Study: Parental Support Sends Down College GPA

[CycloneErik]

I don't understand this comment. Can you expand a bit?

Professors tend not to give grad students grades less than a B. Something less than a B to a grad student tends to be a way of saying "I'm not really sure that you belong here."

If a student sees a D or F in grad school, they're doing something very wrong, and kind of being shown the door.

Since grades are higher, grad school GPAs tend to be higher. That's my take on it.

[IAMAIRBHG]

I don't understand this comment. Can you expand a bit?

Have to have 3.0 gpa (B) for most grad programs.

[jaretac]

This is partly why my wife and I are not doing a "college fund". We are doing a future fund. They don't have to use it for college if they don't want to (college isn't for everyone), but they must have a logical well thought out plan on what to do with it.

This way if they decide to go to college, they have some ownership in it because they could of used that money in other ways. None traditional school, buy or build a business, buy a house, etc.

[cowgirl836]

I think full support probably does lend to an attitude of "yay, I'll do whatever I want, not my money". But on the other hand, no support at all probably helps them drop out because they can't afford it - trying to do well in class and work at the same time.

My parents paid about....10% total (out of state here, so it was a decent chunk of cash). But they gave me money toward rent senior year and every time I went home, I stocked up on groceries. I also didn't get paid for 6+ years of labor on the farm, which I calculated to be 35 hours a week. So I do feel I earned that money. The vast majority I paid in scholarships/grants, with the last 20% being student loans.

My husband didn't get any "free" money from his parents, but they did give him interest free loans that we will eventually pay back. His loans and my student loans end up being the same amount, except I was paying 6% interest. He worked all of high school as well, and that was pretty much gone by the time he started soph. year.

We both worked on and off through college, and both had good GPAs. His was around 3.6 for CprE and I was 3.84 in DySci. I think we'll do something like that for our own kids - I don't want them to be stressing about money while they're in school (and who knows how ungodly expensive tuition will be two decades from now), but I also know we don't plan on just giving them a blank check for four years.

[besserheimerphat]

My parents paid for my first year, then my grandpa died and left my parents enough money to pay for both my brother and I to complete our four years. With a semester off for a coop, it took me 5 years to graduate. However, I did work 20 hours/week every semester for book and grocery money, cell phone bill and "fun money" with the little bit that was left over. I earned a 3.0 in ME.

With regard to the grad school grade point, I think a big part of it is maturity as was said before. And a full courseload is usually considered 2 classes rather than 5-6 like undergrad so it's easier to focus on the class. Also, most of the grades are project based rather than exam/homework based. In my opinion, a project is more work but it's also "easier" to earn a high grade.