Just "middle class" people who's parents where never able to save for their education.

This is an interesting concept for me... I know this has become a bit of an expectation, or a norm - but I've never understood it. Why is it my parents' responsibility to pay for my education? And now that I have a teenager - why is it my responsibility to pay for his?

Of all of the contributing factors to the cost of education... I think this is one. Why WOULDN'T a school charge more when they know Johnny's parents are paying instead of Johnny himself?

I don't know... I'm weird about this topic... if a kid (I shouldn't' call him/her a kid...) - if a young adult wants more out of life than minimum wage, then he/she should get some valuable training. Take a forklift operator certification class. Become a plumbers apprentice. Shoot - my wife hated Uni. When she finished her Associates degree, she bailed and went to Medical Assistant school. She made a great career of that for a few years. You wanna be a tenured Anthropology professor at a quaint little liberal arts university? Heaven help you - it's gonna cost you, and you're gonna get paid peanuts.