6 ms·

One can, but we're talking about 18-year-olds fresh out of high school here.

by Joe-Z 9y ago

wolfgke 9y ago
But the parents are surely not 18 years old and just out of highschool.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  I mean this is why you have Asian immigrant parents insisting that the only acceptable areas of study are premed, prelaw, and (more recently) engineering. Some will refuse to pay for tuition unless their children agree. (I think there's a famous anecdote by Bobby Jindal where his father told him that he could be anything he wanted to be -- any kind of doctor that is) Heavy-handed? Yes. Effective? Also yes.
  - wolfgke 9y ago
    This is also the kind of environment that I am used to. Even though university education is mostly free in Germany, there are still costs of living etc. Thus there exist quite some children whose parents are quite hesitant to pay for the education of them if they don't agree with the degree course that the child chooses - even though by law they are typically required to pay.
    - b4lancesh33t 9y ago
      Parents are required to support their children into their adulthood in Germany? That doesn't sound likely, but then, I'm not German. Edit: found a reference that says parents must support children until they are 21 or have a profession to support themselves (presumably whichever is sooner -- I hope!).
      - wolfgke 9y ago
        > Parents are required to support their children into their adulthood in Germany? That doesn't sound likely, but then, I'm not German. > Edit: found a reference that says parents must support children until they are 21 or have a profession to support themselves (presumably whichever is sooner -- I hope!). According to > https://www.merkur.de/leben/geld/erwachsen-kind-finanzieren-eltern-zr-8259243.html https://www.merkur.de/leben/geld/erwachsen-kind-finanzieren-... if the child studies at a university, the parents have to pay for them until it gets its master's degree (which is typically much longer than up to the 21 years of age). There are exceptions, such as if the parents can prove that the child does not concentrate on his studies or if it changes the degree course "too often" etc. But assume that the normal case is that the parents have to support the child up to master's degree.
- drharby 9y ago
  Assuming an educated and stable home life
- bunderbunder 9y ago
  The parents may be more experienced, but they are, for the most part, just as naive. They grew up in a world where a bachelor's degree - any bachelor's degree - virtually guaranteed at least a middle class lifestyle, if not an upper middle class one. Many of them can't fathom the idea of graduating from college and then not being able to find a job that pays a living wage. Especially the ~2/3 of them who don't hold bachelor's degrees themselves.
  - wolfgke 9y ago
    > Many of them can't fathom the idea of graduating from college and then not being able to find a job that pays a living wage. It is not only about finding a job (I believe with a "sensible" degree you will always find one), but about finding a job that pays well enough so that beside the costs of living (which are enormous in some regions) also the college debts can be paid back in a reasonable time.
    - sanderjd 9y ago
      There is no workable definition of "sensible" here. A number of my friends graduated with journalism degrees in 2007. They couldn't find jobs in journalism. This probably seems obvious to you now, that journalism is not a "sensible" degree, but in 2002-2004 when we were choosing schools and degrees, every major city had two or more competing newspapers with healthy entry level hiring. The world changed. That happens. It is happening to some set of degrees right now, but we don't yet know what they are. Maybe computer science degrees will not be "sensible" in 2021. My point is just that a solution to this problem that requires teenagers and their parents to accurately predict the future of a complex society is not actually a solution at all.
      - RhysU 9y ago
        This change in the economy is why college should be about education and not vocation.
        sanderjd 9y ago
- plandis 9y ago
  Neither of my parents went to college. I actually missed filling out FAFSA my first year because I didn’t even know it existed. I took the SAT late for a similar reason (I knew it existed but I though you take it your senior year of high school). The parents of first generation college attendees are ill equipped to help. Their advice was effectively go to some college at all costs.
  - wolfgke 9y ago
    > Their advice was effectively go to some college at all costs. If they advice this, they should put their money where their mouth is, i.e. be willing to pay for a substantial part of the college debt.
- Clubber 9y ago
  I would expect high school guidance councilors would be a resource for this decision as well.

