Did you go to college in your 20s and did your parents pay for it?

VintageBetter

VintageBetter

Senior Member
Me: No, my parents didn't pay for my college education at all. I started attending community college when I was 18, paid for everything myself, but then I very much needed to get my own car. I was sharing a used Chevy that got 12 MPG with my sister. My dad had bought it for us to share. The sharing was not working out well for me because she would dominate the use of the vehicle. Even if I needed it to get to work or class, she would take it! Then I'd have to ask my friends or parents to drive me places or, God forbid, take the bus. We lived way out in the boonies so bus service was not practical.

So, I left college after a year so I could work two minimum wage jobs and save up enough for a down payment on a new, compact car. I was afraid of buying another used car because of how my mom's cars always broke down and cost a lot to repair. I thought a new car would save me money in the long run if I chose wisely. After a year I had saved about 1/3 of the purchase price for a down payment (lending was different back then and I had no credit score at all, so I needed a large down payment) and I bought a Toyota Corolla 2-door.

I was the first person in my family to buy a non-American car.

After that it was, boyfriend, marriage, kids, focus on his career alone (still typical in many marriages even in the 1980s), and I did not go back to college until the late 1990s. I was getting a divorce and needed, I assumed, a college education to get ahead in life. (I now tell young people that is not necessarily true at all, but when I was in high school, that was the Fairy Tale I was raised with.) I qualified for a Pell Grant and of course, funded much of it with student loans.

I could not pile up on units and take 18 at a time because I was raising kids and sometimes had a part-time job as well, so I did not complete my first degree until I was 41. But, I got it done. I'm the only one of my parents' children who has a degree.
 

I went to university on a Teachers' College scholarship. It paid tuition fees and a living allowance for 10 months of the year. The course lasted four years. In return I signed a document promising to teach in public schools for five years after graduation.
 

I started when I was 28 and charged like hell through three years, I should have used the skills I already had, I had worked as a plumber/electrician/auto mechanic since I was 16, and all of those skills provided better than what I studied in college.

Poor life choices had left me with a dark spot in my past and the get-tough eighties shut me out of professional licenses in my state. So, I graduated with a compounding debt and dim prospects that I put on myself unnecessarily.

In answer though, I found the money myself through Pell grants, loans, and shit jobs.
 
NO and No... I was made to leave school at 15 and set to work immediately. All my wages were taken from me every Friday.. and altho' I managed to find myself a better job in an office within a month. the money was still taken from me and I was only given my bus fares back..no extra. ..so I couldn't afford to go to Night classes which was what was the only thing available to us who only had the basic qualifications from school at the time..
 
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I was fortunate and had a scholarship that paid $425 a quarter. Was enough to pay for tuition. Worked at night cleaning a restaurant and other odd jobs to pay for everything else. Couldnā€™t wait to graduate and get out, 17-20 yo.
 
I attended Emory & Henry College my first year, then transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University for 2 years, then did my last year at the Corcoran in Washington DC.My parents paid. After graduation I was hired in DC as a Graphic Designer near the White House, then offered a job as the Art Director for another design firm.

Interesting story...I covered a Convention's Communications Design and production in Hawaii and the firm paid for my husband to also fly there as per my request. I worked during the day while HE enjoyed all that Hawaii had to offerā˜ŗļø...all expenses paid at the oceanfront Rainbow Hilton Resort.

One day my husband decided to take a boat out to scuba dive. It just so happened that JFK Jr (about age 14 at the time) was heading out on a private boat to also scuba dive with 2 secret service men. They asked my husband to join them. My husband happened to be a certified NAUI scuba diving instructor. So they spent the day together.
 
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Yes and yes. It was a foregone conclusion when I was growing up that I'd go to college and Mom & Dad would pay for it. I selected a State University that was a pretty good bargain and moved into the dorms there at age 18.
Academically I was ready for it, but in terms of social skills, self value and basic personal maturity I wasn't ready.......so I wasted several years partying and enjoying an adolescent life with some adult freedoms but no adult responsibility.
I still look back at those years and like to imagine what I might have made of myself if I knew then even just some of what I know now.
I could have used the opportunities so much more wisely.
 
Nathan said:
I joined the Army when I was 17, got out after returning from Vietnam and used the GI Bill to attend college.
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I did likewise, but I was Marines. The first time I applied, they lost my paperwork (everything wasnā€™t on computers back then) and I had to start the process all over again. Meanwhile, I was allowed to start college while my paperwork was being processed, but when it got lost the college wanted some money because of the length of time it was taking to get VA approval. My parents put up $1500, which I repaid, although they said to forget about it.

