[TheDandyMan]

I hate that terminology, “send your kids to...”. I chose a college I could afford (nobody had to coax me to skip colleges I couldn’t afford) and payed my own way. If you’re actively controlling your kid at 17, treating him/her like a child, THAT is what will turn them into a liberal regardless of what college you “send” them to.

That’s not to say my parents didn’t help me out with advice, let me live at home, etc, obviously at that age guidance and assistance can still be beneficial. But active control won’t help at all, if your kid still needs it then you already failed him/her 6 years ago.

[Albion Wilde]

Your point is well-taken where it applies in actuality to helicopter or smothering parents, but the comments here are using “send them off” as a figure of speech. For instance, a father doesn’t really “give” his daughter “away” at the altar when she gets married, but the ancient wording just hangs around and warms the hearts of all who know it’s just a nod to tradition.

And in the sense that a young person is no longer residing in the parents’ house, eating the food provided or using resources shared by the parents such as cable or utilities, the parents are indeed “sending them off.”