Reply #36: I am willing to pay half

[AngryOldDem]

The other categories didn't seem to fit. I'm willing to help my kids pay for college.

I paid my entire way through. My folks were of no help because they did not see the value of a college education -- long, long story. So they more or less dared me to do it on my own, and I did. I am the first one in my family with a college degree.

Right before I graduated from high school I got a job and managed to pay for college without any kind of financial aid whatsoever (my folks wouldn't even do me the favor of filling out financial aid forms -- my dad in particular was a real asshole about this). While doing it myself was good in that it taught me to be personally and financially responsible, I also missed out on a lot of the college experience that I think is equally beneficial and adds to personal growth. All I did for four years was literally work and study. I got no breaks during the summer, either, because I was working. When I wasn't working, I was freelance writing, the money for which I applied toward books.

College is a financial obligation that I think should be shared between the parent and child. It doesn't have to be 50-50; I want my kids to earn some of their money because it will how them the importance of their investment. They must see that they have a stake in this venture too, probably more than I do. (I had two roommates whose folks paid for everything, and I saw the downsides of that end of the spectrum, too.)

I want my kids to have some fun -- hell, some kind of LIFE -- while at college, not like their old lady who had her nose in books for four years. You are only young once.