There's hardly ever been a more urgent need to reinforce the dream of college for clients with young children. Make no mistake—the dream is under fire.

It's not that a college education has suddenly lost its luster. The problem is that turning a belief in higher education into the discipline to stick with a college saving strategy has gotten much more challenging for clients with markets running amok, an intimidating cost trendline and no shortage of other worthy financial commitments (like somehow breathing life back into a battered retirement portfolio).

You can help. Adhering to a college savings strategy is all about implementing tried-and-true principles of smart asset accumulation and deployment. But it's also about helping parents focus on the future that their children face—and how to provide the best launchpad possible to get them there. There's potential here for a great conversation.

Smart Tactics Help Spur Action

A few tactics can jump-start a stalled college savings program:

The efficiency of dollar cost averaging: With the value of many superior assets now at bargain-basement levels, there's more than ample justification for maintaining and building selected asset positions, especially given the relatively long time horizons of good college saving strategies.

The growing flexibility of 529 plans: More and more, 529 plans are offering investor-friendly features well made for difficult market times. These include guaranteed investment options as an alternative to age-based funds and systematic exchange provisions that, if the client chooses, can automatically deploy cash from money markets into equity options when conditions are favorable. The 529s' appeal also includes the potential for state income tax deductions and even, in some cases, possible tax benefits from establishing a 529 within an education-focused trust. Helping clients discern such benefits in the oft-confusing 529 marketplace will establish you as an excellent source of consultative value.

Creative funding options: Suggest to clients that they encourage grandparents and other family members to make contributions for college in lieu of other gifting. Another option worth exploring is the growing selection of credit cards that allow spenders to contribute to a college savings plan.

Uncertainty Is a Motivator

Good tactics can help support a college savings effort. But how do you marshal the motivation that propels a strategy in the first place?

Appeal to your clients' desire to prepare their children for an uncertain future. Today's economic disruption lends itself as a perfect lesson here. Evolving economies, markets and workforce make a solid post-secondary education more valuable than ever.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about 90% of the fastest-growing jobs will require some post-secondary education or training. The National Association of Manufacturers has projected that by 2012 more than 40% of factory jobs will require post-secondary education. For this new world, your clients' children will need all the preparation they can get-and financial advisors share the enormous responsibility for delivering it.

Here's how to make a difference:

• Make sure that saving for college is part of every planning discussion with parents.
• Stress that any and all saving is good—and will lessen the debt burden later.
• Educate your clients (and yourself) about saving options—including 529 plans.

There are many paths to college—and no one path will work for everybody. You can make college dreams achievable by providing every client with a great plan.

Donna M. Winn is president and CEO of OFI Private Investments, a subsidiary of OppenheimerFunds, Inc.