<p>Job security. Anybody can educate themselves and get various life experiences outside of college, do not need to spend all $$ and time for that. However, degree makes huge difference in ability to find a job. I have experienced it 9 times.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>As with lilmom, college helped me move up from the working class, but that's not a factor for my kids (or, I suspect, hers). I was the first person in my family to go to college. My kids live in a setting where going to college is the norm.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Agree with Marian. For me, college was the ticket to a comfortable living. I knew what I wanted to study, I took what classes I needed to take and graduated in 3 years. Now that I am older, I regret that I didn't see and use college as an opportunity to expand my cultural and intellectual horizons.</p>
<p>My D, on the other hand, used college to expand her horizons. The job thing didn't seem to motivate her path.</p>
<p>I’d like them to have options. Unfortunately, these days if you don’t have a degree or some sort of specialized training it’s hard to get ahead.</p>
<p>I wish that I had been encouraged to get a Bachelor’s degree because I essentially have no options at the age of 44. And I honestly don’t understand why I WASN’T encouraged to get a BA or BS…my mom has a BA and even did work on her Masters (although I don’t think she ever completed the degree). Yet she didn’t encourage either of her daughters to pursue higher education beyond getting an associates degree from the local community college.</p>
<p>To me it’s all about having options, financially and intellectually. If my children get advanced degrees in lucrative fields but then decide to repair bicycles or clean toilets for a living, that’s fine with me, as long as I know that it was their informed choice. And I want them to have the satisfaction of seeing what a huge, wonderful world we live in, by exposing them to great ideas while they’re young. The world would be a better place if we all had a broader perspective, and ensuring that my children become educated is my contribution toward that goal.</p>
<p>Great thread idea.</p>
<p>To me it is a “pay it forward” obligation. I think that as a parent you have an obligation to provide what your parents provided to you and if possible a bit more. </p>
<p>My parents both had bachelor’s degrees and I have one too. So therefore my BASIC obligation as a parent is to provide for my children up to the point where they get their Bachelor’s degrees. </p>
<p>Now that does not mean that they can screw around–they are both on the four year plan. I may extend that if there is a legitimate reason they can’t graduate in time, but I also told them that if they finish early I will gift them what I would have provided for them to go for four years. Thanks to AP DD will collect a year’s worth of money from me because she can finish in three years, not four.</p>
<p>For grad school, we are blessed to live a 10 minute bus ride away from one of the top schools in the U.S. for graduate education. Our standing offer to the kids is that they can live here free if they attend grad school at this collge. Other than that they are on their own for grad school. </p>
<p>If I inherit tons of money I would rethink that, but as for now undergrad is a major sacrifice for us as all the kids are either private or out of state. We are eating beans and rice for 7 years.</p>
<p>I think job security is a poor sole reason to attend college. My younger brother went straight into the workforce after high school (after a short training program) and has a very steady job with high potential for promotions and raises and good benefits. Most of the people in my family do not have bachelor’s degrees. The truth is, college is closer to becoming nearly a universal experience for some groups; I’m African American, and it is not for African Americans. We go to college at lower rates and graduate at much lower rates.</p>
<p>I chose to go to college and continue to a Ph.D because I love education, I love learning, and I love being in academia. I want to do research and work amongst scholars. My sister’s completing a BSN because she wants to be a nurse. My brother went straight to work because that was good for him. I think expectations are different based on culture – I certainly didn’t go to college so I could get a job because I was exposed from birth to a variety of positions that I could obtain without going to college, and in fact, never expected to attend college. It wasn’t until I was a junior in high school that I even entertained the possibility of being competitive (and being shocked to find out that I was competitive for the top schools).</p>
<p>Now, at the back end, I do understand that BA holders on average earn more over a lifetime than high school diploma holders, and for the types of jobs that would satisfy me, I need a BA. But where I come from, you just get a job - any job - that supports you and your family. It’s a bonus if you really like it.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine having grown up in a family where my answer to “why do you want to go to college?” is “because it’s what you do after high school.” It sounds very nice. I think perhaps my own children will think more along those lines, when I have them, since both their parents will likely have degrees (I do, and my fiance’s working on one).</p>
<p>To the OP
Because not only did my parents show little interest in whether I graduated from high school, let alone attend college
And because high school leaves shall we say * gaps* in basic learning.</p>
<p>I am looking at S’s college as ‘finishing school’. S if learning new social skills, working hard, and (hopefully) wondering what he can do with a liberal arts major. Which will bring us to the next step-- figuring out what to do after college, that will be compatible with supporting oneself.</p>
<p>It’s a tough question to me. I have no clear answer yet.
I came from a financially poor family in Japan. When I was a high school student, my Dad always told me to think about going to the military college(in Japan) where tuition is free, salary is paid and automatically assigned to liuetenant after graduation or tuition free local governments sponsored med school where graduates are obliged to work in rural area for several years. As I showed some academic achievement, he allowed me to apply to a national university. Its annual tuition was only $0.5K at the time and I got a no-interest bearing student loan.
I really enjoyed my college life. I was heavily involved in student activism and studied only what I wanted - Math, Quantum Physics, Economics and Philosophy. When I completed my 4 years, I wanted to go to a graduate school. It was just when my Dad lost his job so I had to get a job to support my family.
I have a feeling that I should support my S to enjoy his college life if he wants and shows his willingness to study something he wants. But maybe I would be concerned if he would show no interest in going to college, thinking about his future.
My wife has a very different idea, though.</p>
<p>Inn addition to having the “college experience” I would hope that she attains the necessary skills which will allow her to work in a career she finds satisying, hopefully in demand and if she makes enough to feel comfortable in her lifestyle, more power to her.</p>
<p>I wanted my children to see the world through the eyes of an educated person, which requires (in part) knowing how society’s decision-makers formulate their decisions … and college provides a wonderful opportunity to “rub elbows” with future decision-makers.</p>
<p>In both DH & my families, college was the assumed next step from HS and all 8 kids between the two families attended and graduated. 30+ years later, less than 1/3 of us really needed the degree to excel in our career of choice. H is in the minority, went on to earn his MBA and is extremely successful in a field where degrees matter. I’m in the majority, but the intangible lessons learned in tackling my undergraduate degree contributed tenfold to my maturity. Oh, and I met DH there … not saying I tagged him as a Sugar Daddy, but it sorta worked out that way as he eventually climbed to the top rungs of the corporate ladder.</p>
<p>Now our kids are started to head off to college, which is once again an expectation. Where it takes them is up to them now…</p>
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<p>Great article Modadunn!</p>
<p>Oops. I was on my iPod Touch. Typos are soooo easy on that thing! 
I meant to say “In addition…”</p>
<p>"Inn addition to having the “college experience” I would hope that she attains the necessary skills which will allow her to work in a career she finds satisying, hopefully in demand and if she makes enough to feel comfortable in her lifestyle, more power to her. "</p>