What would you do for a million dollars?

...To send your two kids to college... (That's what it will cost in 20 years BTW, and we thought infertility treatments were expensive)

DH and I already think/talk/plan a lot for our kids' futures (we're planners like that) and the other day on our long road trip up north we were talking about a friend and engineer colleague of DH's who since he is employed by a top university just north of Chicago, which DH does many projects for, he would have been able to send his daughter there for free.  Though she decided to study elsewhere farther from home (his wife is a prominent attorney and their younger daughter is disabled) so they ended up not getting it gratis in the end.  I'm familiar with this lovely perk, several of my professors and staff back in the day did or were planning to take advantage of this, but of course it eliminates the options that your kids have when it comes to college picking, so we discussed how important it is for kids to have this choice.

I know when I was looking at colleges, my parents were pretty hands off, like with most things, though they both made it known that our state university would be just fine with them.  So I applied to and was accepted into their honors program as one of my fall back options.  While a great school, it was too big and too Greek for me.  When I applied early to my first choice (an Ivy) and was deferred to the regular admission pool, I was pissed and decided to go to my second choice (a seven sister), which I quickly got very excited about.  Unfortunately, I ended up being very unhappy with the environment and education generally, though I made some great friends, so I transferred out to another school in Boston after my sophomore year.  I have warm feelings for the school I graduated from, though it could not have been more different than the first.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend the course I took to finish my degree, but I own it and I think where you choose to go to school is one of the more important and earliest big decisions you make as a young adult.

Though it would likely mean a pay cut for him to work on the other side when the time came (he's a consultant), it obviously would pay off in the end.  I'd love for the kids to go to college out East, like I did, but there is always summer school in Boston, and grad school wherever they want. 

Would you make this choice for your kids?  Or have it as a fall back and let them choose the school or the money (to buy a house or something)?  One of the nice features of 529s is that you can always change the beneficiary or you are allowed to withdraw an amount equivalent to a scholarship without penalty.  But not saving in hopes of this working is not really a responsible option as you never know what'll happen (they outsource their project management between now and then, get rid of the perk, etc.)

Oh, the plans we make...

I like to think of myself as a goal oriented person, as many people do, but I think I'm actually more of a planner. And I think of goals and plans as somewhat different things, though they are clearly related. I guess I think of goals as more tangible (things to be achieved/crossed off a list) and plans are experiential (how you want to live). I have a very clear picture of the latter, as that is more important, and build the former from that, which is what makes the plans come to life. Anywho...

We bought our current home six and a half years ago with the plan of moving on within seven, which of course seemed like an eternity back then. But then after the first year when we got engaged and married, our planned one year wait to TTC turned to two (those ducks we wanted to get in a row turned out to be ferrets :/ ), and then it took over three more until we brought live babies home, which I've chronicled ad nauseum here. I also left my job in the meantime, something I never thought I would do, which worked out for us given our situation.

Fortunately, we did plan for this to be our first family home. The location is great, close to everything and super safe, if rather suburban boring. There is enough room for everyone (us, guests, kids), we are three doors down from a good elementary school, there are several nice playgrounds and a pool in our subdivision, etc., etc. I am so thankful now that we weren't among the seeming majority who only after they get pregnant, suddenly realize they quickly need a bigger place to put the baby/ies, as it obviously would have been even more complicated and stressful given our last pregnancy. And likely it would have just added to the nightmare or just wouldn't have happened at all.

But I can't help but feel the itch now as this time comes and goes given our plans, even though obviously the original timing of our family didn't pan out and we now have two infants rather than a pre-schooler and a toddler (not that I'm complaining about that). We've met our initial goal of paying enough extra over time to have six figures down on the principle on our current home in order to have enough for the downpayment on the next one when we do sell (yay us). And it is definitely still a buyer's market, interest rates are insanely low and supposedly headed down even more, and home builders are about as hungry as ever.

But if we sit tight, we can continue to live comfortably on one salary and decide what to do next and where. We could pay off the house in ten years, though I know we'll be long gone by then. I've grown to hate moving (I've done more than my share in 17 yrs.) and I certainly don't feel like I want to right now. The real estate market for sellers is still not great, and we've put in a lot of significant improvements. I'd love to blow out the back of our house enlarging our kitchen and family room, but while there are dozens of McMansions in the newer developments behind our school, in our subdivision our model is the largest, so this doesn't really make sense unless this was our forever house. We hope to finish our remaining planned renovations in enough time to actually enjoy them for awhile before moving on.

So, long story short, our conclusion, for now anyway, is to watch this plan fade with our original family timing that went out the window and stay where we are for now. I will likely go back to work (because I think I want to), giving us more flexibility and direction on where we will end up. And let's be honest, I'm pretty sure I'll actually have more time to deal with this while working than while at home with the kids.

We also need to decide where we want the kids to go to school when the time comes, this will also be a big driver. We've talked about moving back to the city (which DH thinks he wants, since he grew up in a big city), but the cost of private school almost gave him a heart attack (hello $24K kindergarten for each kid- he attended less expensive Catholic schools, I went public) and the city magnet schools admission is by test and lottery (so no guarantee). Or we could join other friends who've made the North Shore home, where we could send the kids to public school.

It should be interesting to see what happens, stay tuned... :)