did your 18 year olds go to Europe the summer after graduation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you whose kids are "working to have money for college" --are your kids contributing money to the cost of college tuition?

Mine is not. We are fully covering college and books. She is responsible for money for her social life and extra clothing beyond what we buy for her. She is also responsible if she wants to travel with friends apart from our family travel.

[Anonymous]

Mine just got back from backpacking for 3 weeks in Greece and Italy. She ran into lots of other kids she knows doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD did a 3 week backpacking trip with a friend last summer after graduating. They both worked all school year to have enough money to do it, planned it out themselves. Parents paid for the round trip flights as their graduation gift, kids otherwise fully funded it. Both spent the rest of the summer working too.

Discovered during the trip that they thought you booked hostels by nights instead of arrival day / departure day so there were a few nights they had to scramble to find a place to sleep. They got a Euro-rail pass and crammed quite a lot into their three weeks! Was a great experience.

Definitely not rich.

If you have money to buy your kid a r/t ticket to Europe, you are rich.

[Anonymous]

I'm black, and in my whole life, I've known two kids who have done this, and they weren't black. Not trying to make this a race thing, but this is not a thing in my middle-class black community. I never even heard this being a thing until I was an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My college kid has traipsed around Europe several times now. But DC has a 4 year ROTC scholarship, which comes with outstanding credit card and travel awards benefits. DC has made the most of it. DC is in Europe at least once or twice a year on breaks - most if it paid through all the card benefits that came with the scholarship.

Can you elaborate further? My daughter is starting college on a 4 year ROTC scholarship this fall.

[Anonymous]

This was the thing to do with DC kids this year. A good 50+ kids did various Europe trips from GDS, Sidwell, Walls and JR.

My kid went in a group of 10 and met up with a huge group in Spain.

Made my kid get a job during the school year to fund all their hotels, meals, etc.

Seems to have been the thing to do vs beach week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My college kid has traipsed around Europe several times now. But DC has a 4 year ROTC scholarship, which comes with outstanding credit card and travel awards benefits. DC has made the most of it. DC is in Europe at least once or twice a year on breaks - most if it paid through all the card benefits that came with the scholarship.

Can you elaborate further? My daughter is starting college on a 4 year ROTC scholarship this fall.

There are no annual fees on cards for these ROTC kids - whether Chase Sapphire or Amex Platinum or Airline cards or whatever. If you are mindful and keep a high credit score and play it well, it doesn't take long to accrue all the benefits - from miles to upgrades to hotel discounts to lounges and so on. It's been a surprising benefit with ROTC. DC travels often on the various card benefits, and travels better than I do.

[Anonymous]

I did in the 90’s after graduating college. Most of my friends did as well…stayed in hostels and cheap hotels and used Eurorail pass.

[Anonymous]

No. Not enough money to do that and pay for college. Went after college.

[Anonymous]

My 18 DD traveled to London, Belgium and France for 3 weeks but went with us as we are not trusting her along with flakey 18 yo’s to make decisions. We had a great time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 18 DD traveled to London, Belgium and France for 3 weeks but went with us as we are not trusting her along with flakey 18 yo’s to make decisions. We had a great time!

We are black. And she met plenty of friends from different ethnicities abroad to hang out with. Next summer, she will go with a small group of friends while we concurrently travel abroad. Teens in Europe are pretty independent and trustworthy as they travel from country to country on Eurostar and with their summer camps so it is second nature. For a lot of Americans, it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you whose kids are "working to have money for college" --are your kids contributing money to the cost of college tuition?

No, but saving for books, supplies, spending money, and gas. Hopefully they will be able to also find a part time job at college to pay for extras while we take care of tuition, room and board.

Hopefully they will be able to travel after graduation or do a semester abroad. I had to do the same thing while in college because there just isn't enough money to cover everything.

[Anonymous]

Graduates do this where I live. A tour group organizes it. Kids from our local high schools all go together. It’s a 2-3 week trip through Europe, depending on which package you sign up for. There is an adult who accompanies them but they’re largely on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Not enough money to do that and pay for college. Went after college.

Isn’t it insane that Americans pay so much for college but then think that this routine travel is the expensive part?! What a scam!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 18 DD traveled to London, Belgium and France for 3 weeks but went with us as we are not trusting her along with flakey 18 yo’s to make decisions. We had a great time!

Helicopter parenting at its finest!