My husband too is severly disabled and because of that we chose to have "zero" children to financially support.
I work full time and contribute 9.1 percent of my gross to a retirement plan. I also have planned that I will not be able to count on my spouse for income.
My original question still stands: why are you paying for your childrens' post secondary education? My parents never offered to pay for mine.
I am not. We paid for their K-12 private schools. My youngest daughter is working to pay for her own college. My older kids have worked and received grants and scholarships.
You raise an interesting point. Since when did it become "expected" that parents would put their children through college? When I was growing up, kids worked part-time jobs to put aside money for college. Whether it was paper routes, bagging groceries at the local supermarket or washing dishes in a restaurant (I did all three), kids were expected to have jobs at a relatively young age. I've been working since I was 14 years old.
I also notice that many parents today (in addition to providing the college tuition) also feel compelled to buy their children automobiles, laptop computers and a whole host of other things that children with a part-time job could buy for themselves. No wonder they have nothing left for retirement!
There is nothing wrong with well-heeled parents telling their children that they should fund their own college education. I tell my own children that they should plan to take out student loans for at least half their college tuition. The other half, they should try to get through scholarships or money earned working part-time.
The child is likely to get a better education if he/she has a stake in it. Otherwise, the parents who insist on funding it themselves usually end up paying for 4 years of keg parties because the kids just aren't going to appreciate it.