He is. We are expected to pay almost half of our taxable yearly income to go to a state school. He has earned their highest merit scholarship and is looking for more, but after that is deducted and the government loans, that still leaves about half of our taxable yearly income to pay. Yay for people who can have thousands or more in their 401ks (which was not an option at my husband’s work until for the first many years). They will be able to retire and have help with college costs. All we have is our real estate (jointly owned) and the max we could put away once we had a 401k option - which isn’t much. So, if you had the cash and option for a 401K, that is who is truly ahead in this system. We do not take car loans, we pay cash and drive 20+ year old vehicles with 200k + miles on them. We are very frugal. We will continue to look. I realize that the land does make us better off than some I am very grateful for it, but I can guarantee that we are not better off than many people our age that have money put away that isn’t an “asset”.
Maybe the question is, what next? Where do you go for loans? What are some of the best loan options? He is not looking at an expensive college (a North Dakota state college), but there isn’t such a thing as a cheap college. We do not live near enough to a college for him to commute. He will need $16K a year in outside loans at this point. That is what is left after their highest auto merit scholarship and federal loans offered.