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This is why I'm gently encouraging DD8 to take up softball. She's got a cannon of an arm already, a very strong build, and she has the hands to make good contact. With some normal development with a bat and glove, and given the limited amount of competition for Title IX scholarships, she can get me off the hook for college tuition.

Dude, not sure if you are serious about this post or not... but if you are, you are assuming she would want to attend a college with D1 or D2 sports (where the scholarships are). A lot of the higher powered academic schools (not all, but a lot) are D3 and don't give sports scholarships. No Ivies give sports scholarships, for example... Plus the cost of traveling squads and development to really be eligible for a full scholarship in any sport is high. And the kid has to really want it... not because mom or dad wants them to earn a college scholarship, but in their hearts. Partly just to get good enough to earn the scholarship and partly to be willing to completely devote themselves to the sport all the way through high school and college.

And counting on the bottom falling out of the college market and prices dropping down to where you can easily afford them without savings... again, you are day dreaming.

I'd suggest you start putting money in a 529 account now and don't count on either of these things happening. Your D won't thank you for having no college savings because you expected one of these two very unlikely outcomes to come true. Or... maybe you were kidding...