Christcorp said:
Society has BS'd our kids into believing that they need a college degree to be successful. Kid think when they leave high school, that they should have the same standard of living that they had growing up at mom/dad's house; (they don't want to wait 20-30 years like mom/dad did working to get there). And parents/students believe that a big debt from a high profile/name school is somehow worth it. Well, I know a kid here who graduated from Yale in 2009 in the top 20% of his class. The last 2 years he's been delivering pizza. Obviously, not reducing that student loan by much. Again; no sympathy.
Mike,
I do agree with you that society has created this issue, but from a different perspective.
As I illustrated in an earlier post, my SIL and niece were/are wrapped up in the illusion that society thinks poorly if the child doesn't go away to a 4 yr college straight out of HS.
Our niece didn't have the stats/grades to get into the schools for her dream major, however, she did have colleges waiting in the wings to accept her at a high cost.
They preyed on them. Many schools do that now. They blast emails telling applicants "we want you" and will waive the application fee, just send the transcripts and "you are in".
Last fall, and even this spring my email container was filled with Dear DS2, fill this out and you are accepted. At first I have to admit we bit off on that, because it didn't cost a penny, and at least he would have options JIC. It ended when we sat down with DS, and he said I don't and won't go there even if my top choice declines me.
He was declined by his top choice. They had over 35K applicants for 4K slots. He has decided to use the VA program. Go to a CC get his AA, pull a 3.0 cgpa and transfer over to his 1st choice.
Emotionally that is hard to hear at first from a pride perspective. However, when we heard him out, we were amazed by how he was being logical and we were being emotional. Going this route, he will get into his dream school, and by carrying extra classes yr round he will actually enter ahead of the 4K peers that got the Congrats letter.
The cost of attendance will be lower, but because it is a CC, we will buy him a car(cheap). A car he will keep after graduation, thus now he will have not only no student loan debt, but no car debt and a degree from his dream college. We are very proud of him, because he has decided at 17 he will obtain his goal, he just will take a different path.
I state this because society does play on all of us, but I am not sure if the fault lies with the child believing they will live like their parents. I think IMPO, it lies with the parents raising the child. I think they care about how society views them and their child in this scenario.