 how much of an expectation are mom and dad going to potentially spend and how much are the child looking to take on as a financial responsibility afterwards. Joseph Bogardas is a college planning specialist and a certified financial planner for Barnum Financial Group. He pointed to a few resources that can help break down the cost. Programs like Naviance, you can go on to websites like the College Board. A lot of schools participate in what is called tuition discounting.