Comments on: Child support for adult college students, cont’d

By: John

John — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:45:53 +0000

Wow, my parents are still married and didn’t pay a penny or even assist in my college education.

But lucky for me, there are some industries where experience trumps education. There weren’t even books in print at the time for what I went on to specialize in, and 15 years later, have seen more success than many who do have a degree.

We need our government to pursue reforming the quality of education itself, not passing more laws that will likely just add to the inflationary rise in the cost of an education.

By: No Name Guy

No Name Guy — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:12:10 +0000

“The goal should be getting everyone to a point where they can be successful there.”

That’s a fools errand Ron. Some people just…. aren’t….. made….. for….. college, period. Just as some people, no matter how hard you try and train them (or how hard they try or want to do it) will never be a successful car mechanic, finish carpenter, welder, pastry chef or machinist. They’re just wired differently – embrace the differences and don’t try and pound the square peg into the round hole. Its destructive to the individual pressured into something they’re doomed to fail at.

By: Ron Miler

Ron Miler — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Funny.

Some people can’t. I agree. The goal should be getting everyone to a point where they can be successful there. All I’m saying is we should not make the call based solely on whether they will use college to increase their future earnings.

By: Richard Nieporent

Richard Nieporent — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:33:16 +0000

I agree, Ron. This should be the model for all garbage collectors:

http://www.dilbert.com/fast/1989-12-05/

Is it really that hard to understand that not everyone is college material? What would be the benefit of having people going to college who don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand what is being taught?

By: Ron Miler

Ron Miler — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:53:45 +0000

I think the goal is that everyone should go to college. We need garbage collectors too? Sure. But that garbage collector is going to enjoy and get more out of life having the knowledge and experience that comes with college.

There is a lot more to a good life than money.

By: Bumper

Bumper — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:02:57 +0000

Handwriting on the Wall:

ObamaCare requirement that allows junior to stay on the family health plan until age 23, so he can what? Finish college.

Not everyone needs to, wants to, or perhaps should go to college. A college degree doesn’t seem to have done BO any good…

By: Jim Collins

Jim Collins — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:03:07 +0000

Robert, the State of Pennsylvania does exactly that. I was on the hook for a bit over $5,600 after my Mother passed away. This was to pay the State back for overpayments that they made to a nursing home. I wouldn’t have minded so much except that I am still trying to get a certain retiree’s association to honor her $25,000 life insurance policy.

By: Ron Miler

Ron Miler — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:32:08 +0000

Well, technically, there really is no court order that requires you meaningfully provide for your kids beyond their basic needs as a parent living with them. You might make $10 million and year and choose to allow your kids to live in relative squalor. If you bolt on mom (or dad, let’s be fair), your child support payments are going to be a little higher than you had planned. Divorces, like elections, have consequences.

Certainly, the idea of a pricey school or that fact that you don’t speak to the child could all be dealt with by the court.

I do appreciate that it is a bit out of whack that your obligations for something viewed as optional would increase. But stay with me for a second. Clearly, as this scenario plays out, one parent wants to pay for the child’s school. The other does not. It is really compensation is, on some level, to that parent for services rendered under the marriage contract. The rule should not be someone is obligated to pay. It is that if one parents wants to pay, the other should have to chip in.

(Alternatively, I’m letting my feelings about these deadbeats cloud my view of what the law should be. It would not be the first time.)

By: Diane S.

Diane S. — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:43:23 +0000

For federal grants, they will include what the parents make up till in their early 20s. We found that out when the 18 year old who decided to move out, basically a screw you parents, and then wanted us to fill out financial information for her to get a loan. I think it’s ridiculous. Plus the gov’t should get out of the loan dept for students. We told both kids, you don’t shack up with a guy, we will help you with college. But this also goes along with more infantilizing of the teenagers/ over 18 crowd.

By: Craig Loehle

Craig Loehle — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:49:30 +0000

Require parents to pay for kids college? Really? Married or not, this is a financial decision that the state should have no say in. How about paying for kids to go to a pricey school when the parents want them to live at home to save money and go to local college–should kids have legal right of extortion on that issue also? Just insane.