Comment by freedomben

Important consideration. This is purely anecdata, but my parents didn't pay for my education, but I have a lot of friends whose parents did. Those of us grinding to pay for and get through school really took it a lot more seriously and valued it a lot higher. I saw a lot of peers treating it as a party opportunity and just striving to pass their classes rather than actually learning and deeply understanding the material. It could certainly be correlation without causation, but it left an impression on me. For this reason I'm intentionally not paying for my kids college (though I am offering free room and board, and even a car, in my house should they choose to live at home).