Some of you might think it’s too early to start thinking about college. After all, my oldest is just in 7th Grade. Some of you; however, may be of the opinion that college planning should start at birth.
In our family, college planning started long before we even had any children. This is THE big issue that my husband and I have been discussing since our Pre-Cana counseling days.
My husband, a product of a prestigious prep school and the full Ivy League package, has been touting the traditional path from the get go.
I, on the other hand, the product of an education rich in scenic routes, well, let’s just say that I’ve been open to alternatives.
Together, we’re forging a middle path. We encourage our children to explore interests and learning for its own sake, as opposed to doing so to produce a college-worthy curriculum vitae. At the same time, I’m not above keeping an eye out for programs that might help my children develop skills needed for college admissions.
Traditional Path To College
You may be wondering what I mean when I mention the traditional path to college. By traditional, I’m merely referring to my husband’s educational path where you attend the best school your parents can afford, get the highest grades possible, choose extracurricular activities that look good on college applications, and take as many college prep classes as you can.
Hyper Path To College
Nowadays, many parents worry that even the traditional path isn’t good enough to get their kids into choice colleges. As a result, you’ll find kids signed up for extracurricular academic programs as soon as they’re out of diapers.
We’re guilty of that as well, although it wasn’t because we were worried about college.
For example, in Confessions of a Kumon Mom, I talk about how I signed up my kids for this math program because I feared that they might be left behind by other students who are getting rigorous math instruction.
Eventually, I realized that by signing them up for this program, I was squelching any chance that they might actually like math enough to want to pursue the subject at all.
There is a fine line between enabling learners, or overwhelming them with parental enthusiasm.
Our Middle Ground
Just this week, I found out about a new test, the RediStep, that the College Board will offer Eight Graders to discover if they are on track for college.
Also, this week, we saw the launch of yet another online college prep program, Brightstorm. This startup, with it’s very appealing multimedia classes, has received a $6 million investment from Korea’s KTB Ventures, and looks to be a worthy contender to Megastudy, the biggest of Korea’s many “cram schools.”
Looking at this information, I might be tempted to sign up my child right away for Brightstorm classes. And, if I were pushing my child on the Hyper Path to college, I would not hesitate.
However, I hope I’ve learned my lesson with the whole Kumon Math experience. Now, I’ll show my kids the program, and if they want to take a class they can, but if they don’t want to, they don’t have to.
As long as they are learning, and enjoying learning, then I know that they are “on track” to accomplish whatever they can dream up.
Alternative Path
How do I know that my kids are “on track?” Well, I don’t know exactly, but I do know that none of us really know what the future holds.
When we attended college, twenty years ago, global health wasn’t one of the most popular subjects as it is now. And, this interest is likely to be further fueled by Google.org’s announcment that it would put $14 million toward the goal of preventing the next global pandemic.
College paths and career markets have changed dramatically in the short time since we were in school, and it will continue to do so.
Additionally, who’s to know where an interest will lead? Even a love of video games can lead to a rewarding career. An “E-Gaming” major is now offered at some college, and while some advocates are pushing to get more girls into the video game industry, one super star, Jade Raymond, has already blazed a trail.
Our best bet is to raise kids who love to learn, and who enjoy life. We want them to be “confident thinkers” who are able to make to make their own decisions about what is important to them.
What do you think?
Have you started thinking about college for your young child? Or, are you a veteran of the college admissions process? What do you think? What college prep choices are you making?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
My oldest is in 4th grade. I have to admit, thinking about college gives me anxiety.
Start early. Time goes too fast.
I’ve thought about it, but I’m not sweating it. There’s a good education to be found in a lot of locations, so we’re not going to get hyper about it.
You provoke good thought, however.
My son isn’t exactly college prep material. He takes after his dad, who dropped out of high school, then found out he needed it to go on to do what he wanted to do. He went back to high school night school for adults and graduated, then started college when he was 21 at a small, state university. He transferred to LSU-Baton Rouge (our main university in Louisiana) his sophomore year. He graduated when he was 26 and went on to graduate school to get a master’s degree.
I see my son continuing home schooling through the high school years and getting a GED, then attending a technical college online. He is big into writing video games, and there are plenty of online schools that teach that curriculum. He may go on to engineering later, but at first and for now, I don’t think he’ll be ready for starting an engineering degree at 18.
