And no one also said you had to put your kids through college. My parents helped a fair amount, but I also applied for every scholarship I could, worked on paid internships/summer jobs and had cattle as well. My wife had zero support from her parents, which she worked her butt off through college. She had her loans paid off 4-5 years out of college.
I applaud you for helping them, but I also don't feel it should be completely paid for, what does that exactly teach them?
My story was similar to yours, but I graduated 20 years ago. I worked about 20 hours/week most of my time at ISU and had student loans. I didn't know how to look for scholarships or really how it even worked. My parents paid my apartment rent, I paid for the rest.
I paid off my student loans when I was 27 and I while I remember being diligent about it, I don't remember putting that much effort into it. I believe I had $23k in loans when I graduated. I lived like a typical college student and never bought anything "nice".
That same approach wouldn't work today. My loans would have been significantly higher and it would have taken me much longer to pay them off. College costs A LOT more today than it did then.
I don't know that giving money to your children to go to college teaches them any less than having kids be stuck behind a wall of debt once they graduate. If a kid is well adjusted and understands why they're at school, are getting the grades AND understands their parents are forking out a lot of cash, it would be great to have that head start on adult life.
If I had $70k in loans when I graduated instead of $23k, my financial situation would be completely different today than it is. I'm thankful for what my parents gave me, and would be even more thankful if they had paid for most/all of it.