Retirement vs College

Financial advisors will say if you can do both, that's great. But if you can't, save for retirement. You can get loans, financial aid, etc., for college. You can't get anything other than what you save for retirement.

I had loans, and I worked on campus.

I'm probably going to be boo'd beyond belief for my ideas, but I don't think it is the parent's responsibility to pay for college!

Yes, my parents ended up giving me 20k for college, but that was only b/c they sold a piece of land that they had owned since before I was born and never used. It was sold my Junior year of HS. I NEVER expected them to give me a dime and I'm an only child!

I earned a 1/2 tuition scholarship with my smarts and talents and worked all but my first semester of school. I walked out debt free and proud of that fact. Even if my parents hadn't have given me the money, I still would have only had 10k or less in debt when I left.

My father and all 7 of his brothers and sisters paid for their own college education. My dad worked on the railroad every summer to pay for his tuition and costs. He knew that it cost more to go now, and so he wanted to help me some, but it was not something that I expect.

I think that parents are made to feel obligated to pay for their college and that shouldn't be so. So many of these kids go to school with no idea what they want to do other than party and waste precious time and money b/c it's not their money that they are spending. Let them earn their living. They aren't going to be supporting you for a long time. They'll have their own families to support.

Retirement. If you have too much saved for college, you will get no assistance. You will pay less in the long run if you do not save for it. But they look at it all, if you have it tied up in retirement funds, it is like it is not there.

1. They may choose the trades and wont need a college fund.
2. They maybe the athletic, get a scholarship, and wont need a college fund.
3. They may be academic and get a scholarship, and wont need the fund.
4. May choose to just not go.

too many different options.

I had 8 kids. I could not afford to send my kids to college. So I worked with my kids academically. I let the universities seek out my kids. All 8 have been to college. Two of them got full ride academic scholarships. 4 more got partial scholarships.

Instead of working a part time job to help pay for college, I worked with my kids to improve their grades so they would get scholarships. It worked wonderfully. There was some crying, weeping, and wailing about having to study and do homework, but it worked.

We also told our kids they could stay at home rent free and food free if they wanted to go to college from home. 7 of my 8 kids did that.

Save for retirement and work with your kids to earn scholarships.
Good luck to you and yours.

There was never enough money to save for college. My kids got a full-time parent for most of their lives, but had to sacrifice getting their college funded.

I had stingy parents, who were also not particularly present or involved in my life. I paid for my own college. Granted, college was cheaper back then. If I had to choose between one or the other, I would choose parents who were present, vs. parents who handed me money. That's not a judgment on working parents -- that's just what I chose to give my children.

Now that retirement age is looming, there is no way we will be paying off our kids' loans. They don't want us living on their sofas. So our money goes to retirement.

Absolutely retirement comes first. The "kids" can find their way through college, but there is no reason to mortgage our future (or theirs, if they end up helping us) by not planning properly for ourselves. I know people who banked on the kids getting good jobs and supporting them in their old age...and for whatever reason it didn't happen. Kids didn't make enough, didn't have good relationships, etc. Part of our financial planning is to not be a burden to our kids when we retire. That's more important than fully funding as much post-HS graduation as they want. If they want to reach for an advanced degree - great! But that's their bill, not mine. We have provided assistance to the older kids as we are able, but not to the extent that we are in debt (we are debt free other than the house), or that we are sacrificing our own retirements. My SD is working to support her room and board and has a few loans.

If I was in a job which required a degree to go forward, I'd get that degree. Many employers offer assistance if it pertains to your job. My sister got an accounting degree to advance in her field. Her BA is Graphic Design.

Further, not everyone wants to or should go to college. My nephew is in mechanics school and that is a better choice for him than a standard 4 yr degree. I'm sure he'll do fine. People always need work on their cars.

Not all college is free in Europe. Britain has moved away from the free university model toward some levels of payment, with much angst and anger. But it's not accurate to think that all of Europe is sticking to free education for everyone. Still, it's cheaper than here, but it's also shorter (three years is standard university length for an undergrad degree in Britain).

Skills and experience are important, but credentials remain important as well. Don't expect that in a few years, employers are going to say "It's fine if you don't have a college degree." Those with some form of degree or certificate or professional certification will still end up with more pay and better promotion prospects for some time to come. In some computer fields that is changing but don't expect it to change elsewhere very fast.

