I think you are way overestimating me. We simply planned ahead. We knew we had two kids to put through college, and we wanted their options to be as open as possible financially. Thus the reduced debt by the time they went to college. No inheritance, no tuition fairy, and we are not in the top 1% of income earners. But we are good planners.
I don’t know your car payment, but if it’s $300 a month, that’s 1/2 of what you need. Maybe this is the time not to get a new car (that’s something we didn’t do the entire time our kids were in college)…and that payment can be diverted to college costs. Just a thought.
You could decrease the amount you contribute to your retirement accounts. You have a nice nest egg that will continue to earn interest. Like you, we maximized our retirement contributions and if needed, we could have decreased these. That wasn’t needed for us…and it’s not my top recommendation…but it is an option.
Oh…your daughter can earn some money too…that has already been discussed upstream.
This college financing needs to be a family decision, unless you and your wife want to just pick up the whole gap amount.
I’d start with a nice conversation with your spouse. Start by saying…”we are $12,000 short on paying for college. We need to figure out how to cover this cost.” And go from there.
You will need 1/2 for the first semester.
And you can pray for a bonus this year!