I believe it depends on the financial capabilities of the parents or how things are with the family. In our country most of the time the parents pay for the college education of their children. My parents paid for my education. In return I am giving them monthly allowance. My parents always says that they don't need the money that I am giving, but since I am earning now, It is my decision to do it. They can use it in buying what they want. It's just one way of showing that it is my turn now to do something for them.
(responding before I read any of the other responses ) What is the purpose of 'schooling'? (not necessarily 'education,' as seen inLog In) They get the school-degrees to qualify for high-paying employment, yes? What teaches them the importance of intelligence-with-money more than making them pay for it? I suggest you just give them 'all the money you would supply for their schooling,' and--cautioning them that the schooling is needed to get the big-money so a wise investment would be 'tuition'--let them take it and either do as you suggest or waste it all.
There are a couple of issues that I have with that. The first is that if you are saving in a 529 or some other education-specific tax advantaged account, you can't do that. The money would absolutely have to be spent on education costs. The second problem I have with that is that impulse control in 17/18 year olds is pretty much nonexistent. Each kid is different and will respond differently to be handed a lump sum of money, but most would have a hard time not spending it on other things. As an example, when my older brothers were in college my parents gave them money for their living expenses on a monthly basis. They still generally ran out of money before the end of each month. I was better at controlling my spending, so they gave me my living expenses at the beginning of each semester, and I had to make it last for four months. It was hard. I was usually living on ramen for the last couple weeks of each semester, but unlike my brothers I managed to pay my rent and utilities first when things got tight. I probably could have handled being handed my college tuition at 18 and making it through college, but they would've frittered it all away by eating out by the time they were 20. While I do think that kids need to make their own mistakes, they don't need to do it with my hard-earned money. Their tuition money will be sent directly to their college. If, for some reason, one of them chooses not to go to college, we will likely give them the equivalent money to do something else, but not until they are a little older and have a plan for the money.
I think that you would struggle to find children who are able to pay their own way through college, to be honest. I was lucky enough to get support from my parents while I was completing my education, so I suppose my view might be biased for that reason - but I believe that everyone needs help sometimes, and if parents CAN help their children, they should. When we have children of our own, we will do the same for them - it just carries on through the generations. Hardly anybody would be able to get that kind of money together without help!
In our culture, the parents are expected to send their children to school. This doesn't always happen though, because a lot of families are struggling financially and as soon as they reach legal age, many children end up not going to school and would work instead to support the family. I was lucky enough to be born to parents who prioritized sending their children to school and who believed in paying it forward. I'm paying it forward, too, by saving up for my child's education. I believe that parents should give their children whatever advantage they can afford to give and make sacrifices for their children's needs.
