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Originally Posted by PrincessPerky
Personally if I were plannign on socking away thousands of dollars for my kids, I can think of better ways for them to spend it than on a piece of paper...but that might just be me.
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I'm on the flip side of the coin on this one. First, that piece of paper opens up a huge number of opportunities that wouldn't otherwise be available. Sure, some people get a degree and either don't make use of it or they go into a career that can barely pay off their student loans, but that's not typical. Second, students get a lot more out of college than just the degree at the end. There are very few other places where you can meet and become life-long friends with so many other people, learn other people's viewpoints, get an appreciation of and learn to live with people of different cultures and religions, and learn how to manage money, time and other things with minimal parental involvement.
Also I don't believe that attending school, travelling the world, and working part-time are mutually exclusive. I completely agree that a parent should not cover all the expenses for a child's education. But speaking from experience, college students have a lot more to deal with than just tuition. There's room & board, books, fees, extra costs for travelling abroad, clothes, food, entertainment (assuming the kid doesn't want to spend every night in his dorm room), costs to come home and call occasionally, etc. etc. So usually there is plenty of incentive for the student to make some money and practice budgeting.
