And frankly I think that that monetary contribution is part of the problem. Not that any one parent can solve it by stemming the flow, but all the money that flows into the college system that isn't contributed by the financially insecure young adults who college is ostensibly marketed to inflates the cost for everyone else who doesn't have wealthy parents.
Aside from the obvious problems this causes for affordability, this also causes young adults continue to be dependent on their parents well into adulthood, leading to the problems manifested here.
I don't expect any one set of parents to pull the plug (though we're absolutely going to do that and encourage our kids to go to state schools that they can afford or have a really solid plan for paying down the debt). However, I would definitely suggest that parents consider that paying huge amounts of money to get your kid through a top-to-tier school doesn't actually give them a leg up if you deprive them of entering adulthood until years later than their less-wealthy peers.
Aside from the obvious problems this causes for affordability, this also causes young adults continue to be dependent on their parents well into adulthood, leading to the problems manifested here.
I don't expect any one set of parents to pull the plug (though we're absolutely going to do that and encourage our kids to go to state schools that they can afford or have a really solid plan for paying down the debt). However, I would definitely suggest that parents consider that paying huge amounts of money to get your kid through a top-to-tier school doesn't actually give them a leg up if you deprive them of entering adulthood until years later than their less-wealthy peers.