Hi Koryn. I read your response with care and it seems to me that there is a great deal of emotion invested in it, which is a good thing! Caring for, supporting and educating our children is in my opinion the most important service in our society today. Truly learning the value of a hard-earned dollar and taking pride in one’s own accomplishments are very valid perspectives and I do hope that one day my child will share this view as much as I do.

My one disagreement with your response however lies in the fact that when children are “handed things” they are destined to become “leaches on society”. When I went through school I was very fortunate to receive a student loan through my province (I live in Canada). I did not have to pay for tuition fees or school supplies until I completed my entire degree. However had I not received that loan I would never have been able to go to university. My family did not have enough money for that and there was no job I could acquire at that young age without any credentials whatsoever that could have come close to paying for my tuition fees.

However there are many children who cannot receive a loan in order to go to school. They aren’t fortunate enough to live in a region that is willing to help them, or they simply don’t qualify for a loan if they happen to live at home, as if this solves the problem of paying for tuition fees. I don’t want to see my daughter in this situation one day. Loans are getting more difficult to acquire in Ontario. I need to ensure that my child will indeed be able to attend college and that she can devote all of her effort and spare time to her studies, not to a job that pays minimum wage and will cause her to graduate far behind her peers.

I don’t discount your entire perspective. A child who is handed everything in life is not going to develop into a responsible adult. But a child who has the opportunity to attend college and become a successful professional is indeed someone to be proud of. This is all that Lana Hawkins wishes for you and your children.

Thanks for your comment. My kids work very hard and get excellent grades in school. They take pride in their hard school work and the results they achieve. They are also very busy with sports and are not getting into any trouble.

I am very proud of them and want to help them all I can. I am confident that they will be good citizens if I pay for their college education or not. They are not nor never will be leaches on me or society.

I think helping them through college is a service I can offer them so that they can contribute to society debt free from the start and sooner rather than later. I’m not handing it to them on a silver platter. They will have some kind of jobs too.

I worked and went to school with no help from my parents and I assure you that I didn’t feel like million bucks. I was exhausted, had very few friends and no social life. Plus it took me longer than others which put me behind in the promotion game.

Then I would gloat about how hard I worked and say others didn’t appreciate their education because it was paid for by their parents. Really! Now who am I to say what their experience was. I was just mad because they had it (what seemed to me) so easy.

But I also understand your position.