<p>Seeing as how I sit on the side of yes, I would pay for any major, I began to think of this question: what about grades?</p>
<p>Would I be perfectly willing to shell out huge amounts of cash each year if my child happen to be getting C’s and D’s in college instead of A’s and B’s?</p>
<p>As I feel about it now, I think I’d have a hard time doing that.</p>
<p>What about those who have children in college now? Have you set a minimum college gpa level requirement with your child in order for you to continue paying for their tuition, R&B, etc?</p>
<p>No, I haven’t set a minimum GPA or # of credits per term.
I told oldest we would pay for four years. It took five for undergrad.
But we haven’t given youngest same stipulation.
We did say that she needed to finish her degree where she started rather than transfer when it isn’t expected that all her credits will transfer also.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t pay for college - but I do help. I withdrew my financial support for my oldest who was not performing well (flunking). So no, I would not pay for any grade.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine D2 making Cs and Ds - but if she did, I’d be more inclined to get her counseling, because it would mean something was wrong.</p>
<p>D3 - We’ll just have to see. She’ll have difficult coursework. But just to stay in her major, she’ll have to maintain above a B average.</p>
<p>I’d be heartbroken if my kid was not performing well, and I would be inclined to think (if they were truly making an effort) that they had landed on the wrong major and need a change.</p>
<p>I don’t financially support slackers, though.</p>
<p>We stated early on that we do not pay for C’s. However, we also said that for every 2 A’s that our S gets, it will cancel out a C. The intention is not to focus on getting all A’s, but to recognize that C’s or a 2.0 won’t get you very far in life, even though it is “passing.” So while one or two C’s won’t kill a GPA totally, two or four A’s will keep a GPA more safely OVER the magic 3.0 line. We won’t have my S pay for C’s the day he gets them, but instead, keep track of it in a tuition spreadsheet. Ideally, by the time he graduates, he owes us nothing. </p>
<p>With my S we had to do this as he tends to chose fun stuff over studying; I see it as a maturity thing that will eventually self-modulate. With my D, who is older, we didn’t have to even have this conversation because she only received one C once in her life, and she was hard enough on herself for that.</p>
<p>If there were no extenuating circumstances and my kid got all Cs and Ds first year I would bring him or her home until they show that they are mature and motivated enough to warrant that kind of an investment of time and money.</p>
<p>Don’t think of it in terms of grades - think of it in terms of the effort made by the student. </p>
<p>Generally, the grades reflect the effort but with some variance between easy courses and difficult courses. One might be able to put in a fairly minimal effort and get an A or B in an easy course yet put in a huge effort and end up with a C or even a D in a very difficult course. In this situation I wouldn’t penalize the student for the lower grades. In the first year they might also just be discovering that computer science (or other) major isn’t really a good fit for them and it’s time to change majors but in the meantime they took a grade hit simply because the material was too difficult for them despite the effort put in.</p>
<p>If the student was getting poor grades because they were spending a lot of time partying, sleeping, skipping classes, doing other activities rather than doing the studying they need to do, then no, I wouldn’t pay for a 4 year ‘good time’ for the kid.</p>
<p>However, if they’re challenging themselves, making a real effort but maybe getting worse grades than they’re used to in HS, I wouldn’t necessarily hold it against them.</p>
<p>There can also be other issues such as health related ones perhaps combined with a non-accommodating prof that caused an issue reflected in the grades.</p>
<p>And then there’s the whole issue of grade inflation/deflation where if the same student with the same effort went to college A they might have quite different grades than at college B.</p>
<p>The grades only tell part of the story and one should look at the whole picture to decide what they’ll support.</p>
<p>We didn’t put any conditions on our kids. We told them to try their best and we would support them in every way we could. They didn’t disappoint us and never had. They have had chronic health issues for over 10 years now, which was more baggage than anyone should have to carry. S was able to persist anyway and get his EE because he is very determined and learned to pace himself fairly well. D has had a longer path and we had no qualms paying for it and getting her medical help to support her through her journey. In all, she has been in CC & college for 6 years, gotten more incompletes (as well as some poor grades) than any of us wanted as she struggled with her health. If we had placed conditions on her and S, it would have just added extra stress that neither needed, since both have always been highly motivated. At this point, we are very pleased that each has a bachelor’s degree in the field of their choice. </p>
