As a teacher, I am tired of being told that
all students need to be prepared for college. There are too many students going to college because it's "expected" who don't want to go, who want careers better suited to on-the-job or trade school training, who end up with a useless - or worse, only partially completed - degree, and a boatload of debt.
This is a post I made on another site where the same question came up, in the context of paying for your kids' education or your own retirement:
One hundred years ago, it was a rare student who went to secondary school (7th grade and up). Those who did not attend secondary school learned a trade and went to work. Fifty years later, completing high school became the expectation; again, those who did not attend further education learned a trade and went to work. Programs to teach trades abounded in the school system. Now, it is the expectation of the government that all students - interested or not, prepared or not, appropriate or not - complete college. Programs to teach trades have been massively cut to expand college prep programs. Federally mandated testing drives school curricula in Math, Science, English, and Foreign Language. Classes that teach practical life skills, such as Home Economics and Industrial Arts (Shop), and those that teach life activities such as PE, Art and Music, are being dropped willy-nilly in the rush to prepare all students for college. Many districts are dropping PE entirely, or requiring students to complete their PE requirements outside of school at their own expense. The extra-curricular activities that keep many students in school - sports and clubs - are being dropped for financial reasons. This leads to many students enrolling in college who don't want to be there, who are not prepared mentally or emotionally for the rigors of college.
This is not the fault of the colleges entirely, nor is it entirely the fault of the schools. It is a societal issue - the idea that all students
must attend college, regardless of interest or ability - which is driving this problem. Colleges are businesses, and their business is to get students in the door. Businesses use a college degree as a screener to sort applications - in many cases, the nature of the degree is not relevant, only the applicant's ability to complete college. At some point, society as a whole will need to return to the time when completing high school meant that the student was ready to
either go on to further education
or enter the world of work - and students could pick which one they wanted, and take classes appropriate to that choice. But that is no longer the case - the push is for college as a be-all and end-all. The increasing number of students applying to college who are in need of remedial instruction is due largely to the increased push for
everyone to attend college whether they are suited to it or not. Providing these classes is expensive. Other factors affect cost as well - not the least of which is the cost of providing financial aid for a variety students; colleges provide much of their aid themselves, by increasing costs to build the funds they use for loans and grants, as federal and state funding for student aid steadily decreases... as more students needing significant aid apply, overall costs rise so that needy students can attend - the cycle is accelerating. Add to this the preference for "desirable" colleges, causing students to bypass less expensive options like community colleges, and the preference of many employers for a 4-year degree, the less-expensive options are also becoming more expensive as their population drops.
This leads back to the original concern: parents helping students pay for college because the costs are rising so high. If society as a whole is going to say that all students must go to college, then society needs to step up to pay for it. In the meantime, programs for service jobs - like plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. - are harder to find, and are also becoming more expensive, as their rarity means they can pick and choose their students the way colleges used to do. Fixing this problem is going to require a societal change - and given the current financial state of the country, it needs to happen soon. The average debt of graduating seniors is over $23,000 (look
here), and can rise as high as $300,000. If parents can help - great! But in many cases, the costs are too high for any but the richest to afford.
My plumber has a BSME, and he has impressed me to the point where I have recommended him to people all over the Boston area. (If anyone in MA/NH wants a REALLY good plumber for fair rates, lemme know 
