When our kids were preschool age I stayed home and gradually started easing back into the workforce because it was really essential for basic survival to have two incomes. I know about choosing to stay home and giving up other things and I know about needing to work. I was with him right up to the point that he said - and he said it twice using the same language - that his parents shouldn’t have to pay for college because of the lost earning potential when his mom decided to give up her engineering career to stay home. I know that his scholarships are merit based and I am not begrudging him merit or need based aid if he had applied for it. My quibble is with the tone. Maybe I’m reading this wrong and he means that HE would not expect them to contribute in any way and wouldn’t expect any help from them or anyone else now that he has been given the excellent foundation in life. However, it reads that society should not expect them to sacrifice more.
Moving out of the trees and back to the forest in question - that reads like other stories that we have heard of kids feeling like they’ve sacrificed and struggled and worked hard and therefor the admissions or aid fairies will necessarily wave their wand and make it all work. I get that this story has a very happy ending. I’m just trying to step back to the tone. These threads are full of stories of parents who take care of grandparents or home school a younger sibling so “can’t” work or have a large mortgage or any number of thing that feel like special circumstances that should get special consideration but don’t. As an instructional thing going forward @albert69 you knew your assets and worked them successfully and had a great result. That’s the lesson here not the add on about who should or shouldn’t have to pay.
@florida26 Can you name one thing in this world that is not the “one percenters” fault? If you were a one percenter, would you be as willing to give it away as you are to take it?
The government contribution to higher education as a percentage of wealth is the lowest it has been in years Thats the problem plain and simple . State funding for higher education is on track to be 0 in a few years. We have a race to the bottom
Once the kid turns 18, the parents need not support the kid in any way. But the kid must wait until age 24, marriage, or after military service to be eligible for need-based financial aid on his/her own without the parents’ information being considered.
@florida26 Well, never fear. The schools would be more than happy to accept your money and help deserving students. (Or you could start your own scholarship fund.) That doesn’t mean that all the rich should be forced to have your views, though. It’s still a semi-free country.
Again, most states have at least ONE school (or type of school) that is affordable for all residents, especially those who qualify for Pell, SEOG, state aid. If not, then the tax structure of that state is to blame, not the schools charging too much. California, which has more of the 1%ers than probably any other state, has many affordable options. If a state’s tax policy is not supporting the wants of its citizens, then those citizens need to take action and replace the government.
@gmtplus7 I dont obsess over it like some people do. It probably drives you crazy that I am not bitter and think people should help others and not look at taxes and government as the worst evil known to mankind Spend some time at this website I think it would be a good use of your time http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
California’s post-secondary education system is designed to be relatively friendly to those from lower income families. That may be less true in some other states like Pennsylvania.
That reality on the ground definitely impacts choices. I live in a state where the Bill Gates Jr. and Sr. lobby for a state income tax to fund education and it loses every time. At the same time Boeing and Microsoft say they can’t find enough workers and we need to invest in education yet they avoid contributing to the tax base through economic blackmail. But that is the current landscape and that is what students and families have to deal with. Efforts to change the funding system or just wishing that it were different are a separate discussion from the question of what to do here and now this year when compiling a list of affordable and attainable schools for the fall 2015 application cycle.
florida,
What’s your point? just to be argumentative? Most 1%ers give back to others. Many, if not most generous, and are not brash loudmouths, Donald Trump excepted.
“let me get this straight are you upset that the one percenters and corps by paying their fair share of taxes for education wont allow for four vacation homes and 2 Ferraris in every garage. How awful. It is truly disgusting”
You’re a little confused about how a one percenter lives. I’m a one-percenter and I live in the same house I have since 1992, no vacation homes, and have Camrys and Priuses we drive into the ground. One-percenter doesn’t mean Kardashian glitz. I’m proud that I can afford two kids full pay but I worked damn hard to be in that position and I pay plenty in taxes, tyvm.
FYI, the 1% make a minimum household income of over $525,000 a year (according to the Google), so I’m guessing some of the people who consider themselves 1%ers are maybe not quite there yet.
I don’t believe @albert69 was saying that taxpayers should pay for his education, I think he feels like it’s HIS responsibility because his parents have done enough. And he put his money where his mouth is and went out and earned a merit scholarship to do it. Great job, Albert.