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Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

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Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#51

Post by Hydraulix989 »

pirocks wrote: post #43
notadoc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually) That is exactly what college is, and is supposed to be. Many people make the mistake of thinking that college is a jobs training program, or a career readiness program - it's not. It was never intended to be. College is supposed to give someone a broader perspective, a more complex worldview, exposure to a vast array of topics and…

Sorry for being edgy, but please tell me where I can get jobs training for being a doctor, lawyer, etc. that isn't college. Regardless of what you think college is, college currently is primarily jobs training.

You're conflating college with professional school.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#52

Post by solatic »

caseysoftware wrote: post #23
jaclaz wrote: post #5

I don't know. Basically this means more or less that on the day your son (or daughter) becomes 18 you put on the table 2,000x100 US$ bills in a few neat stacks and ask him/her whether he/she likes it better to: 1) Study (hard) for the next 5 years (possibly in a remote city), living with one or more co-students in a tiny apartment and receive - say - some 500-600 bucks each month for petty expenses OR: 2) get - here…

Quite often investment is delivered in tranches where a chunk of the funds are delivered at different stages as milestones are met. Just like you don't get all the entire student loans at once, you get them year by year assuming your grades/extracurriculars meet the criteria.

But it's not like the children of rich parents end up less spoiled just because their inheritances are released to them over time in a trust fund.

And would you really want your parents to be your venture capitalists? Your parents may not be focused on getting to a quick exit like most traditional VC investors, but if the whole point of them releasing the money in tranches is because they don't trust your inexperienced judgement, that's just a recipe for your parents second-guessing your every move as a founder.

Children need to be able to fail, and quickly and safely recover from that failure - college, with poor freshman year grades and learning to live with less-than-perfect roommates and all the rest, is a much better way to impart that than letting your kids blow through a quarter million dollars with little more to show than a high school diploma at the end of it.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#53

Post by usrusr »

bsbechtel wrote: post #3
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #2

I always knew kids that wanted to start their own business - at least in high school and college. I grew up poor-to-middle class, nothing special, living in Indiana. I'm about 39 now. Some folks just don't consider it so young, just like changing professions in one's late 20's. It usually goes along with the dream of not having to answer to a boss and/or working hours one wants to work, but not always. But I do think…

It would help a lot in making this a viable option if more companies gave credit/valued the experience a young person gains by trying to start their own company. Outside of the Bay Area, this is a rare occurance.

How valuable would that experience really be? "Hired some friends and had a good time playing pretend-company until we ran out of daddy-money" is a likely outcome and that sounds way to much like the kind of college years that is spent completely ignoring all education opportunities before eventually dropping out.

When the company turns out to be viable the person would not be looking for a job. But when it falls despite all the free runway the experience is likely much lesser than that of someone who failed by a tiny main bootstrapping or convincing real investors.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#54

Post by zachlatta »

goldfeld wrote: post #30

Sounds like a horrible idea full of assumptions and pressure, as opposed to offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually), a nice option for those who can afford it. Not everyone has to be coaxed into entrepreneurship, it's an evil of our consumerist age. Your kid would probably rather participate in society at large than in your suicidal runway idea of a romanticized youth of m…

What? How is this pressuring his kid into pursuing entrepreneurship? He's still covering college.

> If after high school my kids are eager to enter a college and start a path of learning and/or self-discovery, I’ll cover four years of tuition. However, if they have an idea for a company that they are passionate about and want to start working on that, I’ll be the first investor in their “seed round.” College will always be there (until it goes away entirely, ha) so he/she can always do that if the company doesn’t work out. I’m calling it their Start Something Fund. Either start a company or start college.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#55

Post by stale2002 »

pirocks wrote: post #43
notadoc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually) That is exactly what college is, and is supposed to be. Many people make the mistake of thinking that college is a jobs training program, or a career readiness program - it's not. It was never intended to be. College is supposed to give someone a broader perspective, a more complex worldview, exposure to a vast array of topics and…

Sorry for being edgy, but please tell me where I can get jobs training for being a doctor, lawyer, etc. that isn't college. Regardless of what you think college is, college currently is primarily jobs training.

That is a small percentage of the population.

Most people who went to college are not now working in an industry where a degree is literally required by law.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#56

Post by watwut »

notadoc wrote: post #36
goldfeld wrote: post #30

Sounds like a horrible idea full of assumptions and pressure, as opposed to offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually), a nice option for those who can afford it. Not everyone has to be coaxed into entrepreneurship, it's an evil of our consumerist age. Your kid would probably rather participate in society at large than in your suicidal runway idea of a romanticized youth of m…

> offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually) That is exactly what college is, and is supposed to be. Many people make the mistake of thinking that college is a jobs training program, or a career readiness program - it's not. It was never intended to be. College is supposed to give someone a broader perspective, a more complex worldview, exposure to a vast array of topics and…

I would strongly prefer job training element in college for my kids then just "exploratory program". Science training counts too.

People pay for college so that they can get a job that is not menial and low paid. Not everyone will inherit company from parents nor has buddies to call to when they want high paid job. Most of us need the job to pay bills and we need to be qualified to get that job.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#57

Post by watwut »

stale2002 wrote: post #55
pirocks wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for being edgy, but please tell me where I can get jobs training for being a doctor, lawyer, etc. that isn't college. Regardless of what you think college is, college currently is primarily jobs training.

That is a small percentage of the population. Most people who went to college are not now working in an industry where a degree is literally required by law.

Required by employers tho.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#58

Post by Waterluvian »

I have an "after highschool" fund. My parents called this a university fund. But I'm communicating it as money to use to figure out what you want to do with your life. My kids can use it to do whatever, so long as they can make a rational case for how they intend on spending it. They'll also have to endure lots of dad talks and dad advice to make use of this resource.

If I've done my job as a parent well, I won't have to worry about policing the "proper" use of this money.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#59

Post by Jtsummers »

stale2002 wrote: post #55
pirocks wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for being edgy, but please tell me where I can get jobs training for being a doctor, lawyer, etc. that isn't college. Regardless of what you think college is, college currently is primarily jobs training.

That is a small percentage of the population. Most people who went to college are not now working in an industry where a degree is literally required by law.

Or they're working in a field where any degree will do and none are actually going to prepare the worker for the job. Many office jobs qualify here. You need to be literate and numerate to be an insurance adjuster. But no degree will prepare them for that job, generally speaking. I know many who were English, philosophy, or history majors in that field and others that require a degree but just want a box checked.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#60

Post by sanderjd »

rayiner wrote: post #46
notadoc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually) That is exactly what college is, and is supposed to be. Many people make the mistake of thinking that college is a jobs training program, or a career readiness program - it's not. It was never intended to be. College is supposed to give someone a broader perspective, a more complex worldview, exposure to a vast array of topics and…

> Many people make the mistake of thinking that college is a jobs training program, or a career readiness program - it's not. It was never intended to be. College is supposed to give someone a broader perspective, a more complex worldview, exposure to a vast array of topics and ideas, and to develop habits that are generally beneficial to any life or intellectual pursuit. That's it. In short, it was designed as a lux…

I don't see the connection between the first part of your response and the second part. Yes, it was designed as a luxury for rich kids to get a leg up in adulthood in all the ways your parent mentioned, and then society realized that maybe it shouldn't just be the rich kids getting that luxury, maybe smart and / or hard working but not rich kids should also have a chance at that luxury. Of course it turns out to be expensive to make that work, but that doesn't mean the idea is bad.

Are the rich kids moving on to some better way to get their start in life? It doesn't seem like they are, to me. So college seems like it is still a valuable model, and making access to it more fair still seems like a worthy goal.

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