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From the day our children were born, we have known that we would provide all of them with the finances for an undergrad degree. As parents, we felt this to be our responsibility, no matter what it took.
I find that if kids work for college, most of the time they will make the most of it, and I would be willing to help them out. I don't believe in funding a child's education who might waste it even while attending.
That's neither true nor fair. My parents funded all of my college. Not having to worry about money allowed me to focus on my studies more and get where I am today. I could concentrate on making As and expanding my horizons. There is plenty of time for work later...college is that unique, special time in your life that will never happen again.
If it burdens the parents financially and they are not on track to be adequately prepared for retirement then no, they shouldn't. If they have enough money then why not? I don't think it's a parental obligation to pay for college though. Parents are obligated to get their children through childhood. When the child becomes a legal adult, then hopefully parents will still want to help their children out, but the welfare of an individual at that point is their own responsibility. That includes the responsibility to provide for themselves and the responsibility to make their own way. Having said that, I am very blessed to have had my parents pay for a lot of various expenses while going for my undergrad degree. I wish everyone could have that blessing (even though it's not a right.)
Should a parent pay for their kids education? Well do the parents expect the child to come up with 40-100,000$ by the time they are 18-19. I think this question answers it self. I don't think a parent should pay for a kids college if the kid screws up and wants another chance.
My parents couldn't afford to pay for my college, not even a little bit. I had to take out loans and rely on grants and scholarships. That doesn't mean they didn't want me to go or didn't want to help me, they just couldn't. I worked all the way through college and I think it made me a better student and harder worker over all. /
This was also the case with me. It was not that my parents did not want to help me, it's just that they could not afford to. I grew up in a lower-working class family. My family could not save up money for college because they were too busy living from one pay check to the next. When I went to college, I worked a 40 hr job throughout my undergrad career. It was tough, yet I also learned to be disciplined with my time. I made straight A's and went on to get a full-fellowship for a Ph.D. So, even without the support of a college fund from my parents, I was still able to do very well. And, I learned a lot about my tenacity in the process.
Definitely it is nice for parents to help with their children's college fund, but not all parents have that luxury.
It really depends on ability to pay. My fiance's family had no means to finance her education, so she saddled the cost of an in-state education. Wasn't pretty but she's chugging through. My parents had the means to finance my education so they did. I am eternally grateful for that opportunity, being debt-free is truly leverage when it comes to employment. Had they not had the ability to finance my undergraduate education I would have pursued the same avenue my fiance did.
That said, do I as a Gen Y have an expectation of funding my future children's education? This is hard to say. My biggest hurdle would be retirement. My parents had the benefit of pensions, which is the sole reason they were able to even entertain the idea of saddling my college costs. So the likelihood that a gen Y'er like me would be able to attain their level of retirement benefits is dramatically lower, therefore I would say that the likelihood of me covering all the costs associated with an in-state education is slim. The likelihood of me covering ANY of the costs associated with the out-of-state portion of an out-of-state education is ZERO. Kiddos are in for a surprise in that regard. Grandpa is the one with a pension, they'll have to go to him for that.
As to parent's having the moral mandate to cover their kids college education? Hell no.
It would have been nice...but my parents were divorced and raised by a single parent who didn't go to college themselves. Though my grandfather had a phd in engineering from Northwestern, go figure. I got in to a few better schools but couldn't afford them myself, and my dad was of the mindset that once 18, on your own. He had the money to pay for it... but wouldn't. And since he made in a high enough income bracket, I didn't qualify for grants/scholarships/other finaid packages. My mom didn't have the $, ended up going to state school and paying it all myself minus some of the scholarship money I got. It sucked for about 5 years after paying off the debt I accumulated and might of gotten better grades if I didn't have to work full time through school to pay rent and food.
That being said, I will not have kids unless I think I'm going to be financially secure to do what my parents didn't/couldn't...and in today's world is a big factor for me. I know my father was trying to do what he thought was best, but looking back I don't think he understood the situation as well as he should... different for him in the 50's and 60's... big changes since then. But maybe I wouldn't be so self reliant, spend thrift and independent now too and became a slacker or something, who knows.
Last edited by grapico; 05-07-2009 at 02:52 AM..
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