$50k. LOL. I have a kid in college. That's half of what it takes these days.
I've socked away what I thought would be a good sum for college, enough to pay about half and get him started in life. Now I know that I will probably work for a couple years longer than I thought and help him out more than I expected I would need to. I'm fine with that, one or two more years will fly by for me.
The way I see it, if a kid racks up $100k in education debt that it should be treated as an investment in their future. People have no problem plunking down $50k+ on a vehicle, a depreciating asset. So, it stands to reason that dropping $100k, two vehicles, on something that will provide you a career and earnings potential for the rest of your life, that is not a terrible investment.
All that said, the state should be doing a whole lot more to fund education at state schools to bring down the costs. It should not cost $30k per year (total cost of attendance) to attend a state school.
As for field of study, he's going to engineering school.