You may not know the first thing about investing in real estate, but don't count it out if your son or daughter is going away to school for 4 or more years. The financial benefits can be outstanding, but you can also gain a piece of mind with where your child is living.
Paying for a student to live in a dorm or other housing is not cheap. The money that you spend could be invested in a property off campus where your son or daughter could live and rent rooms to friends or fellow students. Over the course of 4 years or more, the property value will increase while you will have been paying off the mortgage. After your child graduates and moves on, you can either continue renting the property, or sell it for a profit. The benefits of buying a rental property are even more excelarated if you have more than one student attending a college, or if you have children a few years apart in age. Then you will realize a greater amount of capital appreciation on the property because you will own it for a longer period of time. Imagine the savings you would gain from investing the amount of 2 college dorm rooms in an investment property.
By having your son or daughter living in the property you buy, you can have someone right there to collect rents, report on maintenance issues and discourage the other tenants from causing damage. They can also do simple tasks like make sure the garbage and recycling are put out, and snow is removed from porches or sidewalks.