Just because I see all of this with my kids... I'd like to note one thing. In almost all of the posts here, the discussion centers on what the potential college student should look for when deciding on the right school, and the best financial decision. While I understand this, and in fact did investigation work myself, today, the debt levels call for much more work.
If you were in position to invest $500K in the stock market, would you let your kid make the decision? Point being, that the parent has a vested interest in what will happen to their children after college. ie. debt level as well as the kind of work they will choose.
I'd refer you back here, to what daughter in law Annie did. How much time she spent, and the results of that effort. It was a matter of working together with a 16 or 17 year old to dig in to a myriad of choices, fraught with confusion, and not always at the top of what lending institutions offer.
So... while we're looking at students, the fact that Annie and Steve were able to safely retire @ age 60, is, I believe, because of how she handled the financing of the childrens' education cost. in addition, in four more years, they will have added four "doctors" to the economy.
How it happened.
