Reply to S/O What is our obligation as parents regarding college $$$?

Forum Index » Family Relationships

Reply to "S/O What is our obligation as parents regarding college $$$?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm with OP. We chose to live in VA largely for the many options for good in-state schools, and are saving to cover in-state college for our kids. Most of the time, I don't think privates are worth the money. Both DH and I both went to in-state undergrads. HHI $180k. Several of our friends went to lower ranked schools and are making substantially more money than us too, so I don't think there is a strong school prestige-earnings link. Those friends were more ambitious and went for different careers than we did. If you're a go-getter, you'll get ahead even if you "only" have a degree from GMU or whatnot.

[b]PPs have compared paying for college to eating healthy food. I would say private schools are like eating microgreens and endive, and in-state publics are like eating plain old spinach. It's not like you're just "feeding" your kids candy for dinner.[/b][/quote]

I love the bolded—thanks, PP!

I mean, the point of college isn’t solely about debt-free education to a fancy name.  It’s about getting a good education, broadly.  Part of what I want my kids to learn is that there are different ways to do that and they need to take into account what’s a good fit for them, what they’ll get out of the education, etc.  
na
Neither DH nor I want our kids saddled with crippling debt.  Part of that is raising them to have the good judgment not to prioritize an obscenely expensive private university over everything else.  My parents paid for my undergraduate tuition, and for that I’m deeply grateful.  As an adult, I learned that my father made terrible financial decisions in order to do so, and I really wish he hadn’t done that.  We’re not bankrupting ourselves to pay for fancy private schools.[/quote]

DP. Interestingly, you refer first to how students "need to take into account what's a good fit for them, what they'll get out of the education, etc."

Then you refer to "obscenely expensive private university over everything else" and "fancy private schools."

So no private college could ever also be a "good fit for them" where they'll get what is right for them as individuals?

And every single private college is "obscenely expensive" and "fancy"?

OK! Got it. You wouldn't ever know (or care) if a school were a good fit for your kid if also were private. Too fancy. Guess you'd never find out about the scholarships or financial aid that might make that good fit affordable for your kid. This forum and this thread are so black-and-white and so anti-privates it's remarkable. [/quote]
You're reading a whole lot into my comments that isn't there.  Nowhere did I make the blanket statements you claim; that's your interpretation.

Of course private colleges might be the best fit for someone, and of course there many that offer generous merit aid/aren't obscenely expensive.  Show me where I said otherwise.  I'll wait.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics