Study: Parental Support Sends Down College GPA

**Bamacyclone** · 01-26-2013, 03:13 AM

Study: Parental Support Sends Down College GPA - Yahoo! Finance

**BuffettClone** · 01-26-2013, 07:41 AM

That comes as no surprise. The students I knew who's parents were paying their way tended to skip class a lot more often and not pay attention when they actually attended

**uro cy** · 01-26-2013, 07:59 AM

Damn...so, its my parent's fault I didn't graduate with a 4.0. ******

**Wesley** · 01-26-2013, 08:02 AM

This article will allow parents to cut the money spigot. Bad article for some. Tough financial love. So how many would not go to school if the parents did not help?

**longtimeclone** · 01-26-2013, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by Wesley

This article will allow parents to cut the money spigot. Bad article for some. Tough financial love. So how many would not go to school if the parents did not help?

I don't know about that

"Some parents were 100 percent complicit in this," she said. "They absolutely wanted their children to go to school and party hard. They told me explicitly it's not about grades, it's about having fun, the best years of your life."
"Now for some families it all works out OK," she said. "The 'best years of your life' idea has trickled down to what everybody thinks college should be. But not everybody can afford for college to be like that. And they pay for that for a long time."

**CYme** · 01-26-2013, 08:42 AM

Yeah, wife and I paid (and are still paying through loans) our own way. I had a 3.45 in ME and she had a 3.34 with a BS in Psych. I have to list it as a BS because she gets really mad being lumped in with those BA people. We both had a great time in school, attended many sporting events, many social events and even went to the bars and parties once in a while. Could we have had more fun? Absolutely. Would it have had an effect on our grades? Yes. In retrospect, now that wife is a stay at home mom, she should have just partied her *** off.

While there are people who did well with mommy and daddy paying the way, more often the people I knew whose parents were footing the bill screwed around and spent more time partying. Like I said, not always the case, but it seemed pretty easy to pick out who had parents paying for college and who had part time jobs.

**WeedCyntist** · 01-26-2013, 08:46 AM

I told my kids I will only help with tuition when they graduate. If they don't then the bill is on themselves. Seen many kids waste their parents money. When you are the one paying for your own education you don't waste time taking classes that don't get you anywhere and you have the motivation to make your money count.

**mtowncyclone13** · 01-26-2013, 08:54 AM

The article also said those with parental support are the most likely to graduate.

For the record, my parents paid for undergrad and I had a 2.6. They paid for graduate school and I had a 3.6. I think it's 100% maturity. If everyone started school at 23 instead of 18/19 I bet grades would balloon up a lot.

Edit - my wife's parents paid for her first year but after a 1.8 they stopped paying. She graduated with a 3.6. Huge difference.

We have talked about if/when we have kids and if we can afford it, we will pay for the last three years, so they can either save and pay for the first year themselves or take enough AP credit to completely skip it (which several people from mtown have done.)

**CYme** · 01-26-2013, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by WeedCyntist

I told my kids I will only help with tuition when they graduate. If they don't then the bill is on themselves. Seen many kids waste their parents money. When you are the one paying for your own education you don't waste time taking classes that don't get you anywhere and you have the motivation to make your money count.

Wife and I have different views. She wants our children to pay their own way like we did, but I think we are and will be doing well enough that when our children go, we can provide support. I think the compromise is that I intend to purchse a house a year or two before first child starts in Ames. I have done plenty of home renovation, so I might look for a fixer-upper. We spend enough time up there now and when the kids start going, I am sure we will spend even more time there. If I am going to spend the money on room and board, might as well get some of it back. Kids can live in the house (they are 3 years apart, so we will have them in college for a decent time period). Then, I'll look at selling afterwards. Obviously if they go to another school this could de-rail my plans, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

I do like the idea of paying for some of it after they graduate. Maybe pay based on GPA like my employer does for tuition reimbursement. 100%A, 90%B, 70%C, 50%D, 0%F. I could probably talk her in to something like that.

**longtimeclone** · 01-26-2013, 09:02 AM

I think another good way for a parent to pay for education would be to pay for so many years of the education. So if it takes the student any longer than it is all on them.

**Rabbuk** · 01-26-2013, 10:26 AM

I have a 3.7 and am paying my own way, plus loans. I agree with the guy who said if a person is older and more mature it helps gpa. I always get a little nervous when I walk in and see a bunch of gray heads because it means curves will be higher.

**Kitkat** · 01-26-2013, 10:43 AM

A couple of comments. First, this is only one study; it needs follow-ups. Two, to support or not support is not really the issue; rather it is a question of how much to support a given student. It is not an either-or situation. Three, the study says kids with support tended to engage in non-academic activities, maybe like talking too much about sports. But those who had to work 20 or more hours a week also were engaging in non-academic activities. I knew students who worked a lot more than 20 hrs. a week, and most felt hard pressed, to say the least.

**CycloneErik** · 01-26-2013, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by mtowncyclone13

The article also said those with parental support are the most likely to graduate.

For the record, my parents paid for undergrad and I had a 2.6. They paid for graduate school and I had a 3.6. I think it's 100% maturity. If everyone started school at 23 instead of 18/19 I bet grades would balloon up a lot.

Edit - my wife's parents paid for her first year but after a 1.8 they stopped paying. She graduated with a 3.6. Huge difference.

We have talked about if/when we have kids and if we can afford it, we will pay for the last three years, so they can either save and pay for the first year themselves or take enough AP credit to completely skip it (which several people from mtown have done.)

Grad school GPAs tend to be higher, too, since a B- at that level is essentially an F, but with a chance to recover.