Hi both, I reflected on your messages more, since they struck a chord (I was imagining myself and my friends and how we would have reacted had a parent CTB to help pay for our schooling). You clearly both love your family enough to care about their future. So it was confusing to me why you felt the benefit to their future would be higher if you CTB. The only explanation is that maybe you think your primary contribution to your family is financial in nature? If so, I just wanted to leave this thought with you: even if that currently is the case (ie you don't give much to your family beyond your financial contributions), I don't think anyone in your family *wants* it to be the case that they only have a transactional/financial relationship with you. And the benefit to having a closer relationship with a father figure is *huge* for kids - it's 1000% more valuable than paying for college.
So just a thought: if college is bleeding you dry to the point where you are thinking of CTB to pay for it…how about just don't pay for college, even if it means bringing the kids home for now (anyway most of us millennial college grads end up living with our parents post college as well lol), and use the extra mental space and time to build a deeper relationship with your kids? I know it's unusual to do this in our culture but hey our culture is fucked anyway. And also if your kids knew it was a choice between you CTB vs them delaying college indefinitely? I can't imagine a world where a kid would NOT prefer to delay college unless your kids were literally born psychopaths.
It just seems like a much easier AND beneficial solution than "CTB to pay for kids' future", purely from a logical standpoint. No judgment either way, and of course I respect your choice.
I guess my response above applies to you too, huh? Especially because if you think your family would be bothered if they knew it was CTB (meaning they care about you) but you still want them to be set up in life…I really think having a close relationship with a parent is way more helpful in being "set up in life" compared to just money. But again, I of course respect whatever choice you make.