One thing to suggest for other 8th grader moms--be on the look-out for scholarship opportunities as your kids enter high school. There are some out there for freshmen, sophomores, etc. I always thought we'd just look into that when my son was a jr or sr, but sophomore son applied & got his 1st one.

Other opportunities for this are competitions. 8th grade son won $2K scholarship from eCybermission competition (1st place winners get even more and trip to DC to get even more).