Jabber, tuition expenses are outrageous these days, too.

I just checked for my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and found that for the academic year 2011-2012, instate tuition is $9,671! (It's over $25,000 for out of state...) And that is for a good Big 10 school, not a fancy private college where the tuition has traditionally been much higher.

I recall that in-state undergrad tuition had gone up drastically in the 70s when I was there, but I still don't think it was much over $1,000 to $1,500 a year. And I remember my Dad saying how high that was, compared to what he'd paid in the 50s...

(I well remember this because my parents told me they'd pay 100% of my tuition to go to school in Madison - my home town - but that if I wanted to go elsewhere, I would have to come up with the difference in tuition myself. I HAD wanted to go out of state, but I soon figured out UW Madison was a very good place to get an education, and I quickly decided to take the more financially "easy" route!)

So clearly tuition DOES add a huge chunk to the costs of raising a child... could easily be more than an additional $25,000 per year!