As for my kids, Purdue has held tuition for about 10 years. They told us to figure $88K average for 4 years, in state, living on campus. However, by choosing lower cost housing and meal plans, we got it down to about $75K per kid. We put $20 a month into 529 plans every week for each kid starting when they were born. That came up to about $18-20K by the time they were 18. They got merit scholarships. 1 worked in high school. Both worked during college and summers between years. Both got out of 4 year debt free. One has about $30K left in her savings account from her jobs and $5K left in her 529. The other spent it all on education. Oldest took $32K in loans to go to grad school. And $8K for a car loan. Has paid off $20K of student loans and $3K of car loan in 3 years. So has about $17K in debt at 27 years old. But has that much in savings and 401K, so she's effectively neutral this year, and by next she'll be in positive net worth.