I have a friend who has gobs of experience in his field but his college degree is in English. He can't ever fully advance because he does not hold a degree in his field, though he has a college degree. He's been told to his face many times that he's valued and has good experience but won't ever be promoted to certain levels. Kids fresh out of college jump him in the promotion line because he's got the experience and skills but not the degree. It's sad, and unfair, and frankly quite dumb, but it's the real world for now, and likely to stay that way for a while. Employers move more slowly than you think. Those who move faster, like in the computer field, are only a fraction of employers right now.

We do both. We save ~18% for retirement (depends upon the year, some years 15%, some up to 22%). We are 48 and 53 right now, DS is 8. We started saving for retirement in our early 20s, long before having a (single) child. We do not save a specific percentage for college, but are on track with savings for him to be able to attend a private college in 10 years, if that is what he elects. We would like to retire when he finishes college.

I do not see that simply hoping the college model will change in the next 10-15 years is a realistic way to prepare for college. Skills and experience are NOT more important than a college diploma (and an actual college education). According to all the most recent research, college graduates earn 60% more than non-graduates, have a way lower unemployment rate, have substantially greater lifetime earnings (adjusted for the time cost of money they laid out for college and their fewer years of earning because they are in school) AND they are HAPPIER. Yes, there are always questions when studies try to measure happiness. But I think it is hard to beat richer and happier both.

I think our ability to save enough money has a number of bases. First, our parents provided both of us with the education (and professional school) that has enabled us to have steady, reliable and rewarding (financially and professionally) careers. For this we are both grateful. It enables us to provide for ourselves, our child and our employees.

BOTH of us work. While I have no problem that many people choose to be stay at home parents, that is a financial sacrifice (of our futures and our son's education) that neither one of us was prepared to make.

We have chosen to have a single child - for lots of reasons - but not least was our choice to be able to provide one child with everything we hope for him to have to the best of our abilities.

We are not big spenders. We bought less than 1/2 the house our income qualified us for (according to the mortgage companies). We took a 15 year loan and paid it of in 11 years. We do not take a lot of vacations - when we travel it is generally for work or to visit family. We cook rather than purchase pre-made and processed foods.

ETA- How can saving for college and then NOT needing the money for college (because child gets scholarship, elects trade school, etc) be bad?. It's like you get a couple hundred thousand extra to apply to retirement. How is that bad?

ETA - We save for college just like we save other money - we invest in a variety of options. We mentally look at some of the $$ as destined for college. We have not (yet) put money into an account that would only qualify for college (certainly not one that only paid towards an in state school). So no penalties if we use the $$ for something else.

ETA - It is truly disheartening that so many people seem to see college as simply preparation for a job. And see an Arts degree or a kid going to school without a job path in mind as a waste of time. I want to send my son to college for the education. It's gravy that he will also be much more financially secure for life because of it. Education, science and the arts are not a waste of time. They are a HUGE part of what civilization, history and the future are about. OK, done with the soap box for now.

We save for both. According to our financial advisor we already have enough saved to retire at 65, which is about 10 years from now. We've also put away around 130,000 for the 2 kids for college. So, not enough college money yet, still working on that. (Kid 1 is now 19 and a freshman in college, kid 2 is 16).

I agree that college is ridiculously expensive nowadays. When I was that age a person could still work part time in high school and summer jobs, and save plenty to pay tuition at a state university. Not so anymore!

eta: If by some chance my kids don't use all of the college money, dh and I would be happy to go back to school ourselves. You're never too old to learn something!

i think it's nice when parents can pay for a child's college. we couldn't. we took care of their associates degrees because that was do-able. both of them are paying for their own bachelors', and if they go beyond that, they'll pay for it too.
i think the best gift parents can give their kids is to be self-sufficient throughout their retirement. you can never be sure what life is going to throw you, but 'giving it all' to the kids, then having to throw oneself onto their (probably already stressed) mercies when one is old and infirm is no favor.
we could not afford to save for both. we didn't even start our retirement savings until we were in our 40s.
do i wake up in the middle of the night clutching my chest with worry over my kids' student loans? yes i do.
but we can't do it all.
khairete
S.

Both.
But the advice I've been given is that you can take out a loan to help pay for college, but you can't take out a loan to pay for your retirement. So although we have both, percentage-wise, we put more into retirement accounts.

Education is the single most important event in a child's life-it is the most enduring asset one can have and cannot lose! That said, there is nothing wrong with attending a two year program after high school and transferring to a public university to finish. Find a balance-it is very important; the rich, smug guy that went to Stanford and said that college is not important can say that because he is a rich, smug, educated guy.

