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The two most active threads yesterday were ones that I've already discussed and, therefore, will start today with the third most active thread. That thread was titled, "Why pay all of kids' college?" and posted in the "Money and Finances" forum. The original poster says that she does not understand the expectation that the average middle class person should save to pay for 100 percent of their kid's college. She says that everyone she knew growing up had college loans and they were fine. She has decided that she will pay for two years at a public university for her kids and the rest is up to them. Reading the responses, it is clear that posters approach this topic from very personal angles. Those for whom college loan debt was a burden tend to believe very strongly in paying for their children's college. One poster compared this to passing on generational wealth. These posters often stress the significant impact of large debt that forces young people to delay many other aspects of their lives. As one poster put it, "If they are saddled with loans, they will never own a home". In contrast, those like the original poster who didn't have personal experience with significant debt see less importance in saving for college and are more likely to expect their children to take out loans. Some posters contend that kids should have "skin in the game", meaning that they be responsible for paying for at least part of their education so that they will value it. Otherwise, these posters suggest, the kids might see college as a four-year long party at their parent's expense. Many posters see attitudes about paying for college as having regional or social class divisions. One suggests that DC-area families are more likely to pay for college than those in her home state of Pennsylvania. Others argue that upper middle class families are more likely than middle class to save for college, though this may simply be an issue of means. Some posters think that unless saving for college would cause significant financial problems, it is selfish not to save for your kids' college. A number of posters point out that young people just starting college often are naive and uninformed about the ramifications of debt. They don't have a proper understanding of how much a burden paying off loans can be or they wrongly believe that loans are easily forgiven. Therefore, many posters feel they have an obligation to pay for college to prevent these kids from making mistakes. There was quite a bit of discussion of the Public Service Loan forgiveness (PSLF) program that forgives loans of those who choose specific professions. However, this forgiveness only occurs after 10 years of making payments. For some posters, struggling with debt for even that long is unreasonable if parents could prevent it. For many, this is a question of priorities. Whereas some posters see giving a debt-free education to their children as way to give them a leg up and a good start to their lives, others have different priorities. As one poster put it, "I want to retire and enjoy what is left of my life. I can afford to retire while I'm young and do the things on my bucket [list]". This poster was specifically discussing paying for graduate school, but the sentiment was representative of some posters' attitudes about paying for college in general.