I had to learn to be a lot more laid back about this because I was a massive over-achiever, had straight A’s in high school and got my butt kicked my first semester in college. I ended up with a B average when I finished my chemistry degree. I was driven at school and I loved school. I love it so much that I tutor high school math and science and find that I get paid to have fun. I need the money right now, but even if I didn’t, I would still tutor some students because of the mental stimulation it gives me.
I’m such a geek that I read tomes of literature or history or science just for the mental stretching it gives me. My son is a geek, but he is driven in the direction of working online.
So no worries. Let your kids be themselves and it will work out in the end.
Sherri
I’m a planner and starting a college fund for my children when they were born. I decided it would be wise to have some funds available when my kids got to the point of making a choice of going to college or not. I didn’t want finances to make the choice for them.
They are now in 3rd and 4th grade in a multi-age, project based learning environment. I hope to give them a love of learning and the ability to make good decision when the time comes.
All my friends started college funds for their kids. What if college isn’t right for them? We decided to tell them to take out the loans needed to go where they choose. If they finish school, we’ll help them pay it. If they drop out, they foot the bill. We’re putting our money into our retirement. We’re also blissfully imagining full scholarships (granted, they’re 3 and 7 months, but a gal can dream…)
It seems we’re talking about two types of planning for college, financial and academic.
As a Registered Investment Adviser (second career, but closing down), I STRONGLY advise everyone to save for your own retirement before you start saving for your kids’ college expenses. You should be saving 15% of your gross income towards retirement. If one spouse doesn’t work outside the home, divide that amount so that you can put the annual maximum toward the second spouse’s retirement in an IRA: ROTH or Traditional. Don’t leave everything in one spouse’s 401k or 403b or 457, etc. plan at work, especially if it’s not well diversified. Do invest up to the company match. Don’t leave free money on the table.
Once you are saving for retirement, I recommend a Coverdell IRA if your children are very young. If they don’t go to college or don’t graduate, it converts to a retirement account. $2000/yr per child for 18 years with average market rate of return of 10% gives you $100,100 per child by age 18. This assumes you put $166.67 per child per month into the accounts. The market is down considerably, so buy low!
Watch investing in 504 plans. Some are really good but some are horrible. Before investing in them be sure you have read all the fine print legaleze.
Academic preparation for homeschooled teens is a whole different matter. Parents must translate course work and other experience and learning into a high school transcript that is accepted by the college(s) your child wants to attend. I recommend the Yahoo homeschool group “homeschool-to-college” for lots of information about how to construct a transcript and get into most any college. Their archives alone are a wealth of information. They are a nationwide group and very business like, so no off topic discussions are permitted. They also expect you to have read all the archives before you post a question. Otherwise you will get a terse response from the moderator that your question is contained in the archives.
Here’s the link to homeschool-to-college:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschool2college/
Sherri
Sounds like the consensus is that we’re planning for the future, saving for college, but leaving options open. Parenting is all about flexibility!
We’re saving, but as Sandra said, we’re keeping our minds open and our kids will help dictate their paths.
Sherri,
You make some excellent points about saving for yourself first, and then saving for college. Personally, we’re working with a financial planner as we found that we just couldn’t stay on top of everything we needed to know to make wise investments.
Financial planning is definitely well outside my expertise. Although I encourage everyone to plan financially for college, retirement, and any other personal goals; this was not the focus of this blog post.
As you astutely pointed out, I’m talking about academic planning, and I’m merely making the point that parents don’t need to buy into the whole academic rat race mentality. There are many alternatives, including the homeschool options that you point out.
Thank you for adding so much to this discussion!
Sandra,
I forgot to add my own caveat: check with your own financial adviser before investing.
I recommend saving for retirement before kids college because the only financial aid for retirement is social security, which doesn’t go that far. Retirement really doesn’t have any financial aid options other than saving for it over your working lifetime.
College expenses, on the other hand, can be covered in lots of ways from scholarships and grants to student loans and work-study programs to the money saved for the student plus any money he or she earns and saves to use for college.
To sound planning for the future while staying open in the homeschooling process,
Sherri