I don't think the percentages thing really helps. If our income is about $1mm a year, the same percentage applied to that as a household with $100k a year yields vastly different numbers. College is more of a fixed cost. Fortunately we can fund both college and retirement. If we had to make a choice, it would be retirement but not a luxurious at all retirement. And in the meantime, I would stay in a smaller house and save as much as possible to reach both goals if possible. I also disagree that skills are becoming more impt than a degree. I haven't seen one statistic to support that. I only see how much better the employment rate and earnings are for college grads. I do think the pace of tuition increases will slow but I do not think it will reverse.

Ideally, people can save for both but if that's not an option, always, always, always fund retirement savings first. There are many ways to pay for college. With retirement, when the money is gone, it's gone. No one wants to spend their retirement in poverty.

FWIW, I work in the employee benefits business and deal with both retirement and college savings accounts. From what I see? People really aren't saving enough for either.

Right now we're working on paying down some debt so I am contributing 6% to my retirement plan - enough to maximize my employer match. My company also used to have a generous profit sharing plan - up to 15% in the good years - but that has been discontinued (it was about 5% in recent years). For college savings, it's at about 2% of my current pay, which was closer to 5% when I first started saving (my salary has increased but our savings $ hasn't).

I can honestly say that the greatest gift my parents and in-laws have given us is the knowledge that they are financially secure in their retirement. Both sets of parents planned well and retired well. Knowing that we won't have to worry about supporting them financially is wonderful.

ETA: @Dana the downside to having college savings that your child doesn't need is that you then owe taxes on your earnings plus, in most cases, an additional 10% penalty for the non-qualified distribution. It's not the end of the world, but why give up your money to taxes and penalties if you don't have to?

ETA: @ Erica T you might want a second opinion or more research on that Roth IRA vs. 529 opinion from your advisor. Many advisors really don't understand how these vehicles work. First, the first $50K of a 529 account doesn't count on the FAFSA so everyone's assertion that 529 accounts minimize your financial aid is not entirely correct. It reduces your need only when you've saved more than $50K. Secondly, you can only use your Roth IRA *contributions* (NOT the earnings) to pay for your child's education without paying a penalty. Once you tap into the earnings, you start paying penalties. Thirdly, you can only contribute $5500 a year to a Roth IRA so if you're using one for retirment, you're going to limit your retirement and college savings to that amount annually. Finally, when you use a Roth IRA to pay for education expenses, it counts as income for you for the year you used the funds, reducing your aid eligibility for the following year. 529 distrubutions from accounts owned by the parent or student do not count in your income.

I feel that it is more important for me to save for retirement. Granted my children are covered for most of their college by the generosity of their grandparents, but even if they weren't, they would have to pay for it themselves just as I am paying for it myself.

My thought is that my future is dependent on me (and hubs). I am working HARD to pay my own way through college and I will use this hard work to provide for my children's NEEDS (and of course many wants along the way) as long as they are under my roof, and college is a majorly expensive want. If they WANT it bad enough, they will not only succeed, but they will earn it for themselves. I will always support their dreams, but I insist they keep a foot on reality. If that means they go to junior college and pay as they go for two years, then get student loans for the remainder of their education, then, if they want that degree bad enough, that is what they can do. Of course there are scholarships and grants, but the rest would be their responsibility.

I will not sacrifice my security in my retirement for an overpriced education...which honestly, its all overpriced.

When we got married, my husband was in his late 30s and had never been married, nor did he have any children. We started to save for retirement then. When we had our children, we were advised to save for retirement and not worry about the college education, as there are many options to help pay for that.
That said, from the second our children entered school, they knew that college was expected, but Mom and Dad had no way to pay for it. They worked hard. They were good students. They both found a way to pay for their education -- ROTC scholarships. They will give back years of service in return for the gift of their tuition. My son also got an academic scholarship that covered part of his room and board. My daughter got an academic scholarship that covers all of her room and board. They are both required to maintain high GPAs in order to keep those scholarships.
So -- it worked for us. Your mileage may vary.

We are fortunate enough that we can actively save for both. My husband automatically has money deducted from his paycheck every month that goes straight to a retirement account. We also have money deducted from our checking account each month for the kids' college funds. We should be in a good position for both college and retirement when the time comes. While I would love for my kids to get scholarships and gain work experience while in college, I don't want them to be saddled with loans when they get out. I believe as a parent it is my responsibility to pay for college, since it is very important to me that my children graduate from a four year school. I know many others have different points of view and I can see where they come from as well and certainly don't fault or criticize them for thinking college is the child's responsibility. But, for me, I believe that we should do everything we can to pay for our own children's education.

