Parents can't keep up with rising college tuition costs

The number of parents saving for their children's college education has been steadily increasing since 2007. In 2013, Fidelity found that 69 percent of parents were putting away an average of $5,000 per year towards mounting tuition bills. Compare this to only 58 percent of parents saving back in 2007.

Despite this respectable increase in college savings efforts, when asked to grade themselves parents gave themselves B-. This can be attributed to feeling of inadequacy keeping up with soaring costs.

Parents still remain the largest contributors to their children's college funds. As time has gone on, however, they are now relying more on their children and scholarships.

Perhaps the most terrifying number from Fidelity's research is that the average goal is to pay for 62 percent of the total cost of sending kids to college, but parents are on track to cover just 34 percent. Families are increasingly considering alternatives to four-year colleges or asking students to consider going to a public or commuter school.

Check out the infographic below, provided by Rasmusssen and Column Five to learn more: