I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
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Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#2I did the same with my boys -- now both software engineers (duh). When raising children, are you going to omit how Physics affects your life? No, you'll tell about hot stoves and heavy objects on the other side of levers. You tell them about chemistry and biology: frying pan fires, food going bad, drink fluids when you're sick. We tell them about history and sociology: this group of people came to this country when they were being murdered in their own country; that group came because they were granted land by a government.
We omit money and how it works. Many also omit romantic sex, even if their kids take sex ed. And, of course, we omit anything that we don't want to face ourselves, but that's probably another topic.
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#3[deleted]
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#4Serious question: how does a parent deal with their high school kids wanting to pursue college in a field with a low probability of high lifetime earnings (art, theatre etc.) ?
Especially when they are middle class without generational wealth to insulate themselves
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#5Serious question: how does a parent deal with their high school kids wanting to pursue college in a field with a low probability of high lifetime earnings (art, theatre etc.) ? Especially when they are middle class without generational wealth to insulate themselves
Ask them to double major?
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#6The truth might be more nuanced though. Some colleges have better ROI than others. I assume there is a lack of good data on most colleges, because people who see the actual ROI on any given college wouldn't go to bad schools and schools had more pressure to lower their rates (or invest in their programs).
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#7I think it can be a disservice to apply to so few schools on the presumption that you won't get aid or scholarships. I applied to only 3 schools and still slightly regret not applying to more, since I thought 2 of schools were going to toss my application into the trash but didn't.
Lots of schools offer a lot of scholarships that the parents and the kids may not be aware of. I was very surprised by my offers, and I'm sure there are a lot of other kids out there who made 'pragmatic' choices like me who undershot because they thought they were being realistic.
I still ended up going to my safety school that I was always planning on going and it was wonderful and cheap. But I still wonder what could have happened if I had tried a little bit harder or looked around a little bit more seriously.
EDIT: In case no one read it, the teenager only applied to 2 schools after a lot of pressure from the parent to be pragmatic.
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#8Serious question: how does a parent deal with their high school kids wanting to pursue college in a field with a low probability of high lifetime earnings (art, theatre etc.) ? Especially when they are middle class without generational wealth to insulate themselves
I've suggested to my kids that they study two separate areas. I think it makes you stand out in a very good way if, for example, you have a dual computer science / art history degree.
I'm lucky though because my kids are dual US-Canada citizens. They can go to university in Canada and it's very inexpensive.
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#9Serious question: how does a parent deal with their high school kids wanting to pursue college in a field with a low probability of high lifetime earnings (art, theatre etc.) ? Especially when they are middle class without generational wealth to insulate themselves
Ask them to double major?
Or pick up a trade instead of a second degree. I think it might be easier to structure time for your artistic passions with a trade day job than a white-collar day job but I might be biased by on-call duty.
Re: I killed my teenager’s fancy college dreams
#10Serious question: how does a parent deal with their high school kids wanting to pursue college in a field with a low probability of high lifetime earnings (art, theatre etc.) ? Especially when they are middle class without generational wealth to insulate themselves
Ask them to double major?
Good suggestion. Being from India where double majors aren't a thing, it didn't strike me.
Thanks.