Is having 4+ kids a status symbol?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people with large families do no worry about college tuition. They teach their kids to work through college, get merit aid, and supplement with loans.

Yup I'm one of 4 and my parents didn't pay for college for any of us. We went to the cheapest option and got merit scholarships.
Me -college was free i got merit scholarships
Sibling #2: took out small loan and worked it off
Sibling#3: partial merit scholarship and worked for the rest
Shopping#4 full merit

I worked, got merit aid, took out direct loans and that didn’t even come close to COA. I graduated college in 2013. The plan you mention is not possible anymore unless you’re counting parental help (only help I got was parent loans).

My last sibling just graduated college. It can be done.

One thing was we all lived at home and did local colleges. Brooklyn College is very affordable for New Yorkers. You get a part time job and live at home and done.

Its not that easy. To get merit aid you have to b every smart. And, not all parents will let kids live at home. UMD tuition is almost $11K not including books or other expenses. That's not exactly affordable to work part-time.

Your parents are really selfish not to help pay anything.

To get merit is very easy. Three of my kids got either full or partial (large portion) of merit. There is always an option for free education in US. My younger one is on full scholarship in state college now, we do help with rent and food expenses. She also worked through the summer part time and made $5k from tutoring.

I suppose you think it’s “easy” to get a 33+ on the ACT, which is at least 98th percentile. By definition, that’s not easy for 98% of people! I got a 1300 M+V (2008) and I had to study like crazy to get that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people with large families do no worry about college tuition. They teach their kids to work through college, get merit aid, and supplement with loans.

Yup I'm one of 4 and my parents didn't pay for college for any of us. We went to the cheapest option and got merit scholarships.
Me -college was free i got merit scholarships
Sibling #2: took out small loan and worked it off
Sibling#3: partial merit scholarship and worked for the rest
Shopping#4 full merit

I worked, got merit aid, took out direct loans and that didn’t even come close to COA. I graduated college in 2013. The plan you mention is not possible anymore unless you’re counting parental help (only help I got was parent loans).

My last sibling just graduated college. It can be done.

One thing was we all lived at home and did local colleges. Brooklyn College is very affordable for New Yorkers. You get a part time job and live at home and done.

Its not that easy. To get merit aid you have to b every smart. And, not all parents will let kids live at home. UMD tuition is almost $11K not including books or other expenses. That's not exactly affordable to work part-time.

Your parents are really selfish not to help pay anything.

My parents are probably the most selfless people to exist on this planet lol. And yes, we're all highly intelligent, or we wouldn't have bothered with college. We would have done plumbing or something like that - earn an honest living.

Siblings are a huge resource. One sibling borrowed money from the rest of us to start a new business which is thankfully going well. I only wish my parents had more kids!

If you live in Brooklyn. What’s a kid supposed to do, make their family move to Brooklyn? My parents told me I was not allowed to live at home during college.

There are tons of options. This was just one example.

Maybe your parents are selfish for not letting you live at home, rather than my parents being selfish for having us work for our own college educations, which hasn't set any of us back financially. We were raised to avoid loans as much as possible and be fiscally responsible.

PP here. It’s 2020, not 1990 where tuition is $3k a year. You don’t get it. I was raised to avoid loans as much as possible and be fiscally responsible. I worked for my own college education, got merit aid, had to take out loans and none of that was enough to cover COA at state school. You’ll argue till you’re blue in the face but I’m right ✌️

[Anonymous]

There are different kinds of merit scholarships. Yes, usually you have to do well on a standardized test. Not all my siblings test well, and those that didn't found other solutions. Cheaper college while working to offset costs and living at home is possible for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people with large families do no worry about college tuition. They teach their kids to work through college, get merit aid, and supplement with loans.

Yup I'm one of 4 and my parents didn't pay for college for any of us. We went to the cheapest option and got merit scholarships.
Me -college was free i got merit scholarships
Sibling #2: took out small loan and worked it off
Sibling#3: partial merit scholarship and worked for the rest
Shopping#4 full merit

I worked, got merit aid, took out direct loans and that didn’t even come close to COA. I graduated college in 2013. The plan you mention is not possible anymore unless you’re counting parental help (only help I got was parent loans).

