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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter did this: exact timing and exact proposal. I actually checked the date on the post to make sure this wasn’t a bumped old post.

Long story short, she is possibly on track to finish her AA in six years, which breaks down as follows:

- Three semesters at state university
- Three semesters attempting the three required pre-reqs for her CC program (which should have been accomplished in her first three semesters at university), while taking other non-required classes to maintain full-time student status
- At least six semesters in the two-year AA program of choice (we were informed this weekend that she would not be graduating this May, but hopefully in December 2026 or May 2027)

We got here because she ended up dropping at least one (sometimes more) classes every semester to avoid failing. Long after the refund deadline.

She also continued to live as though she was still in the state university: skipping classes to go on spring break during the university’s break (which didn’t align with the CC’s break), driving back to the university on the weekends to go to parties, graduation trips, etc.

She did work part time through all of this, and in the summers. She’s not a bad kid, but she needed a lot more guidance and structure.

A lot of this was beyond my control: she is an adult. But if I could do it again:

- I would not have paid for an apartment in her college town where any of the occupants were not FT, four-year college students.
- When she decided to leave school, I would not have paid for tuition or room and board if she continued to live in her college town. (I would pay the CC or commuter school tuition if she was living at home.)
- I would demand grade transparency in exchange for tuition.
- If she dropped a required class more than once, I would tell her to consider a new major/career path, and I would not pay for that class again.
- I would not pay for the “extra” classes not required for her program without a conversation about why she wanted to take them.
- After a total of four years in school, I would begin charging her a bit of money for rent, her phone, and her health insurance costs. Not the full amount, but enough that she felt the burden of the real world. She has spent the past five years living like she is an adult without any of the responsibilities of adulthood.

And of course, if we could go way back, we would have stuck to the original college plan: two years at CC, two years at university. She was accepted to her university in that COVID admissions year where standards were lowered, and admittedly we were so excited that she got in that we didn’t think about her capacity to succeed there. I think she would have had a better outcome starting at a CC and living at home before going to a university.[/quote]

Wow! I can’t even imagine how painful that must have been for you as a parent.

6 years to get an AA is ridiculous.

Have you diagnosed why she is failing so badly with higher education? At this point I would be pushing her toward the trades or military….[/quote]

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