposed to 4 years from now, we would still be about 40k short.
I've tried to introduce the idea of community college or the military which garnered a luke warm reception. All I can say is that if I'm going to have to sell my soul to get her an education, she is going to have limited options when it comes time to pick a major. I'm not dumping 80k into a sociology degree.

Have your kids be taller imo.

I have two in college now. It was tough saving up to cover most of it. They both get 4 years on us and then the rest will be on them I suppose. Feel fortunate not to be on loans yet, or touching my home's equity. Seriously though, those of you with 5 years olds, dunno how you'll pay for it, unless you are making GoTerpSS money. UMD alone is costing us slightly over 20K a year now when all is said and done.

We did start with 529s for both when they were young, but that only covered about 2 years of UMD. The rest was just cold hard savings (owning Saturns instead of BMWs). I almost wish I went with the prepaid trust since in the end the 529s did average on their returns. I would advocate the 2 year CC then university approach, Virginia has something similar. Only way to be affordable as well as let your kid figure out what they want to major in before you spend the big bucks.

I paid 90% of my ugrad tuition/housing via loans and work, but got a lot of cash.

Rather than have your kids go to cc, i had a friend put their kid through cornell in 2.5 years and another went somewhere else in 3. they steered their kids to AP classes and had them take summer classes. It really sucked the college experience out of them, but their kids have no loans and are much further along than their peers. If you go the cc route, make sue that they have an idea of the four year schoo they would lie to go in to, so tey can make sure their credits transfer. A lot of kids I know who went too cc only saved a year because they didn't take te right classes or they didn't transfer over. THese kids went cc for two years and then to somewhere else for 2.5 or 3 years because of bad planning.

I disagree with this, but of course when I started school 15 years ago I only had to spend 6K a year.

Where else in the world has the cost of something gone up 400% in a little over a decade?

This is the smartest quote in this thread....

I had a talk with my mom this morning on the phone and she regaled this;

She graduated school with 4 years of tuition and housing on a private bank loan. She got a job as a teacher in Texas. She had the loan paid off AND a new car she bought as a graduation gift to herself paid off in 4 years. As a teacher. In Texas. ~20 some odd years ago.

FWIW, when a friend of mine recently had a baby, their financial advisor recommended they save $600/mo from day 1 for college tuition.

even earning 0% interest, that's 130k for a college education.

Agree with some of this, but I have a kid who has done everything right, both inside and outside of the classroom, and he wants to go away to school. I'm going to find a way to pay for it and I'm sure he will get some academic assistance. I have another who screwed around in high school and is now at community college for 2 years. He wanted to go away and we said not until you prove you can handle it. Depends on the kid to me.

Out of state schools will grant in-state tuition if your kid has very good grades and test scores and if you push hard enough. I've had three friends whose kids went out of state to good schools and they were able to get in-state tuition.

there's no chance tuition will rise the next 18 years like it has the past 18. 600/month is probably overdoing it for the average in-state education, but it doesn't hurt to over-budget.