Should I be an ant or a grasshopper?

[glatt]

Well, my daughter is not in high school yet, and she's already taking 3 high school classes, so if (when) she does well in those, that will already give her a head start.

It's funny though, because the teachers are telling her how these grades will count towards college applications. I feel like she's still my little girl who was just in elementary school, and people are talking to her about college already.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

I'll try harder to take your advice.

mia colpa

Jest say three Hale Marries and you'll be dissolved.

[Big Sarge]

Don't forget about the military. It is a great way to fund an education

[Gravdigr]

What Sarge said. I believe all HS grads should do a couple years in the service. Everbody would benefit.

Do more growing up in 2 years than in the previous 12.

[infinite monkey]

My friend paid for her college as a reservist. Now she's working at a college near mine and gettiing her masters. No way her parents would have saved for it. Yet she and her sisters are all in great jobs because they did it on their own. Friend is still a reservist, a medic. Plus they're all gorgeous so I hate them.

[Stormieweather]

I put myself through college. Full time day job, full time night school, 4.0 GPA. Grueling and the only way I made it was because I really, really wanted it.

My kids did not get a college education paid for by me. However, my son, now 24, is back at home and working full time while attending college. I am willing to provide food and shelter if he covers his bills and tuition and puts forth the effort to juggle work/school. I will do the same for my daughters, if they so desire.

On a side note...I am now 50+ yrs old and spent a great deal of my past working multiple jobs while scrimping, sacrificing, and going without. A couple of years ago, it occurred to me that I was missing out on what "life" was supposed to BE. Where were the memories, the adventures, the FUN? Everything was work, work, save, save, one day we'll get there....meanwhile, an important facet of life was missing. So now, while not extravagent, we manage a few luxuries (kindle, ipad, laptop, nice car) and we go on trips twice a year. One involves hotels, flights maybe, and car rentals while the other is simpler, with camping, hiking, tubing, etc.

So while you are working towards the future, don't forget to actually LIVE while you have the chance. There are no guarantees that you (or anyone) will even get a future. Don't miss chances to enjoy each other and the marvels around us while you can.

[limey]

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

...

On a side note...I am now 50+ yrs old and spent a great deal of my past working multiple jobs while scrimping, sacrificing, and going without. A couple of years ago, it occurred to me that I was missing out on what "life" was supposed to BE. Where were the memories, the adventures, the FUN? Everything was work, work, save, save, one day we'll get there....meanwhile, an important facet of life was missing. So now, while not extravagent, we manage a few luxuries (kindle, ipad, laptop, nice car) and we go on trips twice a year. One involves hotels, flights maybe, and car rentals while the other is simpler, with camping, hiking, tubing, etc.

So while you are working towards the future, don't forget to actually LIVE while you have the chance. There are no guarantees that you (or anyone) will even get a future. Don't miss chances to enjoy each other and the marvels around us while you can.

Excellent advice!

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by monster

*panics* College is only 2 years away for us! I'd be interested in answers to this too, please, oh monkey of infinite wisdom and finite resources.

Swim, Hebe, SWIM!

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

consider strongly, their taking a year or two off before college to continue growing up. the part of the brain controlling rational thinking is not developed until the age of 25. college before that time, unless you have a particularly unusually driven and focused child, is a complete and utter waste of money.

it really is. Start reading the blogs and such written by recent grads, look at what the under 29 set is doing with their lives now.

SNIP

Education is far different from having a diploma, they are entirely unrelated things. What do you really want for your kids? A diploma from Harvard or for them to be educated?

I'm strongly in favour of the gap year (or two) strategy, especially if the goal is to be educated rather than getting a fancy bit of parchment. Having some kind of job (hang on ... thinks about US economy ... hmm...) or even better, travelling, will be at least as good in terms of learning stuff and developing as a person.

I think you're a bit strong dissing education for the under 25s, and good quality schooling is education - but by no means all there is to education.

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

On a side note...I am now 50+ yrs old and spent a great deal of my past working multiple jobs while scrimping, sacrificing, and going without. A couple of years ago, it occurred to me that I was missing out on what "life" was supposed to BE. Where were the memories, the adventures, the FUN? Everything was work, work, save, save, one day we'll get there....meanwhile, an important facet of life was missing. So now, while not extravagent, we manage a few luxuries (kindle, ipad, laptop, nice car) and we go on trips twice a year. One involves hotels, flights maybe, and car rentals while the other is simpler, with camping, hiking, tubing, etc.

So while you are working towards the future, don't forget to actually LIVE while you have the chance. There are no guarantees that you (or anyone) will even get a future. Don't miss chances to enjoy each other and the marvels around us while you can.

This is wise. Somewhere there is a balance between planning for the future and enjoying the present.

The only original thought I have here is - can you move to Australia? Send the kids to uni here, the govt picks up 80% of the tab, the other 20% or so is "HECS", a form of government managed student loan, with interest at CPI, no repayments until your income exceeds a certain threshold, and if you bugger off back the the US when you graduate, you'll never have to pay.

[glatt]

Australia educates its citizens? What are you, a bunch of pinko commies?

[ZenGum]

Speak up, will you, I can't hear you over the sound of my health care.

[Sundae]

An increasing number of British students are going to Uni in the Netherlands. It's just cheaper all round, and the lectures are in English anyway.

That might have been enough to tempt me to go back in the day.
I'm sure the option was available even then, but although I felt adventurous I had a very narrow view of the world.

Most graduates I know who moved away from their University location still see it as a second home. How wonderful to have one in another country.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Screw it, you don't need to save, just use rebates

But it was a month ago that he achieved his greatest feat so far: Using rebates to cover almost a semester's worth of tuition at Auburn University, where he's studying for his PhD.

"Tuition for this semester was $4,500," he said. "I paid over $2,500 of it with prepaid debit cards [from rebates] and a little over $1,000 of it with rebate checks."

He estimates he entered between 200 and 250 prepaid debit cards into the University's online bill pay system. After all the rebates were counted, he was left with less than $1,000 to pay out of pocket.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Hood

For those who want to see the math of this, my average rebate takes 11 minutes to fill out and cash, and is for $40. My envelopes and pens were free after rebate, so their cost is negligible. For this $40 rebate, I use a 2% cash-back credit card to purchase the item ($0.80 profit) and receive anywhere from 0-5% using FatCash from Fatwallet or a similar service. Stamp price is $0.45. Then, I turn around and sell the item on ebay for an average profit of $11.91 after shipping and taxes per item.

In all, I average about $12 of profit for every 11 minutes of work on rebates, but there are not always mail-in rebates to do. I also am not including the time it wrote for me to write a script to keep up with the rebates or find them to begin with.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-gen...#ixzz28emf6u5e

He's also not including the time spent on eBay, which appears to be where he is actually making the profit. The rebates themselves are (except for occasional bonuses where, for example, they rebate the MSRP on a sale item) just getting back cash already spent.

[footfootfoot]

should I be a Grant or an Assgroper?

[Undertoad]

Do you have Asperger's?