"The most important financial goal you will have in your life is providing your retirement," says Donald Sowa, CFP, of Sowa Financial Group in Providence, RI. Sowa says he emphasizes to clients that if their child reaches age 18 and the family hasn't saved adequately for college, there are still options for the student such as financial aid. On the other hand, if the clients reach age 65 and haven't saved for retirement, there are no options.

Raymond Loewe, CLU, ChFC, of Financial Resources Network in Marlton, NJ, who specializes in helping parents plan for college education, says he's found that the question of how clients save for education and retirement "really depends more on how parents feel than on the economics of the situation. Parents are willing to put themselves at risk if they really believe in what they are doing for their kids."

The planners interviewed for the article by Nancy Opiela, "Tough Choices: Helping Parents Save for College and Retirement," say the first key in making this decision is to stress the trade-off the parents are making.  Several planners say they'll tell a client that if they want to fully pay for a child's education at such and such level, then they won't be able to retire until a certain age. If they choose to fund less than 100 percent, say half of it, then they'll be able to retire X years sooner.

"No more than ten percent of clients will come in and say they want their children to pay a portion of college costs," says John Brown, CFP, of Brown Financial Advisory in Fairhope, Ala. "But I find that percentage changes as I give clients permission not to pay for 100 percent of the education of a child."

Planners also encourage their clients to level with their children about the cost of education and their ability to pay all or a portion of it, and that the child may need to take some responsibility to pay. If a parent says they can only pay $10,000 a year, then a child wanting to attend a $25,000 a year university knows he or she will have to make up the difference.

The planners stress the need for parents to start saving early if they want to fund their children's education, yet savers for college education are the exception, not the rule. Planners also emphasize that some schools are factoring a family's ability to pay into their admission decision, and that parents who end up begging for financial aid may not get their children into the school they want.

To view the Journal article in its entirety, visit http://www.journalfp.net/fpajournal/jfp0601-art2.cfm