Yes – around where I live on the West Coast it is a huge entitlement thing. People look at me like I am crazed because I haven’t made college savings a priority. People tell me all the time, “well my parents didn’t pay for my college” as an excuse to why they are not successful. I often find people assume we are doing well because we must have had everything handed to us. & a lot of friends bitter that their parents did not help more are spoiling their kids in that regard.

I find quite the opposite – we do well because we don’t feel entitled to everything – we worked darn hard in college and don’t expect a free ride. Dh and I disagree a bit as his parents footed his college bill AND he lived at home, but he worked through school as much as I did so he *gets it* to an extent.

Mostly I am with Noah. I don’t mind helping but it is not a priority in the least. Somehow I survived working and going to school full-time with a 4.0 GPA – graduated no debt. It is obvious already my kids are bright. If not and I Felt they needed more time to study and less ability to work, I may consider helping. But being out on my own and taking care of myself was an invaluable learning experience I want to pass on to my kids. They will appreciate it in the long run far more than a free ride. On the other hand we have the means to help our kids much more than our parents or grandparents ever did. If the situation arises that they may need some help I probably rather help than have them go into debt over it.

I have been considered to be a “bad parent” around here for not buying into the “any college at any cost” thing. Coming from a long line of family that put ourselves through public school and had very high-paying careers, I need a lot more convincing why I need to pay for a fancy private education and why my kids are entitled to it at my expense. ??? & why they can’t figure it out themselves.

If my wife and I are secure and have enough to help the kids out, we won’t make it easy on them. One of the options we discussed is making a deal with the kids such as, “we have X ammount set aside for you, when you get your degree its all yours”.

I’ve worked from 0-3 jobs at a time during my college career. I currently have one year left and am looking at not working the entire year. I will have to take some loans out to finance the tuition though.

Some would argue that it’s a stupid choice to not work, but I have nothing but difficult classes left. Also, all of my student loans will be interest deferred while I’m in school except the unfortunate one, which I am currently and will continue to make payments on.

In the end, I plan to graduate with less than 10,000 dollars of student debt at about 6% interest. If I get a job straight out of college (very likely) and make at least what I am at my current internship (very likely) I will probably be debt free in about 6-10 months at most. I have no other debt currently.

It was never an option for my brother and I to have our parents pay for college. My parents are divorced, we don’t talk to our dad (who is on disability checks from the government) and our mother made less than my brother did at his high school IT job. She has NO retirement savings and will be turning 50 next year. I wouldn’t let her pay for college if she offered.

I knew they loved me, but also knew that college expenses were mine to bear. I made it through college with little debt and a whole lot faster and cheaper than others.

I also don’t plan on paying for my children’s college.