One can, but we're talking about 18-year-olds fresh out of high school here.

by Joe-Z 9y ago

One can, but we're talking about 18-year-olds fresh out of high school here.

wolfgke 9y ago

But the parents are surely not 18 years old and just out of highschool.

hkmurakami 9y ago
I mean this is why you have Asian immigrant parents insisting that the only acceptable areas of study are premed, prelaw, and (more recently) engineering. Some will refuse to pay for tuition unless their children agree. (I think there's a famous anecdote by Bobby Jindal where his father told him that he could be anything he wanted to be -- any kind of doctor that is) Heavy-handed? Yes. Effective? Also yes.
- wolfgke 9y ago
  This is also the kind of environment that I am used to. Even though university education is mostly free in Germany, there are still costs of living etc. Thus there exist quite some children whose parents are quite hesitant to pay for the education of them if they don't agree with the degree course that the child chooses - even though by law they are typically required to pay.
  - b4lancesh33t 9y ago
    Parents are required to support their children into their adulthood in Germany? That doesn't sound likely, but then, I'm not German. Edit: found a reference that says parents must support children until they are 21 or have a profession to support themselves (presumably whichever is sooner -- I hope!).
    - wolfgke 9y ago
      > Parents are required to support their children into their adulthood in Germany? That doesn't sound likely, but then, I'm not German. > Edit: found a reference that says parents must support children until they are 21 or have a profession to support themselves (presumably whichever is sooner -- I hope!). According to > https://www.merkur.de/leben/geld/erwachsen-kind-finanzieren-eltern-zr-8259243.html https://www.merkur.de/leben/geld/erwachsen-kind-finanzieren-... if the child studies at a university, the parents have to pay for them until it gets its master's degree (which is typically much longer than up to the 21 years of age). There are exceptions, such as if the parents can prove that the child does not concentrate on his studies or if it changes the degree course "too often" etc. But assume that the normal case is that the parents have to support the child up to master's degree.
drharby 9y ago
Assuming an educated and stable home life
bunderbunder 9y ago
The parents may be more experienced, but they are, for the most part, just as naive. They grew up in a world where a bachelor's degree - any bachelor's degree - virtually guaranteed at least a middle class lifestyle, if not an upper middle class one. Many of them can't fathom the idea of graduating from college and then not being able to find a job that pays a living wage. Especially the ~2/3 of them who don't hold bachelor's degrees themselves.
- wolfgke 9y ago
  > Many of them can't fathom the idea of graduating from college and then not being able to find a job that pays a living wage. It is not only about finding a job (I believe with a "sensible" degree you will always find one), but about finding a job that pays well enough so that beside the costs of living (which are enormous in some regions) also the college debts can be paid back in a reasonable time.
  - sanderjd 9y ago
    There is no workable definition of "sensible" here. A number of my friends graduated with journalism degrees in 2007. They couldn't find jobs in journalism. This probably seems obvious to you now, that journalism is not a "sensible" degree, but in 2002-2004 when we were choosing schools and degrees, every major city had two or more competing newspapers with healthy entry level hiring. The world changed. That happens. It is happening to some set of degrees right now, but we don't yet know what they are. Maybe computer science degrees will not be "sensible" in 2021. My point is just that a solution to this problem that requires teenagers and their parents to accurately predict the future of a complex society is not actually a solution at all.
    - RhysU 9y ago
      This change in the economy is why college should be about education and not vocation.
      - sanderjd 9y ago
plandis 9y ago
Neither of my parents went to college. I actually missed filling out FAFSA my first year because I didn’t even know it existed. I took the SAT late for a similar reason (I knew it existed but I though you take it your senior year of high school). The parents of first generation college attendees are ill equipped to help. Their advice was effectively go to some college at all costs.
- wolfgke 9y ago
  > Their advice was effectively go to some college at all costs. If they advice this, they should put their money where their mouth is, i.e. be willing to pay for a substantial part of the college debt.
Clubber 9y ago
I would expect high school guidance councilors would be a resource for this decision as well.