Thanks for your news, workwayless. Guess you're looking forward to working way less in future.

As for son's college...when my eldest went to college, I proposed that ex, I, and DD each be responsible for an equal 1/3 of the expense, with any merit aid (as opposed to financial aid) coming only out of the child's share. Everybody went for this immediately, and we did the same for DS 3 years later.

Between going to a reasonably priced school (Rice U--big oil endowment), working during the school year and summers, and being granted some merit aid, DD only had one $3,000 loan to pay off after graduation. On the other hand, DS didn't work during the school year, made far less money during summers, went to a more expensive school, and didn't hustle after merit aid, so he owed $20k when he graduated. He's 31 and still paying it off at the rate of $250/month (I think the rate has been lowered twice as he's never missed a payment--he has it debited from his checking account I believe).

I had saved only one year's worth for each child in advance, so after that I used my company's employee stock purchase plan (an automatic 15% profit if you sold the stock immediately after each 6-month purchase period)--which I previously used just to provide $$ for my E-Fund, vacations, and next car. Using ESSP, I had both enforced savings and a bit of profit, and I always had the money ready for each tuition check. My ex borrowed from his 401k (as a result, between that and a bout of unemployment followed by lower income, he can't help his second family with DW#2 with any major college expenses--and his wife doesn't work, so their kids are attending so-so state schools, but at least with free tuition because of their good grade-point averages. They were accepted at private colleges but didn't get enough aid to attend--and DD advised them not to ruin their futures by going into big debt.)

Anyhow, hope some of this might be helpful.