How much money did your parents give you for college?

I expect that our kids will go to college with or without my help because we have communicated in various ways that it's a critically important part of life.

That said, I'd probably sell my house before I asked them to go into significant debt to finance college. Work for spending money, sure.

If one chose not to go, I would push back hard regardless of whether I was paying. But in the end the decision is theirs, of course. And I trust that they will make smart choices.

You can't buy the right to make choices for an adult child.

Seriously? You would sell you house to finance your children's college. Hmm, that's something to think about.

Would that be a wise option? Sell you house for college. What would you do then...rent? Hmm, that's doesn't strike me as a good thing to me. Unless of course the tax breaks disappear.

Buy another house?

Why not take out a home equity loan? Would that be better?

I didn't mean to suggest that you should sell your house. I meant that I would go to great lengths. In my case, I have a large house that I won't need when the kids go, with enough equity to pay for college and make a down payment on a smaller place.

I also could pay out of my IRA. But again, that's not a recommendation for everyone. It would work for me because we have enough income to build back up our retirement.

I expect to pay for my kids' college. Not everyone can. And I think it's very reasonable to expect your kids to go to college in either case. There's a lot that we do as parents to enable college- going. Paying is actually a small part of the equation in the grand scheme.

Phew! I kinda thought so,but wanted to ask to make sure. This is letsrun after all (lol).

Yes, I agree there's quite a bit we can do to enable our children to attend college and do well.

I think I would like to know what I would actually do if hubby and I were millionaires.

Thankfully, though one received an academia scholarship (full) and the other is on her way.

Patti: Your kids earning a full academic scholarship is far better than rich parents writing checks. Your kids are obviously self motivated and I'm sure it has something to do with how they were raised.

Flagpole: You should write a book, "How to raise children by setting no expectations unless I give them money". You can follow up that book with "My family story: How to convert your basement to private living space for your adult children".

They paid in-state tuition, but would not have paid out-of-state. My degree was Biology which requires grad/medical professional school of some kind.