Parents need a reality check.

FOR UNPREPARED PARENTS, A COLLEGE'S sticker shock can be pretty brutal. But "when it comes to paying for college, the good news is that you have 18 years to plan, there are tax-advantaged solutions, and you don't have to go it alone," says Jennifer DeLong, director of College Savings Hans at AllianceBernstein Investments. Unfortunately, she says, "most parents are about as prepared to meet college costs as freshmen are to do their own laundry."

A study conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc. for AllianceBernstein found a huge disconnect between the real cost of college and how much parents think it costs.

On average, surveyed parents with children ages 14-to-17 say they plan to have $12,000 saved when their child reaches college age. Considering that the projected cost of a 17-year-old's college education can be in the tens of thousands for a public IHE and even higher for a private IHE, that $12,000 won't go very far.

Part of the confusion stems from parents' expectations that colleges will help cover costs by offering scholarships, grants, and financial aid. Eighty-seven percent of parents are counting on their children to receive scholarship or grant money and more than two-thirds believe colleges will offer reasonably affordable financial aid. But the reality is that scholarship and grant dollars are less available now than in the past.

Sixty-seven percent also believe their children will graduate with debt and 63 percent view debt as a "part of life." Despite good intentions, many are clueless about the real cost of college. Instead of saving appropriately, the study found they tend to spend unwisely, depend on debt, and have unrealistic expectations of the financial aid process.