I paid for undergrad and graduate school on my own and my husband did, too. So, we know our child could do the same if need be. That being said, I routinely run into people that have over $120k in student loan debt and I don't want that for my child.
Our compromise is to put $100 a month into the state's 529 plan. This is money that would otherwise go into a 401(k)/457 plan; however, since I am vested in a public retirement plan, we feel like we can spare this much without sacrificing our retirement security. We also add our spare change, any monetary gifts she receives, Upromise rebate moneym and any small amounts of unexpected money we receive. The experts say we need to putting away $300 a month if we want to pay the full bill. With our fixed amount and the little extras, we're saving somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2.
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