A degree from an expensive private school or out of state school is a luxury item, and parents need to treat them like the Jaguar or Porsche with a comparable value. If your child got their license and asked for a Range Rover, would you plunk down $100,000? Then why on earth would you do it for an undergraduate degree to an expensive school.

If anything, the money should be saved for graduate school, where the big payoff happens. If they can get through undergrad at the instate school (or maybe an out-of-state public school) with the grades and pedigree for grad school, then maybe Duke Law School, or University of Chicago Medical School (or a masters from Stanford in engineering) is a worthwhile financial investment, but never for undergrad.