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No where does it say that we as parents HAVE to pay for college!
My parents didn't, yet we all (6 of us) made it through and 4 have masters degrees.
The biggest failure of this generation of parents is raising their kids with the expectation that we will always be there to bail them out. We stopped doing that for our kids when they finished high school. Worked out pretty good so far!
I don't know much about their sources or anything, but it's saying only 77% of parents plan to help their kids out with college.
Why have a kid if you don't want to (or have the means to) help the kid succeed?
Say what you like about college, but good luck moving anywhere without a college degree.
Even a masters degree is becoming a pre req for a lot of good jobs.
Reason.....The education system has been dumbed down to the point a 4 year college degree is equivelant to a HS degree from just 40 years ago. Worse yet...a masters is what a 4 year degree was 20 years ago.
When you hear/read about a bunch of college degreed people working unskilled jobs remember they are just that. They got a sheepskin and no real life skills while doing so.
Oh. I live on the other side of the planet and obviously I don't know much about life in the US, but the whole thread shocked me... interesting, yeah, informative, but still.
I was going (and started to) to write a long post about education, parents' help etc. in my country, but some of it would probably come across as indignant and you wouldn't be interested anyway, sorry.
I don't know much about their sources or anything, but it's saying only 77% of parents plan to help their kids out with college.
Why have a kid if you don't want to (or have the means to) help the kid succeed?
Say what you like about college, but good luck moving anywhere without a college degree.
Even a masters degree is becoming a pre req for a lot of good jobs.
Some kids pay their own way through scholarships, grants, loans, and working jobs. I'll wager those who pay for themselves are even better prepared to succeed.
I don't know much about their sources or anything, but it's saying only 77% of parents plan to help their kids out with college.
Why have a kid if you don't want to (or have the means to) help the kid succeed?
With the economy and wages continuing to stagnate and college costs continuing to rise, why is it hard to understand why 4% fewer people "plan to" help their kids with college this year compared to last?
And another thing. Your comment about "why have a kid..." makes no sense when talking about college. Parents should be able to feed and clothe their kids when they are minors. College is for adults.
With all these people with degrees saying they are such a REQUIREMENT to succeed these days, and even that a bachelors is nothing, and a masters is everything...
How exactly was I earning over 100k at 24 years old, and now sitting at work, right now, on a forum, in my own office, making over 150k/yr at just 26 years old, when I didn't even earn my associates degree until I was.. 25?
I get sick of all these people calling degrees such a pre-requisite to succeed in the world, when you go into the Work and Employment forum (seriously, if you haven't been there, please visit it on this forum) and it's filled with people with COLLEGE DEGREES that are unable to find work, people with all sorts of degrees.
Do statistics say that degree holders will earn more? Of course.. However it's not true for all, there are other ways, not to mention that those cold hard statistics also don't consider people that grow up working and how that can help them exponentially over those that don't..
My first job out of tech school I was making 60k a year. If I would have done it right, assume I would have done at at 18, finished at 19, earned 60k/yr until I was 22, that's 180k I was making more than someone who was in college for 4 years was making, not working. Consider in, say, 75k they spent on 4 years of tuition, and housing they had to take a loan on (or their parents paid for..
That's 255k.. How many years do you think it would take a person when a 4 year degree to compensate for that amount of income lost, especially at such a young age, especially if the person invested that money.. Then you factor in that 3 years of experience, by 24 I was making 100k, 26 over 150k... While I do work long hours sometimes, my job is far from "difficult." It would be to someone who doesn't know what I know, but it's not physically demanding, nor do I have 14 hours of work to do in a 10 hour day.. More like I'm lucky to have 5 and then hope there's something on a forum worth occupying my time..
I often wonder what college degree I could have earned to come out ahead of where I'm at now? Petroleum engineering maybe? Certainly very, very little that would "guarantee" the same amount of compensating income over what I have already done..
My two sons in law are perfect examples of what's well within the reach of young people today. (They are both in their early thirties.)
Neither of them had parents who were able to pay their way through college. Both of them had a year or two of college when they met and married my daughters. I liked both of them immediately because they were hardworking, intelligent young men with good values. I knew they would be successful and they have been.
Both of them joined the military with the intention of completing their college degrees.
One of them has completed his bachelors degree, is now working on his masters. He is now an officer in the Air Force and provides very well for my daughter and their FOUR children. My daughter is able to stay home with the kids rather than working, which is also a great benefit. The only debt they have is a car payment.
The other has completed three years of college, but he has always been a more "high skilled industrial" type (as was his job in the military). He got out of the military and used his military benefits to obtain his CDL and his HazMat certifications rather than completing his bachelors degree. He immediately was hired at Halliburton, which is an excellent company to work for. His goal is to become an oil and gas consultant - a career which does not require a bachelors degree, but does require a high level of expertise in the oil and gas industry. Most of this expertise is developed by experience and attending ongoing schools and earning various certifications, which Halliburton will pay for. About half the consultants out there come from Halliburton. Consultants can easily, EASILY make $250,000 a year or more and this leap generally can be done after working 10 years or so in the oil and gas industry, if you push to get the proper training and experience.
Even if he doesn't go the consulting route, it's very possible in the oil and gas sector to make over $100,000 a year within a couple of years of working - without a bachelor's degree.
My husband has an associates degree in petroleum engineering and 35 years of experience in oil and gas. He's a consultant and he makes more than most engineers in the field. There's a saying out there in the oil and gas sector (as well as other industries) and it goes like this: "What we need out here is more OFE and less PhD." (More oil and gas experience and less college "edumacation.") This saying can be applied to any number of industries - "More IFE and less PhD" - "More in the field experience."
Prior to being able to quit working due to my husband's job, I had a successful career in interior decorating, and then HR (which included being a bank manager as well) and I never finished my bachelors degree. I have about three years of college as well. I used to think I'd go back and finish it but the need never came up and it's completely unnecessary for me in terms of personal fulfillment or self esteem, so...nyahhhhh....
I don't know much about their sources or anything, but it's saying only 77% of parents plan to help their kids out with college.
Why have a kid if you don't want to (or have the means to) help the kid succeed?
Say what you like about college, but good luck moving anywhere without a college degree.
Even a masters degree is becoming a pre req for a lot of good jobs.
The only way we would help them is for them to stay home while going so they don't waste money on housing...Other than that, they're on their own. & even that is in question since we have no idea what will happen by then...
We teach RESPONSIBILITY. Paying for their college education doesn't teach that, it just spoils them to "expect" they're going to have things handed down all the time.
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Why have a kid if you don't want to (or have the means to) help the kid succeed?
They can stay home to avoid housing costs, but they will have to work part time somewhere. The goal is to not have college debt. But IF that statement was true, or remotely true, then only the 1% would be allowed to reproduce! That's stupid.
Steve Jobs didn't have a college degree! Neither does Richard Branson.
I think it would be BEST if we STOPPED putting this kind of dumb pressure on people to get a college degree, which in many cases proves USELESS, and encourage people to just be good at whatever they do with whatever means they have. Encourage people to work jobs they enjoy; that alone will reduce people's stress, and increase productivity.
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Say what you like about college, but good luck moving anywhere without a college degree.
YOUR idea of a "good job" is not my idea of a good job! Keep that in mind too.
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Even a masters degree is becoming a pre req for a lot of good jobs.
Bill Gates is not willing his children any of his assets, neither is Warren Buffet or numerous others who are beyond having means to do so.
A couple wealth hoarders with way more money than they could ever use, who don't love their children enough to share ANY with them.
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