Why should I pay for my son to go away to college?

[mgobluefb]

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Now its my contention, after 20 years in business, that where you get your degree from is completely irrelevant for most occupations. All a degree is good for is to help you get your first job. After that its your work experiences that help you advance your career.

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Wrong. It DEFINITELY matters where you get a BBA from. You seriously think that?

[pokergrader]

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Those kids who get to go away to college and have everything paid for by mommy and daddy are pretty spoiled - they often turn into sanctimonious liberals who don't have a clue.

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I dont know... My parents paid my way through college and I still turned out pretty ok. I would like to think that well-parented teenagers dont turn into spoiled brats (or "sanctimonious liberals"), even if they have money supporting them.

[Big Bend]

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I'm glad you're not my dad...

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And I'm glad you're not my son [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Seriously everybody, I REALLY appreciate all the responses. There have been some excellent points brought up that I'll certainly consider.

Re my opinion that it doesn't matter where you get your bachelor degree.. the other big univ in Houston is Rice, a very prestigeous (and expensive) college in town, the Ivy league of the South. I've been a professional for many large companies in downtown Houston in my career.. and many of my peers thru the years all seem to agree "Rice grads aren't any better than anybody else, but they sure think they are". They paid 10X as much in tuition and once they enter the real world it doesn't matter anymore.

As for student loans, debt is evil.. serious, if you have to borrow money to go to college, it really should be at a less expensive school, not some elite private collge. Too many people get so saddled with huge debt just as their lives are starting, really makes things very difficult.

Money is certainly an issue in this. We're respectable middle class, but $20K/year will sting, probably means my wife will have to go back to work, which will cause other problems. The kid's definitely gona have to get a job soon and help pay his way. But ya if he can get a scholarship, and chances are decent, then it would prob behoove us to help find a way for him to live the dream.

Take care.. BB

[Golden_Rhino]

You covering his tuition to go to the U of Houston is more than fair (I live in Canada, so I will assume it's a good school). If he wants to leave town just to party, he should pick up the tab for that. I might make an exception if he gets into an 'elite' level school. Not too many kids get a chance to go there, and those that do probably don't have time to get grades and work.

Just my 2 cents worth. You sound like a fair dad, so whatever you decide should be cool.

[Taraz]

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Re my opinion that it doesn't matter where you get your bachelor degree.. the other big univ in Houston is Rice, a very prestigeous (and expensive) college in town, the Ivy league of the South. I've been a professional for many large companies in downtown Houston in my career.. and many of my peers thru the years all seem to agree "Rice grads aren't any better than anybody else, but they sure think they are". They paid 10X as much in tuition and once they enter the real world it doesn't matter anymore.


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This really depends on what you want to do when you come out of school. I would agree that in some professions it doesn't make much of a difference, but do you really want to limit your son to just those professions?

And just to echo what everyone else has said: Make sure he doesn't live at home!

[Dan.]

Making a kid live at home is the quickest way to destroy the college experience. You don't meet people in class; you meet people in your dorm. If you don't want your son to make any new friends, make him live at home...

[NoahSD]

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I'm thinking about making my kid's life worse for no reason. Thoughts?

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FYP.

[Big Bend]

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Making a kid live at home is the quickest way to destroy the college experience.

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Ya about this whole "college experience". Its a relative recent phenomenon in the history of mankind. All you who said going away to school helped you to "grow up" (presumably paid for by mommy and daddy).. Well, there are other ways to grow up too, like being forced to work for a living. The reality is that life is hard and work usually sucks.. and I see it all the time (go to the psych forum) spoiled kids get free ride, enjoy partying and getting laid, then when its time to finally start working and supporting themselves they whine like spoiled biatches "waah my life sucks". Welcome to reality, kid.

And you don't have to go away to college just to learn how to make new friends. Friends can be made on the job too. Sure, its easy for you kids to say "send the boy off to school he'll love it" when you don't have to shell out the $80K+ for 4 years to pay for it. I wouldn't be "ruining my son's life for no reason" if I refused to pay for him to go to an out of town school. Ya, he might not get the whole "college experience" attending a local school while working, but he would certainly be prepared for the realities of life and able to support himself with a good career.

L8r.. BB

[Big Bend]

Oh ane one more thing.. as far as "making the kid live at home"... I'm not making him do anything. I'd LOVE it if when he graduated from highschool he struck out on his own like a man and never asked for another cent. That is certainly how I, my parents, grandparents and most everybody else in history has "grown up".

I hate whiners who say they can't go to college for whatever reason.. The reality is they're just lazy and not willing to work hard enough for the things that are important. They'd rather whine and bitch and moan about how hard life is and how mean their parents are and they just wana drop out of school waah waah waah. So ya, if my son was willing to work hard enough for it, he could have the "college experience" on his own. I'm not making him live at home.

L8r.. BB

[Thremp]

Big Bend,


Assuming he's not too young. Why don't you just tell him you'll pay for the cost of local community college and some room and board, he'll then have to foot the rest? Its not hard to get a scholarship or some small financial loans if he feels its necessary, not to mention if he really wants to make it work he'll work during the summer.

BTW most of the advice in this thread is by sanctimonious liberals.