Did you have a student loan for college.

Student Loans.....
I went to Wright JC (Chicago) back in the early '60s and paid for it, with the biggest expense being books. Next I went to DePaul University nights and paid for it myself. I got transferred to Louisville, and went to UofL 4 nights and Saturday mornings and got a BSC, and paid for it myself. Actually, I got a $1200 loan from my Mom/Dad but paid it off the following year after I got the degree and a promotion.

My four adult kids weren't eligible for student loans when they got out of high school as I "made too much money". That was pretty upsetting, for I had a big house, four teenagers, and a high maintenance wife that got first dibs on the monthly paycheck.

So my oldest son joined the Marines, and did six years, getting his BS, MS degrees. After the Corps, he got his Doctorate. The government paid for his education while in the Corps, the rest he paid for. Today he is almost embarrassingly successful, in so many ways.

My second son went to a local college but soon dropped out, but for what he did, I paid for it. He found his niche in life - he works for a pizza place.

My third son didn't think he was college material, and went on to be a bartender (think Tom Cruise in Cocktail) and now has his own business.

My daughter, the twin of my oldest son, decided a husband was all she needed, and she is on her 5th marriage.

Sorry to go off on a tangent there... to get back to student loans, I think they are wonderful. But I strongly feel they are LOANS, not gifts, and must be paid back. That said, I do put a good portion of the responsibility on the lending institution as well as the student.

Making loans to kids studying business, science, education or medicine are probably fairly secure as they are likely to land a job after graduation and have the means to repay the LOANS. But making the LOANS to kids wanting to study non-financial rewarding fields is certainly a risk, and I suggest those kids look for grants and other means of gifts - versus a loan they likely will never be able to pay back.

FYI, I'm not suggesting studying the arts or philosophy or the like is wrong or a waste. They are important! But there is a responsibility in securing a LOAN, and it must be paid back.
 

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Had small loans, I did most undergrad prerequisites at local community college and etc. So many people I knew did not take classes seriously repeated class is $$ out etc ......They then screamed and hollered when they ran out of money from parents or needed more loans....

Student loans are a case by case basis... they want to make it out like no one was irresponsible in taking loans out.
Read a recent article and title was they NEVER read contract before signing?? how would that be anyone but their own fault.

one co-worker went to school and never finished or decided the program/ area of study was not what they thought .......i asked if they looked into it before starting school but he said " He picked out the program based on Average $ made in field" NOT if he had any aptitude or interest for it ...... complained all the time it was not fair he needed to pay for his failed attempt at school.

maybe if they took personal finance ( a class i was required in first year) I paid on my loans before I HAD to and before interest accrued.
 

Along those lines.....
During 1969 and 1970, I attended the University of Louisville (Kentucky) four evenings a week plus one stint of Saturday mornings. I had a very full time job at a refinery, four young kids, a Wife, and an older home. We lived from check to check with most all our needs taken care of - but very, very few "wants".

One evening at school I was sitting outside between classes. There were several others sitting on the steps around me - most all younger. Anyway, there were two "kids" behind me talking of how their parents paid for everything and how they would often call and say they needed money and their parents just kept sending it. Obviously they thought their parents were dumb fools and they were having the fun time of their lives.

It was all I could do to keep silent....
 
Sorry, I've got another school story, but shorter....
When I was 19, and just got the two year degree from the local college, a neighbor high school boy asked me to take the University of Illinois entrance exam for him. He gave me $25 (a good sum in 1963) and his driver's License for identification. The DLs at that time were paper with no pictures and the height/weight/hair was similar to mine.

He told me to NOT do my best, just enough to get him in.

So I went to the place and took the tests. I honestly didn't think about doing anything but my best, cause that is the way I'm "built". Long story short, he did get admitted to the University of Illinois, but into the advanced (not basic) course levels. He was not happy with me.

He lasted one semester, and got kicked out....
 
No, but I only got a 2 year degree in Petroleum Technology from the hometown Jr. College.
But it served me well over 44 year in the Oilfields.

Bu the time our kids was college age, I had went to working Oversea's - making more money.

This allowed us to pay cash as we went along for both of our children's college including all the "extra's", i.e., Apartments, Food,Cars/Trucks, Vehicle Maintenance and Fuel, beaucoup Extracurricular activities, several Oversea's trips for College, etc.....
It was very expensive.

If I had not been oversea's - our kids would have gone to the local college and worked or coop program or the military

But we were blessed and able to do this for them, and it was our choice.

Was it worth it?
Honestly, not sure it was for our kids.

I was gone for most all of my kids growing up as I was either working dam near all the time domestically and then was really gone for 10 months per year oversea's the last ~20 year before I retired.

I do regret that. But i wanted to provide for my family.
But ms gamboolgal and i have talked this to death over the years, and I reckon we'd do it all over again.

But that's all water under the bridge now....

Now we have a newborn Granddaughter and we are hoping to set her up to be able to do the same thing. God willing we'll be around to see her grow up abit.

gamboolman....

Lifes A Dance And You Learn As You Go
 

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