<p>So, for those who don’t know the show, Haddie is the perfect big sister who took 8 million APs and got into Cornell ED. Meanwhile, her financially stressed parents have been spending lots of bucks on their Asperger’s son, Max. Plus, they have a new baby. However, Haddie has been the perfect big sister all her life, too–baby-sitting and understanding him. It would be a huge financial sacrifice–but it’s her dream. What would you do?</p>
<p>I am not a Parenthood fan, but of course haddie must go. She is as important as their other children. </p>
<p>Did they get their financial aid package? In real life, they would probably get a good one.</p>
<p>Since of course the show is fictional we really don’t know the true financial situation. However, how they presented was terribly unfair to Haddy. They were building resentment that the brother needed the money and that they chose to have another baby knowing she was going to college. Since it’s not my money and she isn’t real, of course she should go. It will work out and we won’t see them suffer one bit :)</p>
<p>Situations changed for the Bravermans just as they do in real life. When Haddie applied to Cornell,Adam had a great job presumably (it seemed) making a very good salary.
Then he got fired, was out of work for a while, a new baby came (unplanned I think), he started a started a new business w/ Colby that hasn’t gained a real foothold yet. The family went from rock solid to teetering on the edge of uncertainty. </p>
<p>If I were Adam and Christina, I would tell Haddie that Cornell is not doable at this point unless she gets some sort of great scholarship/financial aid pkg. I predict she won’t go anyhow because then she couldn’t be on the show anymore! </p>
<p>I agree that the way Adam went about discussing it w/ Haddie was kind of the wrong approach but at the same time would it be fair to put the rest of the family at risk for Haddie to go to her dream school? Lots of kids don’t get to go to their dream school. </p>
<p>And Haddie hasn’t been perfect…the lies and sneaking around w/ Alex… sleeping w/ Alex… the house party she went to and got drunk causing Alex to come to her rescue resulting in his arrest… being none too helpful to Christina after Nora was born…not keeping an eye on Max when she was supposed to resulting in him walking away from home,taking a city bus and getting lost trying to find the museum.</p>
<p>There was a whole discussion of this in the Parents Cafe Parenthood thread.</p>
<p>I would point out that when Haddie applied to Cornell Adam was already out of work – maybe he was already planning the Luncheonette – and Kristina (don’t blame me, that’s how the show’s producers spell it) was 8 months pregnant. Even as distracted as they were, her parents probably should have noticed she was a senior in high school and was submitting college applications. They should have thought about the financial aspects of college and talked with her about what they could or couldn’t do before letting her apply ED to Cornell.</p>
<p>At the same time, the show was pretty unfair to Cornell in failing to reflect that Haddie would get a financial aid package, and that after the dust cleared (including documentation of her father’s employment status and her brother’s extraordinary expenses) it would probably be a pretty significant financial aid package.</p>
<p>I never watched the show until that episode, so I don´t have all the background. What I thought was a bad message was the father telling the daughter that she could go and some how they would make it work. </p>
<p>Oh really? How would they some how make it work? Cornell full fare is around 250-300K. On the show they didn´t talk about if they were short of 10K a year or the full 55K. It is misleading to all the kids who were watching the show to think if their parents were just willing to stretch themselves a bit then they should all be able to go to their dream schools. </p>
<p>For the family to allow the daughter to apply ED, they must had some money saved up to pay their EFC. As we have all discussed on CC, it is a bad idea to apply ED if you need FA, so maybe they are full pay. If that´s the case, then they shouldn´t have to change their course over a minor set back, and I do consider losing a job temporary a minor set back.</p>
<p>What struck me as odd about the whole thing is that if the guy was actually out of work for awhile, presumably they had conversations about finances WITH THE KIDS every time they went to the grocery store, every time someone needed new sneakers, a check for a field trip, a gift for a birthday party, etc. </p>
<p>(“Can we have this?” “No. It’s too expensive. Do we have a coupon? Let’s see if they have a generic brand. Let’s wait until it goes on sale.”)</p>
<p>It seemed very odd that someone could reach the age of 17 without ever having had a conversation about money. </p>
<p>But then again the kid never had a paying job, did she? We have kids getting driver’s licenses in our house, so there’s lots of conversations about how much gas costs, opportunity costs, etc. Most recently we had a conversation about how it was that my consulting fees pay a lot more per hour than their jobs at places like Walmart and the bagel store – and whether or not there was a direct connection between where you went to school, how well you did in school, and how much your hourly wage might end up being later in life.</p>