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Its not a parents responsibility.
Most financial experts will tell you to invest in your retirement than pay for your kids college..due to the fact..kids can get grants, loans, scholarships and other means to pay for college...and things like that aren't given to us.
Why parents think it is I dont understand..And when kids have someone else pay for their college..its seems they dont really care about their education..when a kid pays for it themselves they seem to appreciate it more..
I absolutely disagree. The child decides whether or not they are going to care about college long before the first bill arrives. There are many students who valued their education every bit as much as I did despite having lots of help from their parents. Sure there are some kids who go to college just because their parents foot the bill, but that doesn't mean that the fact that the parents pay degrades the value of the degree in the student's view.
Sure kids can get grants, loans, scholarships, and other means to pay for college but most of the talk about grants/scholarships is baloney. I was an excellent student in high school and college, but I got next to nothing in "free money" because I was a middle class white male (I applied for tons of scholarships). Combine that with the fact that my parents made a fair amount but were terrible with their money means that I graduated with 60k+ in debt for an IN STATE college degree. Oh yeah, and I worked internships during college too. I didn't get a dime from either of my parents. This debt will financially cripple me for the next 10 years despite making a nice engineering salary. Is it the parent's responsibility to TRY to help lessen that burden? If you ask me I would say absolutely. Not helping your kids with college is a terrible burden to thrust upon them. 18 years of possible savings, however little, were wasted. I take plenty of the blame for a poor choice of school and not working even more, but not even attempting to help your kids with such a burden is just plain selfish.
Combine that with the fact that my parents made a fair amount but were terrible with their money means that I graduated with 60k+ in debt for an IN STATE college degree. Oh yeah, and I worked internships during college too. I didn't get a dime from either of my parents. This debt will financially cripple me for the next 10 years despite making a nice engineering salary. Is it the parent's responsibility to TRY to help lessen that burden? If you ask me I would say absolutely. Not helping your kids with college is a terrible burden to thrust upon them. 18 years of possible savings, however little, were wasted. I take plenty of the blame for a poor choice of school and not working even more, but not even attempting to help your kids with such a burden is just plain selfish.
You knew your parents didn't have the money to support your college tuition. You wanted a higher education. You chose what school to attend and how much debt to incur. And you are blaming them since they were so terrible with their money that now you have to use your money from your nice salary to pay off a product that you will benefit from for the rest of your life. And it's the parents who are selfish?
You knew your parents didn't have the money to support your college tuition. You wanted a higher education. You chose what school to attend and how much debt to incur. And you are blaming them since they were so terrible with their money that now you have to use your money from your nice salary to pay off a product that you will benefit from for the rest of your life. And it's the parents who are selfish?
I don't get that.
Expecting an 18 year old to be so pragmatic is a bit much.
You knew your parents didn't have the money to support your college tuition. You wanted a higher education. You chose what school to attend and how much debt to incur. And you are blaming them since they were so terrible with their money that now you have to use your money from your nice salary to pay off a product that you will benefit from for the rest of your life. And it's the parents who are selfish?
I don't get that.
I did mention in my post that I am to blame as well. I could have done two years at a community college and worked another job, most likely at the cost of my GPA. It is also my fault for allowing myself to fall into this situation. My salary isn't so nice after subtracting student loan payments.
They didn't have the means to help only as a result of financial irresponsibility that they are well aware of. When I am a parent one day I know I will do things much differently.
Give one actual example of a true college student paying for college as they go along. Not someone gettng company-sponsored tution reimbursement or the like, someone actually pursuing a bachelor's degree. You don't need to name names, of course.
Myself!
How? By going to a state school, commuting to college, and working my @ss of on part or full time jobs while taking a full college curiculum.
...and now I think, from the responses I see as a quickly glance through this, you got 10+ examples? Enough for you?
Expecting an 18 year old to be so pragmatic is a bit much.
Not seeing where pragmatics come into play. An 18 year is told that mom and dad can't pay for college so they get student loans, graduate, and are lucky enough to get a job with a nice salary and then have to pay the piper. It's at that time (when they are 22 or so) that they get mad at the parents that they have to spend their own money to pay the loan back.
I'm not saying that it doesn't suck. I'm just saying that it is what it is and resenting the parents for not absorbing debt that they don't have the means to cover, while the student has a job with a nice salary is just not something I can agree with. The student has a lifetime to pay off the debt. The parents have limited time to save for their later years once they get older and from the sound the post, it doesn't sound like they have very much.
They didn't have the means to help only as a result of financial irresponsibility that they are well aware of. When I am a parent one day I know I will do things much differently.
That is the best you can do. Keep chipping away at the loans. Good luck.
Not seeing where pragmatics come into play. An 18 year is told that mom and dad can't pay for college so they get student loans, graduate, and are lucky enough to get a job with a nice salary and then have to pay the piper. It's at that time (when they are 22 or so) that they get mad at the parents that they have to spend their own money to pay the loan back.
I think most 18 year old don't realize the implications of having $20,000+ worth of debt once they graduate. They are told, "This is good debt because it's for your education." They don't realize they probably aren't going to land that six figure dream job right away and quickly be able to knock out that debt. Then they end up financing other stuff heavily because they are paying high monthly payments on their student loans, and the debt cycle perpetuates itself.
It would be nice if people in this country could collectively figure out that it doesn't have to be this way.
Myself!
How? By going to a state school, commuting to college, and working my @ss of on part or full time jobs while taking a full college curiculum.
...and now I think, from the responses I see as a quickly glance through this, you got 10+ examples? Enough for you?
Not everyone has the option of commuting to a good state college. I might point out, if you lived "at home" you were getting free room and board, the equivalent of ~$1000/mo in today's money.
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