<p>Yes. ten characters.</p>
<p>My child found ways to study whatever she wants to study within the budget that weâve given her, so it is all good with me.</p>
<p>And no, I would not âstretchâ for another major. Our budget limit is the budget limit.</p>
<p>To be clear, I was not advocating restricting the studentâs choice of major, but just saying that students and parents need to be aware of the job and career implications of major choice to avoid unpleasant surprises later.</p>
<p>I told my child she could do what she wanted as long as she was at the top of her game.<br>
She is currently double majoring in English and xxx. The grades and comments on exams from the department head convince me that it is money well spent.</p>
<p>But, even DD is confused why Theatre majors pay $60k per year.</p>
<p>I have a son who was flirting with declaring a music major before he went to college. Every adult mentor he had, including those who made their livings in music performance and teaching music, suggested that he not do it. Take lessons, take some classes, play in groups, continue to grow and learn, minor in music but major in something else. Their POV was that life in the performing arts is difficult at best, hard on personal relationships, etc. they all said they personally majored in music because it was the thing they were best at, and that performing music was the only thing they could imagine themselves doing. </p>
<p>Anyway, now starting his third year in a science major he just added a music minor because he has continued to take a music class or two every semester and at this point only needs a couple more classes for a minor. We are happy to pay for whatever he chooses to major or minor in.</p>
<p>The music majors I know among my kidsâ friends are passionate and excellent musicians. I would compare them to division I - headed for the pros - athletes compared to the good, solid high school athletes who are really happy continuing to participate in their sport at a club or rec. level in college. They are operating at a completely different level. And if I had one of those super musicians who lived and breathed music, then I would happily pay for their degree.</p>
<p>As you can see by my username, apparently I would pay for any major. However I am glad to report that my drama student majoring in theatre decided on her own, around her junior year, to double major in theatre and public relations. She graduated right on schedule and has been working steadily since then. She has even saved up $8k so far.</p>
<p>Like most things in my life, I have been lucky once again. My daughter made good despite me.</p>
<p>I did not fully fund my Dâs major----because her major and her voice , funded much of her education. The lions share of her BM and the full amount of her MM were funded by grants and scholarships. And no loans.
BTWâŠshe now works full time in her profession as a classical vocalist and voice teacher. While plenty of her friends with âpracticalâ majors are still struggling to find work.
So my answer is: âit dependsâ. Itâs important to understand where your student is in the vast talent pool and itâs important to find the schools that are willing to fund what is a normally a very ,very expensive major.
AND if your student wants to be in the arts, they better learn to work smarter and harder than anyone else they know. Too many kids confuse a life in the arts with the âfun timesâ they had after school working on their ECâs.</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>10 char</p>
<p>
Lol, currently S is majoring in Philosophy, either majoring or minoring in Music (not performance although he does play an instrument), and minoring in Psychology. Does âuselessâ plus âuselessâ plus âuselessâ equal âsomethingâ? Who knows. Itâs all for him to figure out.</p>
<p>ANDâŠI get free tickets to go to her concerts and hear her unamplified voice cut through a full symphonic orchestral accompaniment like a hot knife thru butter.
Can your accountant do that? ;)</p>
<p>Mahler makes it all worthwhile.</p>
<p>Maybe when it came to my child, I was working out my own issues as my parents told me to major in something that I could get a job in after graduation. I got a degree in business administration - marketing (arrgghhh), which I though was fairly useless, because other than accounting, there wasnât anything from the degree that I used in my 25 years working in corporate life.</p>
<p>I am a huge fan of a liberal arts education and I told my daughter that it was ok for her to major in anything she wanted as long as she was on the 4 year plan. She was a religion and english major who went to law school (I guess I am a glutton for those useless degrees).</p>
<p>OP - the answer depends on the school, the cost and the future prospects of the student. My two kids go to private schools with high costs. Each one will cost me between $200,000 and $250,000 for an undergraduate education. I can afford it, so cost is not an issue. However, I would not have been willing to pay such amounts if my kids wanted to study something that was not practical. In other words if they had chosen to major in English or Psychology, I would have said no and/or steered them to a less costly school (like our state flagship - which is a very good school). I believe that you have do do some cost/benefit analysis if you are going to make an informed rational decision.</p>
<p>I also, however, believe that their is merit in an education which includes the liberal arts. I just am not willing to pay for an exclusive liberal arts education at a costly private school. Each of my kids chose a school that would give them both some liberal arts and a practical major. Thus I am willing to pay the full feight.</p>
<p>Some liberal arts majors are âpracticalâ in having decent job prospects. Examples include math and statistics (mainly in finance and teaching math, though some adapt relatively easily to computers).</p>
<p>Well, I discouraged oldest d from a premed track. Howâs that for living in backwards land? The heavy loans, the uber-competitiveness of the kids in that tack, the stress? Yuck.</p>
1 Like
<p>Absolutely not. Long gone are the days of parent-funded âfinding myself.â In our house, you can find yourself on your own dime, but on our dime I expect my kids to acquire skills that help them become marketable in todayâs tough economic climate. It isnât easy making a living these days and private education is expensive. The deal with my kids is if they went private then they had to pick a marketable major and combine it with liberal arts. If they went public, then they could have more leeway to experiment. </p>
<p>Sybbie - I too graduated with marketing and have had a very interesting career both intellectually and creatively. My degree definitely wasnât useless but helped me secure my first couples of jobs.</p>
<p>Majored in English and have been earning a decent living ever since. I think that anti-English attitude so disappointing. </p>
<p>My dad was a corporate honcho who only hired English majors because we can write. Iâve had a tenured professorship for thirty years and I had a fully funded grad fellowship with a nice stipend.</p>
<p>People do well in fields theyâre good at. I, too, want my kids self-supporting, but itâs not clear the path another should take. </p>
<p>Dustin Hoffman was the despair of his folks I bet, but Iâm sure heâs achieved greater public and financial success than his more conventional brother.</p>
<p>Yes (10 characters)</p>
<p>Iâve never thought of ANY major as âuselessâ or an âexperimentâ. Employers want smart people who are responsible-I know so many people who work in completely different fields from what they studied in college. And I know two âtop tierâ philosophy majors who are college professors. And an engineer whose father refused to pay for him to study music who never forgave him. And my son works with engineers while he just has a CC certificate and hands-on training.</p>
<p>I donât believe any education is wasted, and I donât believe itâs an âinvestmentâ with a âreturnâ. Iâve simply never thought of it that way. Our children are their own persons, not stocks and bonds. I would imagine one who wants to study a major with iffy job prospects would also want to work on other skills or double-major. But so many kids CHANGE their majors-do you people who donât support those changes make your kids pay you back? Or if they donât go into the field youâve demanded of them?</p>
<p>Letting my kids forge their own path doesnât mean I have to let them live in my basement, but it does mean letting them be themselves, not mini-me or mini-dad. And even if they got a fancy degree and ended up digging ditches-if they are HAPPY and enjoy their work, that is enough for me. Really. Because I have kids like that.</p>
<p>Probably yes, although I would be very uncomfortable funding a trendy, ephemeral market-chasing major or one of the numerous poorly designed and intellectually empty âinterdisciplinaryâ majors that are becoming increasingly popular. I would happily pay for my child to major in any of the traditional liberal arts per her taste and ability.</p>
<p>Within reason, yes. We had no desire to pay for a major in english, psychology or sociology at a private school, but if either daughter had wanted to major in either at a public U, in state, it would have been fine. Less money paid out for undergrad, as good a degree, and probably money left over for grad school.</p>