My last sibling just graduated college. It can be done.

One thing was we all lived at home and did local colleges. Brooklyn College is very affordable for New Yorkers. You get a part time job and live at home and done.

Its not that easy. To get merit aid you have to b every smart. And, not all parents will let kids live at home. UMD tuition is almost $11K not including books or other expenses. That's not exactly affordable to work part-time.

Your parents are really selfish not to help pay anything.

To get merit is very easy. Three of my kids got either full or partial (large portion) of merit. There is always an option for free education in US. My younger one is on full scholarship in state college now, we do help with rent and food expenses. She also worked through the summer part time and made $5k from tutoring.

BINGO! So you acknowledge that your child IS getting parental help. I don’t think you realize that some kids literally have to scramble and that means loans.

[Anonymous]

People with a lot of kids should not kid themselves. The kids have to raise themselves. Someone always gets lost in the shuffle. As one of 8, we fended for ourselves + started paying our own food/clothes bills at age 12. Not fun/stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People with a lot of kids should not kid themselves. The kids have to raise themselves. Someone always gets lost in the shuffle. As one of 8, we fended for ourselves + started paying our own food/clothes bills at age 12. Not fun/stressful.

Uhh... You have to know that’s very different than a family with 4 kids in Bethesda. I doubt those kids are paying for travel soccer and robotics camp, let alone their organic almond butter.

[Anonymous]

People on here don’t get that having 7 siblings means a lot of cousins for your kid to hang with at family gatherings, ideally. -Parent of 4 with no cousins on my mom’s side

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People on here don’t get that having 7 siblings means a lot of cousins for your kid to hang with at family gatherings, ideally. -Parent of 4 with no cousins on my mom’s side

You assume siblings live in the same city. They do not generally

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve noticed in my UMC area that having 4+ kids is the new status symbol, it’s mostly the wealthier families that do it and do t have to give a second though to providing college or paying for several kids at once in pricey camps or private school!

Only if they are all going to privates and living an UC life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here don’t get that having 7 siblings means a lot of cousins for your kid to hang with at family gatherings, ideally. -Parent of 4 with no cousins on my mom’s side

You assume siblings live in the same city. They do not generally

Actually it’s more common nationally for them to. Most people live where they grew up. Again, not the case in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People with a lot of kids should not kid themselves. The kids have to raise themselves. Someone always gets lost in the shuffle. As one of 8, we fended for ourselves + started paying our own food/clothes bills at age 12. Not fun/stressful.

May not be fun, but more likely to raise contributing members of society than kids who get anything they want without lifting a finger their entire childhood.

My husband is one of 8. Family went bankrupt when he was 10 (small business failed). All 8 kids are productive and self supporting and married with kids.

My cousins of 2-3 kids none of them became self supporting until their early 30s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here don’t get that having 7 siblings means a lot of cousins for your kid to hang with at family gatherings, ideally. -Parent of 4 with no cousins on my mom’s side

You assume siblings live in the same city. They do not generally

You know there's cars and planes nowadays. We get together at gatherings just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People on here don’t get that having 7 siblings means a lot of cousins for your kid to hang with at family gatherings, ideally. -Parent of 4 with no cousins on my mom’s side

So you’re just popping out kids to create future playmates? This is why I assume families with 4+ children are either religious nutters or profoundly unintelligent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here don’t get that having 7 siblings means a lot of cousins for your kid to hang with at family gatherings, ideally. -Parent of 4 with no cousins on my mom’s side

So you’re just popping out kids to create future playmates? This is why I assume families with 4+ children are either religious nutters or profoundly unintelligent.

And you're voluntarily destroying your own legacy and evolutionary advantage. Maybe we can call it a draw?

[Anonymous]

aloha123 wrote:If life is secure, then let it be at least 10, but if there is no money, then I'm sorry

Families of one mom and one dad who stay married may be around poverty level but usually the kids do fine.

As opposed to families of 10 kids w 6 dads.