I'm guessing you didn't go to college in the past 10 years. Things have changed. Nowadays it is impossible to pay for college with any kind of job you can get in college. And many internships are unpaid. So by not paying for college, they would be signing their kids up for $100k+ of debt to start off their lives.

I think maybe their kids should consider "not going to college" but that's a hard idea to sell, since it does have a measurable impact on the work and income a person can get.