Okay so I'm amused by some of what you said. Sorry. I don't think college will change much in the next 15 years.

Skill and experience as NOT far more important than credentials. It might be in some fields but not ALL fields. As for what Europe does, well, they are having financial issues as well so I'm not sure that system will come to the US. The UK has moved away from that model somewhat as well. College expenses are getting out of control and that needs to be addressed but free? Naw, I don't see that happening. Personally, I think trade schools need to come back. Plumbing, electrical? Needed desperately.

We told both kids we would pay for their bachelors degrees. Post degrees are on them. We also said that we would pay for in-state colleges only. If they wanted out of state, great! They would be responsible for the additional cost.

Our daughter went to a tier two school. What that means is she got a great education for a lower amount. No she did not graduate from University of Texas but then I didn't pay for University of Texas! She graduated from Sam Houston which is smaller and lower in cost. I would put her education up next to a grad from UT or Texas A&M any day of the week!

Our son is going out of state. He is in the Army National Guard so he gets in-state tuition. Yay!

Both kids were required to work as well. We paid for certain things but not all things so if they wanted a certain lifestyle, they had to fund it!

Their education is the best gift we could give them. They will always have that. What they make of it is up to them.

Retirement? We save. Working hard on that one right now!!

I'm not going to talk about what we do personally, because it's complicated and it gets into privacy issues. But I would strongly recommend flipping your ratios. Put the percentage you put into retirement into college. Put the percentage you put into college into retirement.

There are fewer and fewer options for young people without a college degree. College is getting more and more expensive. And there are fewer and fewer good jobs for young college grads. What all that means is, kids NEED to go to college, and they are graduating with staggering debts.

Could all this change in the coming years? Sure! Anything could happen. But there are no observable trends pointing in the direction of making college less essential or more affordable. While there are social forces pushing for more affordability in higher education, honestly, there are much STRONGER social forces pushing against government support for higher education. I hate that, but it's true.

So, as a parent, I think it's my job to take as much of the burden off my son as possible.

For retirement, my attitude is that this happens after college. So I'll put more funds into it when college is done. I do hope to hang on to the equity in my house (though I haven't written off the possibility of borrowing against it to pay for college), so that will help with retirement right there. I also really believe in being healthy, in part so I'll have working years post-college. Of course there are no guarantees, but it's part of the imperative to work out and eat right.

So, sorry if that was harsh. You sound like a smart mom and a good saver, but I would recommend rethinking your premises.

Our financial adviser put it this way: your child has a good chance of getting scholarships and loans to pay for college. You can't get scholarships for retirement.

He also suggested not doing the college savings accounts. That money has to be used for college/school. If your child doesn't go to college for some reason that money is nearly impossible to access and there are big penalties if it is not used for school. He suggested contributing to a Roth IRA instead. That money is taxed when you open it. It is not taxed again. That money can be used for college, medical expenses, retirement, or whatever. It is much easier to access and there are not as many stipulations on that money.

Right now we just have savings accounts for our 4 and 6 year old that we contribute a little to every month. It is not a very big amount. When the accounts reach a higher amount we will probably put them in an existing Roth IRA. My parents have also opened savings accounts for all of their grandkids and contribute to them several times a year. My grandmother did the same for me and it paid for my first year of college.

One thing that comes to mind is...They give loans for college, but not for retirement. I would think saving for retirement is more important. I would prefer my kids not incur a ton of debt to go to school, but we will need something to live on when we're older and I don't want to put that burden on my kids either. At this point, WE are saving for retirement and my kids are saving for their own education.

We currently save for both with more going into the retirement pot vs college. We contribute quarterly to the kids college investment accounts, so what we can save will grow. One thing we try to keep in mind is that it is possible to finance a college education in multiple ways (scholarships, grants, financial aid, loans), but there is ONLY 1 way to pay for retirement (savings). I am also currently staying home with our kids, but will be exploring options for going back to work in the next few years (when youngest gets a little older) and that will allow us to set more aside to help the kids further their career goals.

We save for both and have been doing so for years. I don't know the exact percentages, but a financial advisor told us recently we are doing much better than average in the amounts we have accumulated for both college and retirement. I know we are fortunate that we can do that. We also live in a fairly modest house and that is in part so we can save for both. We have decent vehicles, but very practical, and we usually drive them for ten years. So we've made some conscious choices.

