While I understand and believe it's commendable that parents' continue to help out their adult children, I agree it should only be done within reason and as long as it's not affecting the parent's quality of life.
Good example: A college student attending UCLA, Michigan, NYC, Cornell, etc. may borrow the entire cost of attendance and s/he'll be fine, since they're essentially guaranteed a solid payday upon graduation. But a college student going off to Average State University will struggle. Parents should encourage the student to attend much lower-cost community college instead (while working part-time), while living at home saving on shelter & having a plate saved from dinner. Doing this for just the first two years of college will have minimal impact on the parents while saving the student $30K or more.
Bad example: I work with a driver whose kid attended Average Out Of State University, because he was in love with the football team (as a spectator-does not play). Cost of attendance for four years: about $175K -- and of course the kid is fluidly spending on MacBooks, weekend trips into the city and spring break to Cancun. Meanwhile the dad bid onto a crappy route & offers to stay out late so that he gets 60 hours per week, and took up limo driving on the weekends. The dad's completely miserable and should've been retired by now (he's maintained he'd retire at 35 years since I've known him, but will be here 40 or more now).
It's great to continue to provide for your loved ones, but stupid decision making / entitlement thinking is one of the reasons many people (and our country) are in such a mess.
