The wife and I don't have any kids yet and plan to wait for a while, but I've been considering the various available ways to save and invest money towards their college education. I've read about Coverdell ESAa, Section 529 plans (which vary by state), and even using a Roth IRA (since the principal can be withdrawn without penalty at any time).
So, what are your plans for your kids? Personally, I'm not sure that Jessica and I will be motivated to pay a very large portion of our kids' college education. Both of us paid for the majority of our own education, and that is working out just fine. Student loans are cheap, but no one is going to lend us money for our retirement.
Wow, what a random coincidence. I too have been recently investigating how I want to save for my kids' college costs. (No, I'm not even married, but you guys don't have kids either... right?)
The problem with 529s is that the limit of how much you can contribute depends on who the beneficiary. So when you have a kid, then yeah, it's a good thing to do, but if you start one right now with (say) Jessica as the beneficiary, you won't be able to put a lot of money into it, since she is older. Or something like that.
One of my best friends' mother is an accountant and we were talking about this just yesterday. For someone who doesn't have kids and already wants to start saving for kids' college costs, a Roth IRA is the best recommendation, and then a 529 once the kid is born. I thought there would always be penalties for removing money from a Roth IRA before you're like 60, but apparently things like education costs and buying a house are penalty-exempt. The only problem is that you can only contribute $4000 a year, and I want to contribute around $8000, so I guess I'd just have to get two. My parents paid every penny of my college education, so I plan on doing the same to my kids.
(And oh, wait, the coincidence is not so random... Did someone else just get a raise this week? ;] )