I must be the only one here who thinks that private school can be worthwhile.
I got a scholarship for my high school years, and went to a private school instead of a public school. Now, CT doesn't have terrible public schools; it's no Kansas. But the difference in education was absolutely incredible. In four years I ended up being 2-3 years ahead of my former classmates. For example, rigorous math courses are gone in public schools everywhere in the US. Same for science. And, frankly, same for English. I don't think this spending is out of line if it's done for legitimate educational reasons.
On the other hand, I saw folks go to private religious schools because their parents thought that was more important than real education. Your mileage may vary.
Also, I think there's no point in private school until at least teenage years, probably high school age. That just shelters kids, doesn't particularly teach them more, and throws them into the world completely naive (and often worse qualities to boot).
For university, it depends on where they go. State school will most likely cost... well, I'm not clairvoyant, but I'd say at least 15k/semester at the cheapest in 10 years. That's 120k. Subtract some for scholarships and grants, subtract some for loans, subtract some for part-time work or internship pay, add some for misc expenses, and I'd say 50k is the lower bound of what I would save. Certainly it also depends on the major; many students would do well to go to a community college (and work part-time, and start learning about rent and bills) for two years before transferring in (let's call that 30K). Others can't really do that well. It also depends on the school; if it's a private school, the crappier the school, the more you pay - on the other hand, admission to ivies and similarly ranked schools pretty much guarantees that unless you're legitimately wealthy, you pay nothing or very little. But I'd definitely save 50k on the low side, and if there's any left over, then awesome, but don't count on it.