We save for both college and retirement. Those two items are priorities for us. We live in a small home, we spend frugally, we don't have luxuries like a cell phone or take expensive exotic vacations, but we do make sure we save for the future. I have never calculated what percentage of income we put away.

In Canada the RESP's are a tax free education account that can be used towards any type of post secondary education, including university, college, trade school etc, and it is transferrable to other family members, so if one child chooses a much less expensive education the savings can go to the other child's more expensive education.

I don't expect that the college savings will necessarily cover the entire costs of my kids education, but it will be a good start. I would still expect my kids to earn scholarships and to work and save money towards their own education. Student loans are also a possibility, but I would hate for them to have to start out in debt.

My kids will not go away to university. They will live at home and go to one of the four universities, three colleges or many trade schools we have here at home. If they need to leave to study something not offered here, then we will cross that bridge when we get there.

We still have 20 years to retirement, but only six years to college!

It should be all about retirement. College is secondary. Ideally you save for both but retirement should be your highest priority. Any financial planner will tell you that.

My view is it's all a partnership in a way. As a child, I wouldn't want to see my parents broke and have no savings in retirement bc they paid for my college but I would also not want to see them just take care of themselves and not really care how I have to pay for college and see it all as my responsibility. I feel a college degree is very necessary and I don't see that changing. So in the same way I wouldn't move to an area with a crappy HS bc I could buy a bigger house and too bad my kids don't go to a good HS, I wouldn't look at college as all their responsibility. Years ago with good manufacturing jobs college wasn't so necessary but seems to be now and I've never seen expert predictions that college will become less important. If anything, I think a secondary degree is becoming more and more key for real success in a professional, white collar setting. I worry less about which college my children go to after seeing how graduate school can be a real game changer for people's career tracks and potential. I don't really see paying for graduate school though except maybe medical school. I find that so a tough field with a huge tuition bill and admire people who go into medicine so much that if my children wanted to, I would help with med school. I feel doctors more than give back... But in general there of course should be a balance but I do feel like parents should sacrifice for their children. My parents rarely took us out to eat for instance. My mom cooked even when she was tired. Saved us a lot of money and I'm sure it helped build up our college funds. They also drove cars for years and didn't splurge on fancy ones. She never would pay for a cleaning person to save money. They pointed these things out to me and as I've posted before, I really appreciated it and valued the tuition money they gave me. But what percentages you save also have to be based on the ages of the parents... Really young parents have more time to save for retirement obviously. So a lot of factors go into the mix. I would look at dollar amounts that are necessary to reach a goal vs focus on percentages. I know you're looking for a bigger house. Personally if I wasn't going to be able to pay for a good chunk of my kids' college, I wouldn't buy a bigger house. That's another thing my parents sacrificed for us and I appreciate. We have repaid them as adults btw in many ways. So the partnership continues...

We are huge planners, self motivated numbers people when it comes to saving money for retirement and college.

We have fully funded our daughter's education because we feel like that is our obligation as a parent. She should not graduate from college loaded in debt to begin her career.

I don't understand how some families throw their children to the wolves like they do when it comes to college education. Of course the child should have some "skin" in the game but the child should also have choices if they choose to study abroad or take courses that would truly enrich their lives and be unable to do so because they are working 2-3 jobs to get through college.

We also make the maximum contributions allowed by the government into our retirement accounts each year.

We've done this for YEARS because of our beliefs in taking care of ourselves and our daughter.

Two years ago we decided our company was successful enough to begin 401K plans so we set them up so our daughter's 401K is started. She is an employee of our company.

Daughter has been raised in an environment of delayed gratification, providing for ourselves, depend on no one, live beneath your means and stay out of debt.

Of course we have made huge sacrifices in order to do this but we still are very fortunate to have a very financially stable household.

So, to answer your question.... BOTH have always been on a top priority list and we continue to do both. Since daughter is in college now she should not need extra funds for her education but if she were to need them, we would make the investment.

I am fully aware that I am odd man out on this issue. We are also very blessed with choices we have made for our family.

We save for both.
Me and Hubby both have 401k's (I need to put mine into an IRA one of these days), and I'm vested in 2 pension plans.
We have an education account set up for our son and we've got a good portion saved away for his college.
He'll still need to work and he might have to get a few student loans to finish it up but he is a straight A student so far and we're hoping for a bit of help from scholarships/grants.

