Why pay all of kid's undergraduate degree? Many reasons.
To give them the best start in life that you can. To show that you value higher education. Because there's not much else in this world (other than your own retirement) that's a more solid investment in their future. |
I don't understand the "skin in the game" arguments.
A college student's skin in the game is the time and effort they put into studying and learning and obtaining their degree. Most 18 yr olds could not feasibly contribute more than a few thousand dollars and a work study job toward their college education anyway, which even for an in-state college would be nothing close to the total cost. So when parents talk about forcing their kids to self-fund all or a portion of college, even if the parents can afford to pay for it, generally what they are talking about is having their kid take out large loans. This is incredibly irresponsible if you actually have the means to pay for it -- you're just sign your kid up for a usurious student loan system. It's one thing to say "we can only afford to send you to XYZ public colleges, if you want to go somewhere else you will need to take out loans for the balance." That's reasonable. It's something else entirely to insist that an 18 year old be responsible for the high price of a college education simply on principle. |
Translation: I’m trying to rationalize putting my kids into a usury trap before they even begin adulthood. You do you, sweetie. My kids will begin adulthood with $0 debt. |
Not to mention it’s impossible for a teenager to even comprehend $10,000-30,000 in loans plus interest. For ‘skin in the game’ to work a person would have to have the life experience to realize how hard it is to earn the principal, plus pay all of their bills, and how usury interest can take over your life. Kids have none of that life experience to truly grasp the debt. |
I paid for roughly half of my undergrad degree. I feel like parents footing the entire bill can sometimes create a sense of entitlement in kids. And entitlement combined with a slacker college lifestyle is not a good combination. It was the easiest four years of my life by far! Nobody owes you anything in life. Hard work and sacrifice are both important lessons to learn early on in the game of life. |
Wall Street bro with inflated ego and no class lol. I hope your kids do better. |
I don’t consider working for the government any mark of great success.
I had loans and worked on Wall Street and was worth millions by 30. Paid the loans back by 23. I am not giving my story as some proof that loans are good since I am paying for my kids. However, your example isn’t really knocking it out of the park, and I don’t want my kids settling for some government job." ==> +1000 Guarantee the man who created the college fund that allowed the DH to have a guberment job is just spinning in his grave. |
Same here. Parents paid all tuition for all 3 kids. Was a given. Also did not know anyone who had loans until I met a couple of coworkers who did at first job. I was surprised and yes naive. |
A college student isn't going to be able to borrow more than $5-7k per year so how do you expect them to foot the bill for their last two years of college. Even with money from jobs, they still won't be able to do it. It's just very unrealistic unless your child is going to school very PT while working and living at home.
I'm a single mom and a teacher and I was pleasantly surprised by how much merit money my DS got from many private colleges. It brought the cost down to equal the cost of a state school. He commutes so I've only had to cut back on my retirement savings by $100 per paycheck to afford the tuition. He pays for his car insurance and gas, etc with money from his PT job. |
Just realize that your kids are going to remember the “skin in the game” argument when it comes time for you to pay long term care costs. Invest well all that retirement money that you didn’t want to put towards your kids’ college tuition, because you’re gonna need it. |
You have them work summers for spending money, etc. |
Sorry…I’m not paying for my kids for college so they can aspire to mediocrity…guess that’s the best you can hope for yours. |
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This is such a bubble phenomenon. “I only knew rich kids growing up!” Reason #375 why I’d never send my kids to private K-12. Get a clue! |
Not having loans or a car payment is HUGE right out of college! My kid is maxing their Roth and 401k at 22+ and saving. Those with loans and car payments are paying $800+ towards that instead. My kid will have he equivalent of $2m for retirement by time they are 30. Their friends won’t have saved much at all as they pay off $20-30k in loans and pay for their first cars |