If you pay any attention to the news these days, you already know that our higher education system is an absolute mess. The costs of college tuition and fees (plus room and board) keep increasing every year, and student borrowers carried an average of $29,300 in student loan debt at last count.
Families with high incomes also tend to produce students with even more debt. In fact, students from families in the 90th percentile for household income or higher carried average student loan debt of $80,690, per the Fed.
All the while, a scary percentage of college degrees have absolutely no return on investment at all, and sometimes even a negative ROI. Meanwhile, most parents with kids approaching college have no idea what the actual cost of a degree will be or how much financial aid they’ll be eligible to receive.
You would think that all of this would scare high-earning parents into socking money away, especially since many forms of financial aid for college are for students who can demonstrate financial need. However, I have found that most of my peers (including high earners) with teenage kids aren’t in a hurry to worry about college costs.
While plenty of parents don’t think it’s their responsibility to pay for college regardless of their income, I personally believe those with the means should at least try to save money for college, trade school, or any other career training path their child might take. Here’s why I save for my kid’s college in 529 savings plans and plan to cover funding shortfalls myself (at least through the undergraduate level) when the time comes.
A parent’s high income can limit financial aid
As a parent of two girls, ages 14 and 16, I saw the writing on the wall when it came to funding college very early on. The information shared on the FAFSA helps schools and government agencies assess my own financial situation, so earning a lot and having more assets will not help my kids qualify for considerable (or any) financial aid for school.
If our household income and assets are going to hold my kids back from receiving many types of financial aid for college, then it seems crazy to act like I am off the hook for all college costs. I’m not saying all high-earning parents should agree to pay for college in its entirety, but I am saying that most of us could save something for school during the 18-year period before our kids leave the nest.
I don’t want my kids to begin their adult lives with debt
The average student loan debt most borrowers carry scares me, especially since many repayment plans for federal and private student loans last for up to 20 or 25 years. Setting them up to make student loan payments until they’re well into their 40s? No, thank you.
And I don’t know about you, but I absolutely hate the idea of my kids beginning their adult lives with a considerable debt burden. After all, this is a time when they might want to start a family or begin saving up to purchase a home of their own.
It’s no longer feasible to ‘pay as you go’
In case you’re wondering, I’ve heard the argument that some parents worked and paid for college as they went. If they did it back in the 80s or 90s, their kids can do it, too, right?
Unfortunately, college is way more expensive than it used to be, and this is at a time when the cost of living is rising rapidly. According to CollegeBoard, the average college cost to attend a public four-year, in-state school was $11,610 for the 2024-2025 academic year. That’s just for one year of school, and it doesn’t include the average annual cost for room and board ($13,310).
This means the average cost for a four-year degree from a public college is currently around six figures, give or take. While it’s possible for students to work during school, most can’t juggle earning that much and excelling in their studies.
College is usually a good investment
While some college degrees don’t provide a good ROI (or any ROI), studies show that college is still a good investment overall. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that average weekly earnings for someone with no college degree came in at $930 in 2024, compared to $1,543 for those with a bachelor’s degree and $1,840 for graduates with a master’s degree.
Of course, I plan to urge my kids to attend one of our excellent state schools for more affordable tuition and to help them find a degree program that applies to the actual workforce and provides a solid foundation for their financial future.
This means no “feel-good” degree programs that don’t apply to real-world jobs or industries, at least if I’m paying. We have already started that conversation in our household, so this won’t take my kids by surprise.
As a high-earning parent, I cannot think of a better investment I could make than paying for my children’s undergraduate education. And with the way the world is going, they’re going to need all the help they can get.
