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Almost everyone I knew in college was either getting help from their parents, or were getting ALL the help from their parents.
I went to a public school as well.
It was pretty cheap back then though, and rent was cheaper too. You might be talking $12,000 total to fund your kid for the year (inflation adjusted)? And then he/she might have a job to pay for stuff like food, beer, and drugs. Or maybe the drugs will help pay.
During my freshman year of high school, my father told me that I "better play football if I wanted to go to college".
My parents contributed a grand total of $0 towards my education, my living expenses while in college, and so on. I do not know of the figures, but count me in as part of the statistic.
Mine said, and I understood, that if I didn't get good enough grades to land a TON of scholarships, I wasn't gonna be able to afford college. 'Tis life. I was one of four kids raised in a depressed rural economy at the height of the farm crisis of the 80s. My parents were small business owners whose out-of-pocket health insurance costs for crappy, subpar coverage ate up most of their income. There was no extra to save for college. My parents would have loved to have been able to pitch in for college for all four of us, but it wasn't reality.
My siblings and I all went to good schools that offered us full rides/near full rides. Three of us paid for school largely with academic scholarships and grants at private colleges (high sticker price, but with grants and scholarships, cheaper than State U), and one of us with a full ride athletic scholarship at a large public university. We all worked full-time during our summers to save money for cost-of-living things not covered by our scholarships and financial aid, and books. I did factory work, my brothers did construction, and my sister did retail. We all worked during the school year, at the very least, federal work study positions that were included in our financial aid.
My parents tossed a little pocket money our way when they could afford it, but for the most part, we were on our own. It wasn't uncommon, either, at the time. I went to school with many other students from similar circumstances.
THE OP is talking about UGA - University of GA. 90% of tuition is paid(for public GA universities) via the GA Hope Scholarship program for most/many students if they had 3.0+ GPA in a GA high school.
Freshmen year scholarship is based on High School GPA. If they keep at least 3.0 GPA in freshmen year of college, then sophmore 90% year tuition is covered by HOPE. Each year their college GPA is re-evaluated and they can get 4 years tuition 90% paid if they keep at least 3.0 GPA each year.
They also can get funding from HOPE scholarship to pay toward private college tuition, but it's not covered at 90%.
Room/board and books/fees isn't covered by the HOPE scholarship. Books used to be covered partially but this changed.
Almost everyone I knew in college was either getting help from their parents, or were getting ALL the help from their parents.
I went to a public school as well.
It was pretty cheap back then though, and rent was cheaper too. You might be talking $12,000 total to fund your kid for the year (inflation adjusted)? And then he/she might have a job to pay for stuff like food, beer, and drugs. Or maybe the drugs will help pay.
Nowadays, the costs of everything are way up.
It's been so long since I went to college, I don't even remember my friends' financial status. But with my own kids, 2002-2009, that was the case. A lot got money from grandparents, too.
80% of the kids receive SOME financial aid, but it doesn't say how much.
Maybe their tuition, books, and housing would cost $20,000 for year, and they got $3000 worth of funds in the form of a work-study job. That's a relative drop in the bucket, and some wouldn't consider it true "financial aid" since they're working for it, but for purposes of that 80% figure, they are still part of the group.
Yes, I got scholarships, merit aid, and grant money; all of which took a hefty bite out of my tuition but did not cover it 100%. Nor did they cover rent, transportation, food, books, and so on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TabulaRasa
Mine said, and I understood, that if I didn't get good enough grades to land a TON of scholarships, I wasn't gonna be able to afford college. 'Tis life.
Same reasoning from my parents. To their credit, I am certain that my father was not aware of academic scholarships except for those who were extremely "gifted" and to this day my mom is still clueless towards "how college works".
We're paying for our kids to go to college, 100%. One is there now, another is starting her search though she's 99% sure of where she wants to go and the last 'oops' is just starting HS in the fall, but we'll be paying for college. As long as they're not screw-ups we were always under the impression that college was part of the deal when decided to bring them in to this world.
80% of the kids receive SOME financial aid, but it doesn't say how much.
Maybe their tuition, books, and housing would cost $20,000 for year, and they got $3000 worth of funds in the form of a work-study job. That's a relative drop in the bucket, and some wouldn't consider it true "financial aid" since they're working for it, but for purposes of that 80% figure, they are still part of the group.
Of course, but I was responding to the OP's point which is that, at least in his perception, everyone's parents are paying full freight with a luxury car as a bonus.
The fact that 80% are on aid suggest his perception is off - either he happens to be a in a bubble minority, or perhaps many of those BMWed students are also borrowing or receiving scholarships, etc.
Back about 10-15 years ago, most of the kids i was at college with were paying their own way with loans. Granted, i'm sure parents were giving *some* help to their kids. After all, what parent doesn't help their kids out with a used car, or pay for some books, or food/spending cash, etc etc.
I paid for about 75-80% of my college, with 20% being grants/scholarship and maybe my parents chipping in 1-2% for odds and ends.
But that was normal, and growing up, i knew I would have to pay for my own schooling. I don't know a single person in my graduating class who's parents paid 100%....
But today is different. I know of several people who's parents do shoulder 100% of the cost of college...for 2 or 3 kids. I also DO know of some that bought them a car for college (Cheap $20K sedan..but newish).It's just different to discover that now it's almost expected. I even know of several divorced dads that were court ordered to pay for college.
I understanding wanted to give your kid a great start in life, but since when did it become expected? I feel like my parents owe me $50K in the loans that I paid for my engineering degree.
I honestly don't think it's as high as the media is trying to tell me. I go to a large state university (UGA). I personally only know of 1 person who is taking out a loan. 99% of people I know have their parents pay for college tuition/books/housing/food/etc. Most even pay the extra 1k or 2k a semester for sorority/fraternity dues. Matter of fact, most of the people I know drive luxury cars (volvos, infiniti's, bmw's, I even know 2 people whose parents gave them a porshe for their graduation present).
I simply look at them and think to myself, there's no way the majority of kids are taking out loans. None of us are extraordinarily rich, we all have to have some sort of job in order to support ourselves.
Go stand outside of the finical aid office the week before classes start and then report back.
I honestly don't think it's as high as the media is trying to tell me. I go to a large state university (UGA). I personally only know of 1 person who is taking out a loan. 99% of people I know have their parents pay for college tuition/books/housing/food/etc. Most even pay the extra 1k or 2k a semester for sorority/fraternity dues. Matter of fact, most of the people I know drive luxury cars (volvos, infiniti's, bmw's, I even know 2 people whose parents gave them a porshe for their graduation present).
I simply look at them and think to myself, there's no way the majority of kids are taking out loans. None of us are extraordinarily rich, we all have to have some sort of job in order to support ourselves.
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