I love this debate and think it’s fascinating. I don’t agree with Sarah’s opinion in this post [read more here about my view], but I do think it’s an interesting point of view that I wouldn’t normally consider. Let us know what you think in the comments.
Fewer and fewer parents are offering to pay their child’s tuition – either in part or in full.
In a recent CNN Money article, it was revealed that there has been a 4% decrease in the number of parents who say that they plan to offer financial support to their children.
What a shame!
Helping a child to pay for their college tuition is one of the greatest gifts that parents can give their child. Here are three reasons that parents should pay for their child’s tuition.
Freedom to Experience College
Students face a number of challenges when they enter college that is unprecedented in their lives.
Who should I hang out with?
What should my major be?
Where is the dining hall?
These are just a few of the questions that students must answer. In order for students to form a social network (which they need, because they don’t have their parents and friends from home), and to study, it takes time.
Taking on the responsibilities of a part time job keeps students from having the time to meet people, study, or make it to class on time (if a shift runs long).
In the long run, part time jobs can also make it impossible for students to intern.
For many majors and career paths, internships are essential, even though they frequently don’t pay.
Show Your Child You Care, Even When They Aren’t There
By the time your child gets ready to head to college, you have spent 18 years raising them.
You took care of their food, their health, their happiness, and everything else. When the day comes to wish your son or daughter good luck, don’t let the care stop there.
While your child is away, financial care might be the only type of care that you can offer. Keep your bonds strong, and let your child know that they have a support network by assisting them with their tuition.
Protect Your Child’s Future
After the fun of graduation day, the harsh financial reality of tuition repayment can sour the mood.
Facing large monthly payments can make it difficult to start a child’s post-college life in a positive way.
Large monthly payments make it so that young adults face an almost impossible task when it comes to saving for a house or saving to buy a car outright to avoid high interest rates.
Also, when a young adult faces large monthly payments, it can keep them from accepting lower paying jobs that have the potential to become dream jobs, just because the entry position can’t pay the bills right now.
Don’t let your child become trapped in a job that is not meaningful because of loan payments.
In a world where fewer and fewer parents are helping their children financially in college, don’t do your child the disservice of ending your financial care for them after they head to the university. Make sure your child experiences all that college has to offer, experiences your care for them, and has a bring future by paying for your child’s tuition.
Do you think it’s a good idea for parents to pay for their child’s tuition?
I personally think it is.
There are some benefits to allow your children to fend for themselves at University (like I did) such as a strong work ethic, understanding the importance of earning money, etc etc.
I therefore think its good for parents to find a balance. Mine would be to pay for tuition, materials and accommodation, but all living expenses should be funded by the student themselves (i.e. if you want beer money, you gotta earn it)!!
That sounds like a good compromise, provided the child has been taught money management lessons to keep them away from “easy” credit card money!
Really? I as a parent would want to give my full support to my kids’ education. I would love to pay their tuition fee myself and send them to school they love to be in. By helping them to college would boost their confidence and reach their goals more easily.
If money isn’t an issue, full support is probably the dream of most parents!
We basically paid for our son’s college all the way through graduate school. However he helped in a variety of ways.
1. He earned merit scholarships for all four years.
2. He earned a grant that paid full tuition for his entire graduate school
3. He worked summers to pay non-essential expenses
4. He took advance placement courses in high school which earned him course credits which meant less tuition per credit hour that we had to pay.
5. He selected his major and stuck with it so he got his undergraduate degree in four years. He didn’t change majors which would have required extra time to fulfill pre-requisites in a new curriculum.
6. His course work as an undergraduate was allowed in graduate school to fulfill 24 hours of requirements which saved him and entire semester.
It was a partnership in which we were totally satisfied and committed to getting him his Master’s with no student loan debt.
That’s amazing, Kathy! Partnerships all the way — it sounds like everyone prospered from that strategy for college.
I think if you can, you should. Especially because if you make enough to be able to, their aid options will be severely limited. But still give them an allotted budget and don’t bail them out if they screw up.
If you can’t, you can still take an active role by helping them understand and locate scholarship opportunities, looking at alternatives such as community college, and without a doubt applying for financial aid. (Parents may want to take this step themselves as it asks for specific income numbers if they don’t want to share that info with their teens.) Working in college isn’t the worst thing. It will probably teach then a lot of great lessons.
But bring able to focus 100% on your studies makes the whole thing easier. If the kid starts taking advantage or grades slip, I’d look at cutting help then.
I completely agree!
My parents helped me with most of my tuition, which really helped me out. We’ve started saving for our daughter’s education (she’s 2), but we haven’t decided how much we will actually contribute.
I would like her to appreciate university as a choice, as an investment, and I think she’d need to put some skin in the game to realize that.
We have a couple of universities in our city, and I’m pretty confident we’d make her pay for her own living expenses if she chooses to go away for school.
Thanks for your comment!
It is a tough issue financially for many people. We saved money but had to draw the line having 3 kids to help with their education all 2 years apart. My son ended up being a hands on guy and he decided to go to a Trade School to become an automobile collision repairman and painter. That wasn’t outrageous to pay for. I told my daughters they could go to Community College first and if they do well we can talk about transferring to a university. One decided 6 months in that school wasn’t for her and she wanted to experience the world. She has done just fine and is now the office manager for a pediatric dentist office. My other daughter did 2 years at community college and then did move on to additional education. I was glad that it all worked out were they didn’t need loans. If they had decided on a costly 4 year school I would have expected them to help and have some skin in the game but I think some of the college loans people take on are outrageous.
It’s awesome you’re so open to your kid’s career desires!