I think I will get more out of reading others' thoughts in this thread than I can contribute.
What we did has worked out well, so far. We did not save at all for college, but all along we have spent for our child's education. We knew that come the college years we would be willing to continue the highest yearly level of spending we'd put out for "education" up to that point, possibly more. However, we also remained open to the possibility that we would help fund a new business for our child, rather than pay for college. We figured he would probably choose college, but perhaps he would want to begin a business.
We also pretty much counted on our belief that our child could get scholarships. That was risky, no doubt, but we had reason to think he could.
Our vacations were educational. They were not terribly expensive, but I am so, so glad we took them. Some of them affected our child profoundly, helping to form his personality in ways that makes him goal oriented, self-assured, independent, observant, thrifty, innovative, patient with others, able to endure, satisfied in his heart. These are things that do help when it comes to learning schoolish things. They were also worth learning in themselves and were so well done through those vacations.
As I said, it all worked out fine. Son (now in college) got enough excellent scholarships to take his pick from among several universities. He has chosen a major for which he has to work very hard. I honestly don't see how he could spare study time for more than a few hours a week. Jobs are hard to come by in the rural university town, anyway. Plus he does work a few "service hours" a week connected with one scholarship. So we parents are happy to continue spending on him for room, board, transportation, and general living needs. It is no more than we were spending on him when he lived at home.
For the specific question-- $7K vs $2K with $5K put way for college? Well, if we'd had that much to make choices with, I'd have to say we'd definitely save the $5K per year and take $2K vacations. Our wonderful vacations were had mostly with well under $2K per year, though some years the average was more. I would have to average it though, cause some expensive equipment was used for several years. So for us, I know great vacations could be had on that. Then are we talking about 18 years X 5K? $90,000 for college?
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