<prompt> Human: Its a recurring mental burden for me. I want the best for my kids, but we dont make a lot of money. We can from families that helped us make it through college, but we are living overseas originally from US in a developing nation doing social work.My wife and I have Roth IRAs, maxing one each year, and doing about half of the other. We have about 30K in an investment account from when we sold our house, but thats the extent of our money outside of a solid emergency fund.What can we do to prepare for the future? 529 seems recommended, but how will that and our mutual funds impact financial aid? Would it be better to move our 30K into the Roths over time? Weve only profited about 2k since we initially invested.Is 100 a month worth the investment into a 529 at this point? We have big gaps in kids ages, but 100 isnt going to go very far. Can we do a 529 with multiple children?Sorry for rambling. Our kids have been forced to give up a lot with our work and life situation, and want to plan for them.  <response>: Youre great parents and i know you want the best for your kids but as a parent you arent obligated to pay for their college. Especially in your situation where you have 4 kids at such different ages, would you be helping the first the most? Or the last?You need to make sure you save for retirement so your kids dont end up taking care of you. Maybe plan to buy them each a nice latop for college, or set aside a small fund so you can give them a monthly allowance in college. Or pay for their books each semester out of pocket. Let them know they can live at home at college if they dont want to get loans for dorms. My mom helped with college some when i was going, but i would never have expected her to pay for it all. And we are higher middle class. I wouldnt have cared if she didnt pay anything. Edit As an alternative, think about helping them pay off their loans after they have been to college. 