Posted on 10/29/2014 12:06:04 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
David T. Fagan has eight kids and his oldest daughter is a senior in high school–and he hasn’t saved a penny for his children’s college education. But Fagan isn’t stressing. In fact, Fagan says he would prefer it if his children didn’t go to college at all.
Fagan and his wife lay out their parenting philosophy in new book Guerrilla Parenting, scheduled to be released in January, and say they encourage their children to strike out on their own and create businesses from the time they’re in elementary school. If the children are set on going to college — and their oldest is– Fagan says he expects his children to work, save up and earn scholarships. Or at the very least, they need to make a good case for how they’re going to use the degree to land a job and avoid ending up back on his couch.
Fagan, a marketing executive who lives in Orange County, Calif. with his wife, kids and two dogs, recently spoke with The Washington Post about the pros and cons of a college education and how he and his wife start teaching their children about money from the moment they start walking.
Tell me about your family.
I’m the oldest of six kids and I grew up in a home where if I wanted anything my parents told me hey you have to go work for it. I actually left high school in 11th grade. Later on I did do a little bit of college, but never graduated. That carried over to when I had kids. You know, wanting them to have a customized education. Not so much about college and degrees. I think there’s a lot of wasted time there.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is precisely the problem with the expectation that parents should pay, it isn’t scalable. I only had one child so I assisted with his tuition needs, although I wanted him to have a stake in the game...so not all of it.
Given the price of college, along with all the useless degrees out there, many would be better off buying their kids a house. But nobody expects that do they?
Given how everything necessary for life in the USA (housing, education, health care, for example) has a complex matrix of government rules, and means, race and identity group testing, you would have to be a chump to save for your kids college education.
I’m going through it now. Having cash and savings is penalized by colleges when considering financial aid, while debt and negative net worth is rewarded.
The middle class now exist as sheep for the government, and everyone connected to them, to fleece.
Now that’s funny stuff right there.
the govt looks much more favorably on you if you have NOTHING saved.....
rather to fund your retirement fully before "saving" for your kids college....
and the man is right....most people should not even go to college....
we couldn't save enough for our kids that went to college, but we paid as they went along for room and boarding, cars, books, etc....they still had to take out loans.....
I am suprised that Child Protective Services has not been all up in his business.
Maybe they have - the article doesn’t say. But for him to have been pulling his children out of school is a clear cut case of child abuse, neglect, abandonment and other crimes.
(According to State Experts)
Quit in 11th .. went back after a few months ... turned 17, went into the Army ...
yadda yadda yadda
All my kids work hard and are well married and paying their bills.
Ain't NONE of us dirty, cold, hungry etc .. and pert much happy as a worm in an apple.
My parents have saved for our children’s college education. They can afford it. Mom still expects that the children will economize by starting at community college, pursue scholarships, and look for work.
That’s very clever, GeronL.
Although I had a heavy math/science college prep coursework in HS, after graduation I quit working as a CAD designer for my old man and got a job digging ditches”... well more like swinging a spiking maul building railroad track. I saved every penny I could over the next 5 years while learning so many “real” life trade skills... I advanced from a trackman to a brakeman, freight conductor, mechanic, heavy equipment operator, locomotive engineer, track inspector... you name it... in the shortline railroad business you wear many hats.
Well I then applied to engineering school, paying for the whole deal myself... I refused to even fill out a FAFSA form and left the scholarships for the “entitled”. It took me a while, there were semesters I lightened my load as I was still working at the railroad... but I made it.
After College I took various management positions... Chief Mechanical Officer, Transportation Superintendent, General Superintendent... eventually joining a fortune 50 company, and then sitting for the Engineer-in-Training exam.
Presently I am with an engineering firm that deals specifically with railroads, which has always been pretty much my “dream job” (well.. kinda), and the next thing I am thinking is to sit for the P.E. exam.
Not bad for a ditchdigger.
So... speaking from experience here... I believe there are a lot of overentitled spoiled brats out there that have no business being in college. The family in this article seem to be doing it right.
Haha! I’d watch that show!
I whole heartedly agree.....The cost of a legitimate degree could be reduced by at least 30% if you eliminated all the BS classes that have to be taken.
An engineer for example does not need "filler classes for credit" such as phys ed, humanities, and other such unrelated crap. Let them take only the courses related to the trade - Engineering 101, 102, 103..etc.
Due to the natural progression of the classes, it may still take the 4 years to graduate but at least they won't have to waste study time and money on the crap classes........
Not only that but in terms of the reduction of study time, it gives them that extra free time to work or intern somewhere.......
You want to host a degreed program in African Studes or Transgender Tolerance, fine, but don't make my kid attend let alone pay for those crap classes........
and they could have some entitled, resentful neighbors too
My parents had 10 kids and could not afford to pay for anyone’s college. Out of the 10, seven graduated with some level of college - two have their masters and three have their bachelors. All of us who went to college began at a community college and saved for a good share of the rest of it and a few of us got scholarships.
bump
Good work!
I too took no money for college and worked multiple jobs while carrying various hour loads to work around my job, not the other way around.
Then you obviously don't know the pathetic life you live. Have you ever heard a worm complain that he lives in dirt?..../humor
college has become, unfortunately, one of the biggest money grabbing scams in history. Unless you take college courses DIRECTLY necessary for a profession ie;law, medicine, engineering, education...it is a gigantic waste of moey and time. To expand on your high school education by taking courses in the same subjects is CRAZY. I, of course have seen jobs that, for one reason or another, require a college degree....in 95% of the cases it is totally unnecessary and such a requirement only serves to limit the number of qualified applicants who will apply.
Smart guy!
For those who have not been through the process of applying for financial aid (FAFSA and CSS Profile) it is best not to have any more than 10-20K in savings when you are applying for financial aid from a school. If you have more than that saved, 1/4 of that amount is deducted from your financial aid package by the college (i.e. added to your expected family contribution). Over the course of the 4 years, the college wants to consume all that you have ‘saved’ for college.
So, its best to have nothing for them to consume.
Also, forget about the 529 plans!! This is just a scheme for the government/colleges to better track how much you have saved for that college education. If you have 100k saved in a 529 plan, the college will add 25k to your expected contribution each year when they calculate how much financial aid they give you. Its a scam. If you have money saved in a 529, cash it out during your child’s 2nd year in high school (financial aid data looks back 2 years), pay the penalties, and stick it in a retirement account so it is not visible to the financial aid people.
To anyone who has not been through this, it is advisable to pay for college financial aid accounting help, as it will save you a LOT of money. (and no, I’m not a financial aid consultant, but I do have 2 kids currently in college)
Me too! I earned my own degree at the age of 27 and have no student loan debt.
These are fine parents. They teach their children well. There is no free lunch, life is hard and failure is not an option. Learn to paddle upstream or go over the waterfalls.
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