The Problem With Saving For College

A few weeks ago the New York Times "Education Life" section published a long piece about saving for college. The premise is that, if current trends continue, college will eventually become so expensive that parents need to to start socking money away from pretty much the moment their eyes first lock across a crowded restaurant. Seriously, don't even wait to pick up the check--tuition is going up by the minute! Therefore, responsible parents should follow a program that is carefully delineated with subheads like (I am not making this up) "Newborns and toddlers," "The Preschool Years," etc. 

I know the whole frog-in-a-boiling-pot-of-water thing is a myth, but how did we get so comfortable with this? I'm not saying people shouldn't pay part of the cost of higher education, particularly at private institutions, or that saving is a bad strategy per se. But somewhere along the line things got out of hand. And much of the blame lies with our public policymakers, who love to peddle college savings ideas, all manner of tax breaks , subsidies and incentive programs. Since pretty much everyone likes college, and savings, and thinks that society could use more of both, putting the two together is irresistible. 

But the more I think about this, the more I believe it's a dodge. In this day and age, higher education (not just university education, but post-secondary education broadly defined) should be considered a basic public service, supported by public revenues, combined with effective oversight to restrain college costs. I think college savings plans are increasingly just a way for politicians to escape those obligations. And now we're seeing the consequences, in the wreckage of tens of thousands of 529 colleges savings plans. This is the subject of my new column at the Chronicle of Higher Education.