The following is something I just read in a full page advertisement in the newspaper.

Buy this SUV, send your kid to college.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could grow your child's college fund by buying the car of your dreams? We think so. That's why General Motors is the sole automotive sponsor of Upromise, a whole new way to save for college. Here's how it works: Join Upromise, buy or lease a new GM vehicle and we will contribute $150 to your Upromise college savings account. If anyone else in your family, or even a friend, joins Upromise and buys or leases a vehicle, that purchase can count too. If there's a college-bound child in your family, there should be a new GM car in your garage.

I am not going to make any comments about GM making contributions (that is nice and all), but here is the advertisement I would love to run directly across from their's (if I was wealthy enough to afford to do such a thing).

Don't buy this SUV, send your kid to college.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could finance your child's college education by not buying the car of your dreams? I think so. That's why I am the sole advocate of common sense, a whole new way to save for college. Here's how it works: Keep the car you already have, there probably isn't anything wrong with it in the first place, place the $32,000 that you were going to spend on a new SUV into your child's college fund. This money will grow to be enough to finance almost any college your child may want to attend. If there's a college-bound child in your family, there should not be a new car in your garage.

The SUV is a status symbol. A status symbol should be your last financial priority (not your first). If you don't already have your childrens college money in order, then maybe you shouldn't be purchasing one in the first place.

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