Assistance with tuition

[MossRoad]

We secretly planned for 5 years of college for our kids, because we are well aware of career path changes when kids hit 2nd and 3rd year of college. However, they did not know this and finished/will finish in 4 years. Whew! :cool2:

It was kind of interesting going to Purdue when the kids were still in high school and listening to talks by the guidance staff. They said yes, you can switch majors, generally, in the 2nd and even 3rd years and still get out in 4-4.5 years. However, the one exception they stressed was engineering. If you decide to quit you wanted to switch to engineering, you had to start the entire 4 year program over from the start. No exceptions. No way to get in all the required classes since they aren't offered every year, but over a 4 year program.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We secretly planned for 5 years of college for our kids, because we are well aware of career path changes when kids hit 2nd and 3rd year of college. However, they did not know this and finished/will finish in 4 years. Whew! :cool2:

It was kind of interesting going to Purdue when the kids were still in high school and listening to talks by the guidance staff. They said yes, you can switch majors, generally, in the 2nd and even 3rd years and still get out in 4-4.5 years. However, the one exception they stressed was engineering. If you decide to quit you wanted to switch to engineering, you had to start the entire 4 year program over from the start. No exceptions. No way to get in all the required classes since they aren't offered every year, but over a 4 year program.

Yep, start them in engineering, then if they switch, the classes won't be wasted.

 

[Sigarms]

Or 'playing the game'. My kids need to learn how to use the system, and not necessarily fight it. While my teammates gnash their teeth, whine about job requirements, or even buck the system, I saw that to survive, I needed to get on board with the vision that management had. Maybe I got that while in the military

The reality is sometimes leadership has their head up their *** and thier "vision" doesn't lead anywhere

If I know what I'm doing and doing my job right, and my vision classes with upper management, so be it.

I've come up with a phrase that you don't have to spend 50k on a masters degree to get so you can get a t-shirt or poster made up... "the bigger the company, the more * up it is..."

Generally speaking, if it's a familiy run business and they keep everything in the family, it's the grandson who finally runs the business into the ground because the grandson was handed everything and he thinks he knows everything LMAO

 

[Paddy]

I would personally never advise anyone to pursue a degree in a field they don't have any interest in. Just to earn a degree so someone can say "I have a degree"? My daughter has no interest in being either a nurse or a teacher. There it is. Why on earth should anyone seek a degree in a profession they have no interest in? I will also say that both of those professions should only be entered by people that have the passion for doing that kind of work. Good teachers and nurses are hard to find, and should be highly valued. Bad teachers and nurses should be weeded out of those professions and encouraged to do something else. If an individual doesn't have the passion for that type of work, then that is one profession they should stay out of. Regardless if the degree was "free" or not.

The real issue is most 18 year olds have no idea what they want to do "for the rest of their lives". Sure it sounds good to follow your passion but, if that is a dream field, Music, sports or something obscure, you will likely be disappointed.

At 27 years old, feeling like construction wasn't my thing any more, a friend said I should go back to school and get an engineering degree. I had no idea what it involved to get the degree or what jobs could come from it. Turned out, engineering is a very flexible degree. Many fear doing calculus all day. I have worked from a home office for 20 years for a European owned company, travel the world and often with my wife. I love my job 95% of the time...

I'm glad I wasn't set on any one thing and let it unfold. My advice, get a good degree, you can always write your own ticket and move up or laterally to find the perfect position.

 

[RSKY]

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are supposed to be much harder than regular classes and thus score with a higher than 4.0. Roughly speaking a B in an AP class is the same or higher than an A in a regular class.

At least that was the case fifteen years ago when my youngest graduated.

My wife taught in public schools for 33 years. She and all the veteran teachers she knows are very much against all the testing going on. Says teachers must now teach passing tests rather than imparting knowledge of the subjects. She also taught teachers at a local university for six years. She had several 'differences of opinion' with the guy leading the program she was involved in. He was your typical very liberal racist college professor.

RSKY

 

[Alan W.]

My son wanted to go into a trades field so he enrolled in the local community college. He has chosen industrial maintenance.
The school has a work program where local business and factories come and meet the students for potential part time work in their field of study. He was offered and took a job.
He now goes to school for two 11 hour days and works the other three.
Yes he lives at home but pays for all his other expenses including tuition.

Higher education does not have to be a lifelong financial burden. My SIL has a doctorate and is a professor at a university. She constantly questions her decision due to the amount of student loans she is paying.

 

[Sigarms]

My son wanted to go into a trades field so he enrolled in the local community college. He has chosen industrial maintenance.
The school has a work program where local business and factories come and meet the students for potential part time work in their field of study. He was offered and took a job.
He now goes to school for two 11 hour days and works the other three.
Yes he lives at home but pays for all his other expenses including tuition.

My two boys don't have their drivers license yet.

When they get older, I personally hope they go the route you son is going over college when they can work.

Both will be offered jobs when their 16 to get their hands "dirty", but in all honesty, I wouldn't of wanted to go that route when I was 16 myself LOL

 

[MH8675309]

Have seen too many parents sign for a loan and get hung out to dry. College can be an expensive pipe dream if the student dont know what they want to be. I helped mine some but when my middle son flunked out of college and had a lease on a place - that had to be paid IN FULL - land lord wouldnt take a dime less for an apartment he was going to turn around and rent again - I decided that was it. I could dig into retirement money to my own hurt or I could let them take care of their own business. Life is real and young people need to learn to cope with the things that happen.

 

[RSKY]

Kentucky has a program, or did have a program, it may have changed now, that paid high school students for the grades they received. The money they earned could be used at a state university. Both of my daughters used this money to pay for part of their tuition and lived at home so they had more to spend on their books. They kept up with their gas usage and even got that paid for. Along with the scholarships they had both graduated with BSs that cost me very little. The fact that they had good grades starting their freshman year in HS and were awarded the top state money is one of the reasons my wife and I were able to retire in our fifties instead of our sixties. We did pay for the youngest to get her MBA and the oldest to get her Masters and her National Boards. Both went to a local state university.

On the other hand a close friend's daughter just had to go to an out of state college. He could not talk her out of it. All her (rich) friends were going there. So he agreed to pay half. Since it was out of state she lost all her KEYS money and had to take out loans. Now she is out of college, working as a teacher, makes no more money than teachers that went to the local state university, and at last telling still owed move than $40,000 on her student loans. Her dad is still working at 67. The girl is still driving the car she bought in high school and cannot afford to trade.

Sit your children down and explain the facts of financial life to them before you let them make that type mistake.

RSKY

 

[hawkeye08]

One of my oldest daughter's friends from high school wanted to get away from home, so she went to a state school on the other side of the state. Her folks paid for it all, including a car and all that goes with it. The young woman had wanted to be a teacher but found out the first year that it did not suit her.. she ended up with a 4 yr degree in English literature. After college and with no job prospects, she moved home. She ended up going to local vocational school to learn massage. Last I heard, she was doing that, living at home, partying her life away.

When I went to college in 70s-80s, we called those MRS degrees and many took less than 4 years to get (girls went to college to get married). The parents of the girl above are not well off, just hard working folks that wanted to provide everything to their daughter so she could have it better than them..

However you do it, if you help your kids with college, let them earn it (like some have mentioned with the grades). They need to learn there are consequences for their choices.