PingSpike
Lifer
- Feb 25, 2004
- 21,749
- 584
- 126
College expenses are pretty nuts now, and continue to get worse. I hear the student loans some people end up with and sometimes I wonder. You hear everyone in highschool going "do what you love!" well, thats a bunch of shit IMO. If you love doing social work and you graduate with 50K in student loan debt it seems like you'll be starting out crippled.
My parents paid my tuition and I commuted from home to a moderately expensive instate school. I started out with zero, and I've come to really appreciate that starting position! My wife went to a very expensive private instate school, had to pay tuition + room and board all on her own. Because her parents made so little money and she had busted her ass to secure a good deal of scholarships she graduated with on 4K of student loan debt.
This has been a sticking point in our future plans. Having received little from her parents she wants to toss our kids out on their own. I, however, feel obligated to pay it forward.
One thing you have to remember though is to never short change your retirement to pay for the kids school. The last thing I'd want to do is become a burden to my kids right when they were trying to build their own families. Basically, you have to help yourself before you can help others.
Everyone has different opinions on this stuff of course.
My parents paid my tuition and I commuted from home to a moderately expensive instate school. I started out with zero, and I've come to really appreciate that starting position! My wife went to a very expensive private instate school, had to pay tuition + room and board all on her own. Because her parents made so little money and she had busted her ass to secure a good deal of scholarships she graduated with on 4K of student loan debt.
This has been a sticking point in our future plans. Having received little from her parents she wants to toss our kids out on their own. I, however, feel obligated to pay it forward.
One thing you have to remember though is to never short change your retirement to pay for the kids school. The last thing I'd want to do is become a burden to my kids right when they were trying to build their own families. Basically, you have to help yourself before you can help others.
Everyone has different opinions on this stuff of course.