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Actually, if a poorer student is accepted at places like Harvard or Stanford they would be a fool to turn it down. The reason? For them it would be free - the whole works. In fact, it would be cheaper to do that than for them to go the CC/public university route.
True, but apparently the author made too much money to get more than a small scholarship from Stanford, so yeah, darling daughter should have faced reality.
When I was in HS, I wanted to go to Cornell, but unlike the author's princesses, I was well aware that my parents couldn't afford to send me to college at all, much less to a private college, so I never even applied to Cornell. I settled for using scholarships, loans, and jobs to get through a state college because I could afford that myself.
Parents who insulate their children from their families' financial realities have no one to blame but themselves when their princes and princesses get themselves in financial trouble.
It surprised me at first, but then I remembered that a good proportion of our population do not pay federal taxes (including the elderly, the wealth, businesses, and the poor). After further thought as a student of Sociology, I'd point to factors outside the individual that would explain this phenomenon. Had it been a handful of spend-thrifts, I would say it's an individual's irresponsibility, but because this is such a problem for the masses it is clear that it's a policy issue.
I guess the most productive way to examine the issue is to look into reasons why people don't have money saved and compare that to reasons why other people do have money saved. Similarly, we should examine the reasons why people have debt and why others don't. Clearly some reasons can be attributed to the individual's bad luck and bad decision making, but others can be attributed to the shift towards a consumer driven economy with bad lending vehicles that has conditioned people to not delay gratification.
??? ??? How does one Cook Food at home when one has only a hot plate? (There were times I was in that boat.)
Uh, get a small pot designed for a camping stove? I can't imagine that cooking on a hot plate is truly unworkable though I admit to never having done it myself.
When I was in HS, I wanted to go to Cornell, but unlike the author's princesses, I was well aware that my parents couldn't afford to send me to college at all, much less to a private college, so I never even applied to Cornell. I settled for using scholarships, loans, and jobs to get through a state college because I could afford that myself.
Parents who insulate their children from their families' financial realities have no one to blame but themselves when their princes and princesses get themselves in financial trouble.
Thats the point though. If you are an outstanding high school student and are accepted at one of the very best universities like Harvard (or Cornell for that matter), a lower family income is absolutely no reason to turn down the offer. They will cover that offer financially if necessary. And that would be a much better deal than going the CC/public university route.
However this person likely made well above the cut-off point (and they do have one) for very much financial assistance from the universities. His daughter at Stanford did make Rhodes Scholar, a tremendous achievement, more than likely a guarantee for future success. So is Harvard medical school for that matter.
Economically, he and his wife did just about everything wrong they could possibly do and then he whines about how "that wasn't supposed to be how things worked", as if stagnant wages were part of his real problem rather than not thinking.
This article is like a couple of others that have been posted recently that attempt to give faces to national problems but totally miss the boat.
There was an article in the Retirement forum a few months ago that purported to be about "retirees who were too poor to retire", which is a real concern/fear for many Americans. The problem with the article was it profiled 1 individual and 2 couples who were RV-ing full time and supplementing their retirement funds with part-time jobs.
Then there was an article either in this forum or in education about how "massive student loans are preventing couple from retiring!" which also turned out to be a whole lot of BS. Apparently, the upper middle class parents didn't save much for their kids college but instead took out private loans to the tune of $180k, which was complicated by the Great Recession. Big sob story until you find out that the couple is in their late fifties and are complaining because they can't retire early and travel the world -- and that they're supporting son with $120k in loans for his bachelor degree who's in LA waiting tables and trying to become an actor because he's so creative. ....
There are a lot of people struggling economically in this country, and it's primarily because family (and household) income has been stalled for about 20 years. The median family income in 2016 is about the same as it was in 1996 ... that's NOT in inflation-adjusted dollars, but face value dollars. Others have been slapped around by off-shoring, automation, recession, age discrimination. Some have truly tried to "do the right thing" to improve their lives but are still struggling for various reasons. These are stories that need faces, not self-indulgent well-off people who pile their newest bad decision upon the previous one.
