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It's a tough decision -- how to pay for college.
"A lot of times they're looking at dipping into their savings and pushing their retirement back further and further," says Michael Jon Byers with Lone Star Registered Investment Advisors.
It's unfortunate since both areas appear equally important to parents. In a recent Sallie Mae and Gallup survey, retirement and saving for a college education ranked neck-and-neck as the top priorities for families.
Financial advisors say retirement sometimes gets put on the back burner, when parents have the mentality they want their kids to do better.
"More people are thinking 'hey if I can get my kids off on the right foot, without the high burden of college debt, then they can be in a situation going forward where they don't have that weight around their neck of extreme debt once they get done with college'," Byers said.
But if you don't want to work until you're 80 experts recommend sharing that burden.
"Students are going to feel better about themselves if they work themselves through college," Byers said.
With tuition costs going up across the nation it's not uncommon to find the money you've set aside isn't enough.
Paul Blake with Texas Tech's Student Financial Services explains the latest increase.
"For this current year, it's about $500 increase, $250 a semester."
Students interested in financial aid are first encouraged to fill out a FAFSA form to find out what you qualify for, before running to mom and dad for help.
"There are so many options that we have available through us and through private lending educational loans that we'd recommend they'd try to contact us and let us discuss options first," Blake said.
The best scenario is for parents to avoid panicking by saving sooner rather than later. Make a grab for your retirement a last resort.
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