Talk to your kids!

Momneedsadvice
Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:53:19 +0000

Our HS runs a financial aid night for senior parents - they bring in a FA officer from a nearby college, and use books provided by the state higher ed funding agency. They tell you to go on the computer and calculate your EFC, and they tell you how the gov’t calculates it (heavily income based). However, they run this seminar the week before Christmas. At that point, it’s assumed pretty much all of the applications are already in! (Guidance wants everything submitted to them a full week before Xmas break for a Jan 1 deadline).

However, they also run 2 other parent nights, one in Spring of Jr year, and one in Sept of Senior year. At both of those, the GC was clear: You as a parent can/should set limits in 2 areas - cost, and safety (i.e. if you don’t want your kid going to college in NYC tell him up front). But beyond cost and safety, they said let your kid decide. GC warned us, if you force your kid to go to a school they don’t like you’ll hear about it for the rest of your life. But if they make a bad decision on their own, they learn from it, transfer, and life goes on.

But Guidance did emphasize, only the parents and family can decide what works for them financially, and please be honest with your kids about it.