LJ;678382 wrote:... let me know where she lives.

Context can be a powerful thing.

Send her to a community college first. It's possible she might plan to go to school, and when once she gets there realizes it's not for her.

If she DOES want to continue school, she can use the community college as a launch pad to OSU. Their transfer requirements are pretty low (90hrs + 2.0 GPA = auto admit)

O-Trap;678435 wrote:Context can be a powerful thing.

dlazz;678437 wrote:Send her to a community college first. It's possible she might plan to go to school, and when once she gets there realizes it's not for her.

If she DOES want to continue school, she can use the community college as a launch pad to OSU. Their transfer requirements are pretty low (90hrs + 2.0 GPA = auto admit)

This is actually great advice. Let her get her gen-ed classes out of the way while writing a check for tuition. If she lives at home for it, even cheaper. I did it for a year, and it helped a LOT. My part-time jobs enabled me to write checks for the entire amount everytime tuition needed paid while I was there.

dlazz;678437 wrote:Send her to a community college first. It's possible she might plan to go to school, and when once she gets there realizes it's not for her.

I would like to agree with this, but community college isn't always a "real" college experience. Many times transfer students also lose out on the personal and professional connections that can happen when they start their college career at a 4-year institution. It is a cheaper route, no doubt about that -- but sometimes the education is also lost.

I think you should tell your ex that you will be handling your own preparation for your kin's college expenses. You will help out what you can, when you can...

OSH;678444 wrote:I would like to agree with this, but community college isn't always a "real" college experience. Many times transfer students also lose out on the personal and professional connections that can happen when they start their college career at a 4-year institution. It is a cheaper route, no doubt about that -- but sometimes the education is also lost.

I agree with that to an extent. I took some language classes at Columbus State and I was not overly impressed. I have friends that took all their general classes there and then there GPA at OSU suffered when they have to take all their hard classes. (One friend had a high 3 something at Columbus state and then took all CIS classes at OSU and had ~2.5 there)

OSH;678444 wrote: Many times transfer students also lose out on the personal and professional connections that can happen when they start their college career at a 4-year institution.

In her case, if she wants to pursue the Vet field, she isn't even going to run into any Vet contacts those first two years anyways. It'll just be the standard GEC classes.

OSH;678444 wrote:I would like to agree with this, but community college isn't always a "real" college experience. Many times transfer students also lose out on the personal and professional connections that can happen when they start their college career at a 4-year institution. It is a cheaper route, no doubt about that -- but sometimes the education is also lost.

The education will be there if she wants it to be.

The community college I attended was chock full of people who didn't learn much. I did. The material was there, but you got out of it what you put into it.

We help/helped as much as we can.

By the time she's ready for college, it will be legislated that you have to help her, anyway. Or at least until she's 26 :rolleyes:

Dlazz made a great suggestion. Hell... first year of college is nothing about "learning" anyway. Unless you count how to do keg stands.

Here:

Freshman year - Room, Board, Tuition paid for by the parents. Books and spending money wereon the kids. Any grants or scholarship go reduce our payments. We can weigh in on the choice of school for economic reasons.

Sophomore year - R&B on the parents. 50% of tuition paid by Mom and Dad as long as the GPA freshman year was a 3.0 or better.

Semesters 4-8 R&B on parents (rent subsidy is do-able within reason with sufficient GPA and parental conditions (i.e., no shacking up with your honey). Tuition is on the kids

Semesters 9+, whether you graduated or not - yer on your own, kids.

Important caveat - which was revealed to the kids as a "graduation present" - Mom and Dad subsidize the principle payments on your student loans if your graduate with a 3.0 or better (we get copies of the statements to ensure you're making them).

Game-over conditions
- getting married - nothing wrong with it, but you're their headache now.
- moving in with your honey (can't control visitation, but we draw the line at economic involvement)
- more than a one-term break in your schooling (ok - maybe if you have a really good reason for it - backpacking across Europe for a year is NOT a good reason).
- Extremely poor serial decision making (say, an arrest resulting in prison time).

One kid finished, one DQ'd, and one decided college wasn't for them right now after two years.

My parents paid for my 3rd and 4th year out of state undergrad and masters degree (I had a full ride for the first 2 years where they payed for some other expenses). If your child is not required to work during college there is no reason why you can't complete undergrad in four years. I plan on paying for my children as I feel I owe it to them because my parents paid for mine. As the rest have said, I would have stipulations of not getting less than a B average and staying out of trouble.

dlazz;678479 wrote:In her case, if she wants to pursue the Vet field, she isn't even going to run into any Vet contacts those first two years anyways. It'll just be the standard GEC classes.

Again, no guarantees that she ends up being a vet. The connections in college and the friendships/relationships that are made mean WAY more than an education and a piece of paper you get when you are done. Plus, she could go to school the whole time with the same students she'd go to vet school with -- probably very unlikely, but possible, just depends on the school.

O-Trap;678486 wrote:The education will be there if she wants it to be.

The community college I attended was chock full of people who didn't learn much. I did. The material was there, but you got out of it what you put into it.

Notice I said, "maybe" and "sometimes" about the community college experience. That means there are times where the education is worthwhile and so aren't the people...obviously, it worked for you. THIS GUY, it didn't work for. In my field of study, research shows that transfer students often have less disconnect with the institutions they transfer to, on campus disconnect and disconnect with people.

Cat Food Flambe';678596 wrote: Game-over conditions
- getting married - nothing wrong with it, but you're their headache now.
- moving in with your honey (can't control visitation, but we draw the line at economic involvement)
- more than a one-term break in your schooling (ok - maybe if you have a really good reason for it - backpacking across Europe for a year is NOT a good reason).
- Extremely poor serial decision making (say, an arrest resulting in prison time).

These are a guarantee for my kids too. They were there for me too. My parents have helped me thus far, but I guarantee that I'll pay my loans off without their help when I end up getting a job. Luckily, I've been able to defer them from 2010-2014...

I am not a fan of people getting married while in college either (heck, college age period!). There's just so much maturing, learning, growing up, etc. that needs to be done in those ages. I thought I was ready at that age...and am VERY glad that I didn't get married while in college. I definitely wouldn't want to miss out of the opportunities I had while in college and some experiences post-college (like a year and a half out of college).

I think I hope my wife stays in higher education so our kids won't have to worry about paying tuition.

O-Trap;678388 wrote:If she got anything less than a B- in any class, she had to pay her parents back for that class.

I do NOT support paying a child's way in college with no academic strings attached.

My parent's did the same for me. And I 100% agree with the second comment.

I believe that if a parent can afford it, they should. Academic standards are fine, but a certain level of understanding should exist for both parent and child. Most of the time, kids will be on their own for the first times in their lives, and this needs to be considered.

i will say that my parents are handling things well. They can't afford to pay rent, tuition, books, spending money, etc but they have been helping with interest. Also, they let me use their credit card (best buy, 18months same as cash) to buy a new laptop when mine finally ate shit. Can't complain.

justincredible;678643 wrote:I think I hope my wife stays in higher education so our kids won't have to worry about paying tuition.

Definitely!

That's my goal, stay in higher education.