<p>We are encouraging S to see what opportunities his employer offers to further his education, which they advertise when recruiting and will see where he goes with that. We are relieved that both S & D are moving ahead with their lives and can’t wait to see what comes next.</p>
<p>I have a sib who DOES punish her kids if their grades drop, taking away their cell phone and TV privileges, etc. Her oldest (and only child in college) has a merit scholarship that must have a 3.2 to be retained. He’s doing great.</p>
<p>We did not put any conditions on DS, except that he needed to put in efforts.</p>
<p>In fact, when we sent him to college, we told him that he is now in a large pond, he may not get a good grade as the pool of peer students are much better. As long as he put in his efforts, it is fine no matter what grades he will get. (He ended up getting a pretty good grade though.)</p>
<p>Somehow, I do not remember that I have ever “punished” DS in any form. When he was young, as soon as we showed some slight sign of disapproval (in our facial expression or our tone) of what he had done, he would sense it immediately. No yelling or further action needed.</p>
<p>I think this is important to remember, especially if the student is going from being a big fish in a small high school pond to a selective university with a competitive student body. Top high school students who went to places where they are toward the top of that college’s applicant pool are pulling As; equally smart and hardworking kids who went to tough places where they are not special are coming home with hard-won Bs or Cs. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that a student getting all Cs and Ds is probably going to end up on academic probation anyway sooner or later. Most majors have a minimum GPA to continue and it’s often something around a 2.1. A student who cannot regularly exceed that number is going to be told to drop the program or leave the school. It’s not like high school, where someone can limp along with Cs and Ds and graduate anyway.</p>
<p>Happily, our S ended up getting better grades in college than HS & enjoying it far more, since he had more control over his schedule and course selection (to the extent there was any latitude with an EE major).</p>
<p>At our kids’ U, we found out that if you get a C- in a course in your major, it has to be retaken. Somehow that was never on any of our radars & the student that had to retake learned a bit more about that subject than desired. ;)</p>
<p>We didn’t pay for grades ever with our kids. But we did go out to dinner at the end of each term to celebrate their good work. We probably would have gone out anyway.</p>
<p>DD is at an OOS university, the cost of which is significantly reduced by a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>She knows that if she loses the scholarship, she is transferring to an in-state school.</p>
<p>She only needs a 3.0 to keep the scholarship, which is not a big hardship these days when the average GPA is 3.4 or 3.5. Hasn’t come close so far.</p>
<p>A GPA under 2.0 would lead me to find out in detail what is going on, and if it is a maturity issue on kid’s part (i.e., too much partying, not enough studying), the money would stop.</p>
<p>S3 is a different story. He is a student who often works hard for Bs in certain courses. He is moderately dyslexic/dysgraphic. He does very well (very high As) on projects, presentations and papers; he has always struggled with tests. Foreign languages are a nightmare for him. He will ace the oral exams/conversational portions that give most students the hardest struggle, but fall down on the written exams.</p>
<p>We always told our boys we expected their best. Each has come through with their best efforts; for S3, some of his C grades he worked harder for than the A his brothers received. And he cherishes the As he has earned in a way the others don’t appreciate.</p>
<p>I would never put the added pressure on S3 to get certain grades–he puts enough on himself.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that imposing a high college GPA or grades requirement could influence course selection toward “easy A” courses over more challenging courses. While students who are pre-med or pre-law, or have a merit scholarship with a high “keeper GPA” (e.g. 3.5+) face those sorts of pressures anyway, it may be worth considering this type of thing when setting the threshold for parental college funding.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus, In my experience, my kids have not had a whole lot of choice regarding rigor. They have required courses for their degree plans, and a FEW electives (maybe 9-12 hours sprinkled through their college career) so there’s not a big option there.</p>
<p>Hmmm, what majors have <10% of the curriculum subject to elective choice?</p>
<p>Even engineering majors, generally thought to be “heavy” in terms of requirements, tend to have 20-25% in humanities and social studies requirements where the student can choose which courses to fulfill them (H/SS courses can be extremely rigorous, but at many schools there are also some “gut” or “easy A” H/SS courses in the catalog). Within the major, there are usually a few in-major options (e.g. “choose 12 credits of courses from this list”) which may be easier or harder.</p>