At a couple times in my kid’s development, I noticed:
1. My Alma mater went from an, I’m sure, perfectly adequate Stadium 8 blocks off-campus to a Many-tens-of-millions-of-dollars on-campus stadium. I’m sure to ‘attract more meat for the meatgrinder and compete with the other colleges’
2. The fresh doe-eyed representatives at College night at school rattled off numbers that amounted to $250-$300k per student, but that there were ‘ways to defer a little of that…maybe’
3. I have twins.
I had 30 years to pay off my mortgage, which was half the outlay of two college educations. And I could live there. And it appreciates in value while I do so.
I felt like it wasn’t my responsibility to prop up the bad financial decisions of complete strangers, nor encumber the family to more than half a million dollars in debt for 4 years so that they could see a fancy stadium on-campus.
And yet there’s still that nagging voice in my head that’s asking me if I’m gambling my kid’s future on a state college and a trade-school at 1/4th the cost.
I felt like it wasn’t my responsibility to prop up the bad financial decisions of complete strangers, nor encumber the family to more than half a million dollars in debt for 4 years so that they could see a fancy stadium on-campus.
And yet there’s still that nagging voice in my head that’s asking me if I’m gambling my kid’s future on a state college and a trade-school at 1/4th the cost.