I have a 14 almost 15 year old that is going to be a trade school/ blue collar worker. He has no desire to go to school and only does so because we make him. Overall he is a good kid, just hates being indoors. I have him researching trades and am working on lining up summer jobs between now and when he is of age to go to work or trade school.

My girls will be the expensive educations. I have a 5 year old starting in the next 2 weeks to 60 days, depending on what my state decides to do with COVID. Then the one year old caboose.

I have two degrees through community colleges and have a little over 25k in debt. I am hoping to steer them into early enrollment and then JUCO to get a jump-start on their undergrad. Passed that, it will be up to them.

I am glad to see that I'm not the only person worrying about these things.

College is more that learning the three Rs. They also learn more socialization and money management. Give them a debit card rather than a credit card.

Bill's on the money on this one. Important lessons when Mom and Dad aren't watching every day.

I do like trade schools for the kids that don't want college. Back in the 1930s the public schools had voc schools at the high school for after you graduated. My dad went to a business school at Austin High, after he graduated. They could not afford to send him to college. It served him very well.

I made my son get a student loan for his first semester. I said I would only pay for A & B's at the end of each semester. After the first semester, I owed nothing. He got another student loan for his second semester. Again, I owed nothing. He never went back after that.

How long did it take him to repay the loans?

Absolutely nothing wrong with trade schools.

I really don’t know how you’re still a free man

I’ve heard that before lol.

Marriage is grand. Divorce is a couple hundred grand.

How's that working out for him? 2 semesters of student loans and nothing to show for it.....

Mom and dad set up texas tomorrow funds for my brother and myself. I went to a state 4 year university mom and dad helped out a lot. I did 4 year undergrad degree and a masters program. Masters was all on me i paid some and borrowed more.

My wife i feel like had a better plan with scholarships from FFA/4H stuff. I was a white male upper middle class kid, we werent military i didnt play sports and didnt do 4h/FFA and i wasnt the valadictorian.... there pretty well arent scholarship opportunities for me as a kid, hopefully if we get our kids into the FFA/4H stuff my wife did we will have a start for that for them and i will help and im sure they will have some debt. Debt makes you responsible.

After going through with college i think a trade school or technical school may have done me just as good or better, but i am using my degrees so im not bent out of shape about it.

I dont want to load my kids up with debt, but i graduated with a considerable amount of school debt bought a truck and a house etc. all the carp young adults do. I paid off the last of my student loans and the wife's a few months before our first kid was born less than 2 years after we graduated. Student loans are no fun, but if you want to pay them off the get paid off.

My wife and I are both college grads. We both worked through college. Her at Walmart and me at TDCJ. I cant tell you how many family events we missed by working in college. We are both also paying off student loans as well.

So when our kids were born, we decided to set $200 a month back for each of them in a 529 account. I just hope it will help them get a little further along than me and their mother in life. Right now that figure will get them 3 out of 4 years paid for tuition, fees, and books at a state university.

I never understood folks who had kids and always put their kids first until I had kids of my own. My goal now is to do all I can to set up them and my future grand kids in life. Watch some Yellowstone and you will see what Im talking about. Also hoping to enjoy retirement on day too.

Agree

Agree. The wife and I agreed when we got married that we would help our kids with their education. We have a 2003 aTm graduate, a 2006 UNT graduate, and a 2015 Southeastern Oklahoma State graduate. Gotta admit the times between 2001 and 2003 were pretty lean when the first two were both in school, but we got through it. The SOSU grad, through good grades (got OK in-state tuition) and a great golf game, was a walk in the park.
Not a visit goes by that we don't get thanks from them for their debt-free graduation. Totally worth it.

We had to pay for a total of 7 years. But it was worth it.

I’m not paying for my kids college, they will go, they will suffer and they will reward themselves just as I did. Education isn’t a right it’s a privilege for those whom seek a better life. American Dream isn’t determined by education it’s determined by shear will power to exceed your peers and the resiliency to get you up when your stubble, education just helps. When they work in conjunction you have success.

I’ll be there to push and encourage just enough to keep them from completely failing, to a degree.

Dam Bobo, WELL said sir!

Bobo did just nail that. Well said Sir

None. My son is on his own to make that investment vs. return decision. The only thing he'll get is the rest of my Hazelwood benefits since I have no desire to pursue a PhD. The only cash help will be if he gets into a jam now and then.

This was over 15 years ago and the two semesters were at Collin County Community College.

Do any of you who send your children to private school plan to not pay for college?

My son went to private school k-6. And I paid for college. But we only gave $100 for spending money. He took it upon himself to get a job.

I didn’t know you could gift hazelwood so I guess one of them can have that.

My daughter had a couple of jobs while she was at Baylor. One was at the Circle Restaurant in Waco. None while she was at UT Law. I thought it was a great investment. She just got recruited to teach legal writing at a top tier law school in Georgia.

I don’t currently out side of pre-k. I do pay for extra programs like Gideon

I’d pay for private school, extra tutoring etc, if it was warranted. Meaning if I had a school district I didn’t think was a stellar learning environment. I think k-12 is more important then college, it’s a foundation for either success or excuses/projections.