According to http://trends.collegeboard.org/coll...ge-rates-growth-published-charges-decade college costs have been rising from 2% to 4% above inflation. If inflation runs at 2%, the target of the Federal Reserve, that would mean 4% to 6% annual increases in college prices. There exist prepaid tuition plans, which allow you to pay for tuition at today's prices. The MA plan is at http://www.mefa.org/products/u-plan/ .

A college degree does substantially raise expected earnings over a 40-year career. Although college is too expensive, its affordability should not be judged solely on whether a student or his/her parents can easily pay the cost from current earnings. Students should be willing to take on some debt for an asset whose average value is several hundred thousand dollars, and parents should be saving for a known future expense.