I think Europe has figured quite a few things out that America just can't seem to get a handle on.
That might be a big part of the problem.
Anytime there's a labor shortage, instead of educating the population so they can take/get the jobs - they'd rather import them (massive H1B visa programs) - tech and medicine fields are rife with it.

When it comes to college you have to be careful what you pick for a major and really need to consider the return on investment.
Will the degree you earn get you a salary that will actually allow you to pay back the student loans? - Often it doesn't.
There's a lot to be said for going to a trade school.
A plumber with a good head on his shoulders will soon be running his own company and it's not a job that can be off-shored.

We do both.
It (the emphasis) depends a LOT on the current age of the adults.
We've been told to concentrate on retirement, so we do.
But we also save in a fund for higher education, as well, because, thank God, we can.
I happen to believe the 'value' of a college degree is higher when the student "owns" it--that is works for it, contributes to it, in other words, generally buys into it. My .02

I think saving for retirement is more important than saving for your children's college, if you have to choose.
Also, if you CAN save for your children's college do NOT do a college savings plan. Do a whole life insurance policy on them instead. Then, if they decide NOT to go to college, you aren't penalized for using that money for something else. Actually, using a whole life insurance is a good retirement plan as well, plus you are leaving your kids something when you pass away.

My husband has planned on retiring by age 60, if not sooner. In his field he can be a contract worker and make a significant amount of money after he retires. Another option is for him to work at an Ivy league school and our kids will get free tuition (he's already worked there and is welcome back any time).

We do not have a "college" account for our kids. There will be a few factors for us to decide how we will handle our kids college education. We instill education and tell them it's not an option, but we are realist. If they are on the right path with their education and life we most definitely will help them. But we do not believe it is a parents responsibility to fund higher education.

Like 8kidsdad, we focus on academics at home; math and science.

Didn't you say at one point that your kids have dual citizenship and that they would possibly go to university abroad? (I think that was you...) If so, their college education will cost less anyway.

If I were you, I would NOT consider college being cheaper or substantially different when it's your kids' turns. Grandchildren, yes. Your children, no. If your husband makes a sizable bonus every year, you should put the bonus towards your college fund and not use it to live off of. (Especially to pay towards that new house you're going to buy.) I mean for that to be above and beyond your current 7% savings.

As for the rest, a lot depends on how old you two are (how far you'll be from retirement when the kids go to college.) If you'll be in your late 40's, it will be harder for you two to tighten your belts to put the kids through school. If you're in your mid to late 50's, you could sell that big house you are getting ready to buy and downsize to make it easier. You probably can't even see yourselves doing that at this stage in your lives (you're still expanding your horizons house-wise).

My guess is that you'll decide how much you are going to give your kids and expect them to foot the rest of the bill as college loans for the rest. Since you homeschool, it will be your job to teach them to test well and work hard to build their academics so that they get scholarships and grants. You will also need to either teach them to research effectively enough to find scholarships outside of just the colleges (community and civic) or do it yourself. (Advanced couponing, LOL!)

I am a stay at home mom. We fully fund my husband's 401K and I have a IRA/Roth IRA and some rollover accounts from when I worked. We have about $30K saved for our daughters' education. But, we assume that we will pay for their education from our current income, as it is high enough. We may not be looking at top-tier schools. Regarding re-entry into the workplace "someday" - it's extremely hard to re-enter or enter after a long absence and make good money; college degree or not.

We lived in Germany for 3 years (military). Yes, kids there go to college for free. They take a test around 8th grade to decide who goes to college and who does not. If you're picked (based on your test score), you go to a college prep high school and then on to college. If not, they you're trained for a job. Not the best system, in my opinion!

We save for college (3 kids) and retirement.

We save more for retirement. There are loans (and if you are lucky scholarships) for college but there are NO loans for retirement. Some may argue and claim that a reverse mortgage is the retirement loan but I strongly disagree. We do save for college as well but retirement comes first.

I disagree with you about college in 15 years. It will look the same. There may be a few more online programs and online degrees might be more acceptable but they will still be considered as "less than" an on-campus degree.

College is no longer free in most of the EU countries. Germany instituted tuition over 10 years ago as did the UK, and the Netherlands. All of them charge outrageous prices for non EU citizens.

I do applaud your saving for retirement. A great gift for your children would be to be self sufficient in your old age and not dependent on them.

Good luck!

Can you use money from an IRA for education? I actually don't know, but I do listen to Dave Ramsey. He is always telling people not to take money out of retirement accounts because of the tax penalties.

I'm just saying, you might want to make sure that's a realistic possibility.