<p>You don’t need to know how much they have saved so there’s no need to ask. I say that because, assuming they plan to pay for college, it’s hard to say what their plan is which could include savings, income earned real time while you go, and loans they were planning including equity loans.</p>
<p>The real question, and one you need to discuss together, is “what are the financial constraints you have for college?” You need to have a realistic idea of what they’re willing to spend so you don’t get disappointed if you have your eye on the $200K place and they have in mind the $20K place. You can see a number of other current threads on CC where there wasn’t a good understanding of this and the students can end up very disappointed and so can the parents.</p>
<p>So you’re doing the right thing in wanting to understand finances but you need to not focus on cash in savings but rather the overall plan and constraints.</p>