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Parenting after 35
stever
member
Re: Amy's post
stever
member
I'm not wondering so much about how we'll all choose to fund our LO's education, but I am curious about how serious you'll be about making sure your kid(s) go to college.
Education is really, really important in my family. As aimless as I was in grade school and just after finishing high school I always knew I'd go to college. It was never a question. To quote the movie Orange County, "why do you want to go to college?" "Because that's what you do after high school!"
I'm probably not making much sense, but I mostly wanted to know how important it is to you that your LO goes to college and what you'll do to get them there?
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Re: Re: Amy's post
When I was growing up, the idea of not going to college was never discussed. I never knew it was even optional. I plan to instill the same thought in Caroline. DH and I are both very pro-education and I really hope C loves school as much as I did.
We started a college fund for her as soon as she was born and contribute monthly.
Bronx Zoo: Summer 2013
To read my blog, click on the giraffe pic below!
What you study in school definitely doesn't have to reflect what your career ends up being, but it can.
And if we move to the UK then we can meet up and compare British andFrench education
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We sound very similar, except we have yet to do anything more than a saving's account for M's college fund
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ps. Good to see ya Robyn!
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DH and I joke all the time about which of our kids will go to his alma mater (Oklahoma) and which will go to mine (Northwestern). For both of us, though, there was never any question we would go to college, and we both are expecting our kids to do so as well. That said, I really hope that if college is not something one of both of them is interested in that I can be supportive of whatever they do choose to do - as long as it is something that will allow them to be happy and be able to support themselves in a decent lifestyle.
But I really, really hope they want to go to college and I know it will be hard for me to accept if they really don't.
Just as it was for me, college will be a given for LO. I always knew I'd be going to college...my parents made that clear from day one. Not true for DH though. He was kind of a rebel in high school, barely graduated and somehow slipped into college. Funny to think that something finally woke him up and he ended up at an Ivy League law school. We both have advanced degrees, so we expect LO to follow in our footsteps.
Now, we're just keeping our fingers crossed that with tall parents, LO will get that basketball scholarship and have his college education paid for!
It wasn't a question in my family or DH's. In fact we are both disappointments because all of our parent's have advanced degrees. DH is determined that Matt go to law school because he believes there are a lot of things you can do with a law degree even if Matt doesn't want to be an actual lawyer.
I say we will be lucky if Matt wants to go to college never mind law school.
Some sort of post-high school training/education will be encouraged. The military is also a good option (officer training, not just enlisted.. not that there's anything bad about being an enlisted soldier) I have a BA, DH has a BS and his masters in engineering, so we'd love to steer C in that direction.
As for savings, DH comes from a family with literally nothing and I was lower middle class, so our parents gave us nothing for college. I believe there's something very valuable about earning your own way. But I also think we'll try to help him as much as we can. But we don't intend to give him a completely free ride.
One of the downsides of being an older parent is that just when we should be getting ready for retirement, that college thing pops up!
Both DH and I agree that we want the kids to do something with post secondary training of some kind. What program or vocation they choose is up to them. I won't push them to pursue something they have no interest in. They all understand that education doesn't stop at high school. Both DH and I have been to school, dh was college and vocational (firefighter, almost done!! I love the uniform
), and I was university).
We'll help pay for school, and there are lots of schools here. If they want to move away from home, they'll have to pay for it, it's not in our budget. That, and if they have to work to contribute, they'll appreciate it more because it's their own money that's at stake.
My parents always used the phrasing, "after you graduate from HS and are in college, blah blah blah...."
I have always done the same with my boys. My son is currently in his first year of college, but has credits that he earned in HS, so really he is more than halfway to his 4 year degree. He was able to take Univeristy chemistry, physics, english and calculus, etc. One of that factors that motivated him was knowing that we only had to pay a little for the U of U classes during HS, but he would have to pay full price if he waited. He also wants to get his masters and he wants to get there as soon as possible. He is in a big hurry to be an adult. It started at birth.
He is paying for his own w/a small scholarship and subsidized loans and his little (now former) job. I commented to him that he hadn't missed a college class and he said, "Well, I am paying for it, so I figure I ought to go and get the most out of it." I was wondering if we had done the right thing not providing it for him until he said that.
He lives at home for free and we provide his health and car insurance, so he has no expences except school and spending money. I have always told my kids that as long as they are in school, they can live w/us for free. If they aren't in school, they pay "rent".
DH is now researching college savings info:
College Is a Big, Fat, Hairy Rip-Off! (But Save for It Anyway)