When the approval finally came through, the school reimbursed me the $1500, so thatā€™s how I repaid my parents. I worked in the evenings to pay for my social activities and also to put some back for that rainy day.
 
Nathan said:
I joined the Army when I was 17, got out after returning from Vietnam and used the GI Bill to attend college.
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Where you still in school when you enlisted? We had career day at our school for the juniors and seniors to check out career paths. The Marines, Army and Navy had booths set up. I was torn between the Navy and Marines. I finally decided on Marines, only because I thought it would give me a boost to get a job with the state police, which was my dream job from the time I was 9 y/o.
 
I won a full academic scholarship to a state university and my parents paid for my car and living expenses from a college fund my dad set up when I was around twelve. Dad sold some cattle and invested the proceeds for the fund. He took me with him to the financial institution to set up the account and explained how interest worked and that it was for my college fund. I worked summers.
 
AnnieA said:
I won a full academic scholarship to a state university and my parents paid for my car and living expenses from a college fund my dad set up when I was around twelve. Dad sold some cattle and invested the proceeds for the fund. He took me with him to the financial institution to set up the account and explained how interest worked and that it was for my college fund. I worked summers.
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for me that is what grew up reading about .. the All American dream... back then it was so far removed from us as the moon...
 
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I wasn't raised to be a confident independent adult. College was never mentioned to me and I was never berated for my bad grades. I used to think that was a good thing. But years later, having a borderline mother, I realized this worked for her. Borderlines do not want to raise independent children. It's part of their fear of abandonment.

In my late 20's working in a nursing home laundry, I knew I had to do something or I'd be doing that when I was 40. Or so I told myself. I started at a community college knowing I'd fail, but I'd try. I hardly failed. I did well.

I graduated at 32. I qualified also for Pell Grant and got some loans. I don't remember how much. It was well under 5 grand. Easy to pay off. My mother and stepfather helped me some. I call it all restitution. I also worked though school. At first full time in the laundry while I went to school part time and then reversed that.
 
911 said:
Where you still in school when you enlisted? We had career day at our school for the juniors and seniors to check out career paths. The Marines, Army and Navy had booths set up. I was torn between the Navy and Marines. I finally decided on Marines, only because I thought it would give me a boost to get a job with the state police, which was my dream job from the time I was 9 y/o.
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I dropped out of school after 11th grade, was headed for trouble. My Mom threatened to 'put' me in the service, I thought "oh yeah?" So I went down and enlisted the next day, brought the papers home for my mom to sign...her jaw hit the floor,but she signed them.

It's ironic how things go- I originally went to the Navy recruiter, who got all the papers ready but he told me that since I was born in Cuba that I had to go to some place in downtown L.A. to...sign some stuff. I went down there, turned out to be the Immigration & Naturalization office. I knew something was wrong, since I had dual citizenship. So I took all the enlistment papers over to the Army recruiter and he said "sure son, we'll get you IN, no problem". :LOL:

Enlisting in the Army was probably the best move I ever made in my young life of 17 years, I signed up for an extra year and got my choice of MOS. I went through AIT as a Marine Diesel Engineer, went to a leadership school and got E5, then went through the Harbor-craft Engine Officer's Advanced course, signed an intent to reenlist for 3 years if the Army needed Warrant Officers in my MOS.

...so, I did get into the navy, but it turned out to be the Army's Navy. ;)
 
Scholarships paid for my first two years then I had to wait to complete military service when the GI Bill helped me afford to finish BA and Masters. I was raised by a hard working single Mother and I never would have asked her to pay for college. She couldn't afford to and I wouldn't have let her even if she had the means. She did more for me than I deserved.
 
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I dreamed of going to art school but there wasn't any money. I took a few classes at a local college and one of them was technical illustration which helped me land a pretty good job at an atomic lab. Many years later I got to take night classes at a good art school because we lived in the area. No degree. After moving to another state I got a job in wall covering design where my job title was Artist. I felt that I had finally arrived.
The next job was in product design for a company that made do-it-yourself art kits for iron-ons and sun catchers. Now I was a designer but it didn't last. The company was bought out. After that I freelanced mostly portraits and buildings and graphic design.
 
No college but job experiences combined to have a really enjoyable life. Miscellaneous jobs like grass cutting, paper route, stocking shelves at a mom & pop grocery store all good. At 16 applied for the new DI [distributive education" experimental school program. Was accepted. Class in the morning & working in the afternoons as an apprentice retail butcher. To this day the skills learned butchering serve us well. From then forward a lot of different jobs.

All those combined helped me land a managerial position which in turn made it possible to retire in comfort.
 
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