The Math

Winner of Nobel Prize discusses what to do with money - pay for daughter's college.

Let's see: $1.4 mil divided by three (he shared prize) = $466,666 minus 50% for taxes at that level = $233,333. Private college costs $50,000 per year x 4 = $200,000. So the Nobel Prize winner gets $33,333 left over. What can that buy you? A low end BMW? Or a high end Honda Accord? After sales tax, remember.

Now I suppose the next question - what about all the people - and by this I mean the 99.999999999% of the population who don't win Nobel Prizes - do about paying for their daughter's college?

My theory: people are getting a lot of help from extended family and tapping into savings and home equity lines of credit to pay for what amounts to a bubble being propped up by low interest student loans and enormous bureaucratic staffs helping to "sell" the idea of what a college education is worth.