I think the author was trying to make the point that wage stagnation, college costs, wealth & income inequality are clear & present dangers for the entire middle class, including people supposedly at the high end of middle like himself. His own example may be imperfect because of the particular mistakes he made, especially with regard to real estate. I wouldn't call him a failure because one of his kids is a Rhodes scholar - as someone else said, a tremendous achievement. He raised two smart & capable daughters.
Most people on here point to extravagant middle class "luxuries" like electronics and cars. The author states clearly that he does not splurge on those things & I expect those are not at fault for the majority of middle class people who don't have large savings. There were such things as telephones and cars for most of the 20th century and most middle class families had them. They cost about the same in inflation adjusted terms (you used to have to pay long distance fees, etc...).
What surprises me about the reactions, though, is that few people are looking at the larger picture. They blame the victim and seem to have no curiosity about what exactly is causing the wage stagnation and increased costs of middle class markers like college education. The author called colleges "extortionists" - strong language & an accusation that no one seems to want to investigate.
I'd like to see a follow up article. If I were one of the daughters and read it, I'd feel bad that my college pretty much destroyed my mom & dad's retirement. However, I would want to know WHY and I would want to fix the problem.
Last edited by redguard57; 04-27-2016 at 05:43 PM..
Back to the original post:
"half would have trouble coming up with $400"
I started working at 14, my mother signed the paper that made it legal, and my paycheck was needed. I went to state college on my own dime. Didn't ask divorced parents for money, pointless as they were paycheck to paycheck (well when my father had a job). I was taught to be a saver and have had $400 available since I was 18 because although I had a family safety net (which many poor people don't) I wanted to be independent.
State college was much less expensive in the 70's and between work-study job and federal loans my total loans were just over 3k. Costs for college, cars, phones, houses have gotten way above middle class wages, which have been stagnant for a long time.
I don't own a smart phone but then I'm not a teenager or a parent of a teenager or a grandparent (who wants to show photos of their grandkids lol). We are just too cheap to pay the monthly costs.
Having money in the bank is necessary to my mental health. It equals freedom. Better to have peace of mind than anything that $400 or $500 or any amount will buy.
Edit to add: my college costs were also reduced because I took CLEP test and earned FREE college credits worth about a year. I urge any parents to look into CLEP which is accepted by majority of colleges/universities in US. You can save a lot of money but you have to do the research. Big secret colleges don't want broadcast so they lose tuition.
You adapt. I usually only cook on one burner anyway. It's easy to make soup, cook veggies, pasta, etc.
My hot plate could heat pasta but never quite boil water. Where I am now, a hot plate would trip a breaker and the rent master would be furious because he'd have to flip it back.
My hot plate could heat pasta but never quite boil water. Where I am now, a hot plate would trip a breaker and the rent master would be furious because he'd have to flip it back.
Back to the original post:
"half would have trouble coming up with $400"
I started working at 14, my mother signed the paper that made it legal, and my paycheck was needed. I went to state college on my own dime. Didn't ask divorced parents for money, pointless as they were paycheck to paycheck (well when my father had a job). I was taught to be a saver and have had $400 available since I was 18 because although I had a family safety net (which many poor people don't) I wanted to be independent.
State college was much less expensive in the 70's and between work-study job and federal loans my total loans were just over 3k. Costs for college, cars, phones, houses have gotten way above middle class wages, which have been stagnant for a long time.
I don't own a smart phone but then I'm not a teenager or a parent of a teenager or a grandparent (who wants to show photos of their grandkids lol). We are just too cheap to pay the monthly costs.
Having money in the bank is necessary to my mental health. It equals freedom. Better to have peace of mind than anything that $400 or $500 or any amount will buy.
Edit to add: my college costs were also reduced because I took CLEP test and earned FREE college credits worth about a year. I urge any parents to look into CLEP which is accepted by majority of colleges/universities in US. You can save a lot of money but you have to do the research. Big secret colleges don't want broadcast so they lose tuition.
If you're too poor to come up with $45 for a smart phone (no monthly costs beyond whatever the minimum in your prepaid plan is) then you're not doing as well as you'd like us to beleive.
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