Does the money for the college fees have to come from cash? University fees (in the UK) can be paid for by a student loan which is paid off once the student starts working. Parents don't have to pay for it
The interest on those loans are pretty low. To the extent that people recommend you max out your 401k before paying off your loans. College graduates have lifetime earnings of 500,000 or more over non-degree holders. If 80-100,000 is prohibitively expensive then something is going on where universities are failing to deliver valuable and education, and the solution is those students stop seeing university as a good investment and stop propping up failing schools on credit.
"The interest on those loans are pretty low. To the extent that people recommend you max out your 401k before paying off your loans. "
You say this like this is normal advice.
People make all sorts of wild recommendations during a bull market, it wasn't that long ago that people were trading stories of buying Bitcoin with the money their grandparents gave thrm for college.
