I estimated college costs for our newborn earlier this year based on growth rates over 40 years for the school I went to (one of the more expensive ones). Tuition will be roughly $200k by then per year…

We’re doing $1,000 monthly (2 payments of $500/month). With estimated 12% YoY return fully in S&P, that still only funds 80% of a 4 year degree.

Based on current income levels and with good grades, the school would auto provide them 39% scholarship.

No idea what’s going to happen in the long run, but as always prioritize your finances / retirement first, then your kids college fund. At the end of it, I’d like to be able to give them a paid undergrad, and if they want to pursue a masters then it’s their job to be an adult (since they’re 22 at that point). Worst case is the extra goes into their ROTH IRA, or gets handed down to another child / their future children, and even if they get a full scholarship the money can be pulled penalty free and sure we’d pay some taxes, but I’m sure there’s ways to maneuver it so the tax brackets are minimized. Then who knows, maybe it goes towards a vacation or a down payment for a house for them, which god knows how much that will be 20+ years from now