Perhaps you should just associate with people who have stupid kids. That will provide an opportunity to brag about your kids normalcy.
I am assuming this is nonsense or at least hope it is.
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Here’s a couple of examples of what I mean by changing your tune about bragging rights:
Example #1:
HS senior has above 3.0. High enough to get into all the state universities but parents can’t afford 4 yr of that. Parents and kid find out that the local community college has scholarship for free community college tuition if you have HS Gpa above 3.0. Family decided kid is living at home first 2 yr and going to community college then will transfer.
The proverbial Stepford Wives start to passive aggressively trash talk the parents and kid to their face, saying “Oh, Johnny is ONLY going to CC?”
That’s when you step in and say something like this:
“Yeah! We are so excited. In fact, Johnny’s grades are high enough to get a 100% scholarship so we aren’t paying any tuition! And the CC has a guaranteed admittance program with all of the state 4 yr universities. So we’ll only have to pay for 2 yr instead of 4! Isn’t it great?”
Stepford Wives then sit there in kind of stunned silence not knowing what to say because they expected you to act embarrassed instead of excited and proud.
You could even go Stepford Wife back on them and ask what their total COA per year is going to be.
Example #2:
Hs senior Suzy wants to major in Underwater basket weaving. Turns out, one of your state colleges is in the top 5 of underwater basket weaving programs. Uncle Bob and Aunt Sally near this college. Suzy gets into the college with a small merit scholarship but not enough to pay for it all.
Stepford Wives start clicking about Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, blah blah blah. They snark to you about how Suzy is “ONLY” going to State College.
You respond with this:
“Well, we are very excited for her. Did you know that State College has the #4 underwater basket weaving program in the whole country? I know…who knew, right? And they have great programs in X and Y, too, which she’s thinking of minoring in. What’s even better is she’s going to save on housing expenses by living with Uncle Bob and Aunt Sally. I’m curious…how much does room and board go for these days at Georgetown?”
The problem, in my opinion, is that you might care too much about what the other parents think. Two years from now, nobody’s going to care where any of the kids are attending college and the odds are high that you won’t even still be friends with a lot of those parents anyway.
You should go listen to the latest podcast of “Your College Bound Kid.” It’s all about the college student debt crisis. They mentioned one student who by the time he finished med school, owed $700,000 total in student loans between undergrad and med school.
Now THAT is dumb. Don’t make that same mistake.
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If it’s in a STEM field at least usually they are funded through a combination of fellowship/stipend/RA/TAship.
The OP did say that finances weren’t the issue.
Then…what IS the issue?
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OP expresses disappointment that other parents have the ability to brag while OP doesn’t.
Op is very clear that he/she wants their “share” of bragging rights. They are experiencing life in a Greek tragedy forced into silence as others boast of their child’s achievements. In the words of Thomas Conrad and revisited by Capt Kurtz in Apocalypse Now… “the horror, the horror”.
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I thought the OP said his kids weren’t old enough to be applying to college yet. Is that accurate? So…how in the world and why in the world would be be worrying about this sort of bragging rights for some year in the distant future.
I can not buy into this bragging business at all. As stated above, we didn’t discuss our college finances and payment plans with anyone in our circle of friends. Actually now, the folks on CC know more about how we paid for our kids to go to college than anyone IRL knew at the time.
I really hope this thread is not for real.
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I think this is a joke thread but I play along, the emphasis is on B students.