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Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,511
Registered: ‎06-17-2015

Re: Your child gets into MIT....

We know trades pay well, we know there is a lack of skilled labor today, and we know that you do not have to absorb enormous debt to enter a trade school.  However, not every trade school graduate starts out with his/her own business and being hired usually means working his/her way up in a company, just as one does in any career.

 

I take exception, however, that students should simply go on to be a plumber or car mechanic or whatever.  Not everyone should have to setle for a career for which they have either no desire or even no aptitude.

 

The push for education, especially for us boomers, came about because many of our parents never went to college.  Parents especially from the Depression era wanted better for their children.  Neither of my parents graduated high school.

 

I find it disturbing that  parents and their children are being called stupid and other insults, too.

 

It's on each family to decide how they will handle their children's education..  It does not make people stupid, immature, unrealistic, just because they are not doing it in the way others are handling their own situations.

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,739
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Your child gets into MIT....

One thing people may not realize either, some of the trades, require brute strength ,and a lot of stamina . Not every person is able to do that

 

The military wanted my son for his brains ,and not for his brawn. We still need people that are able to work a hard, physically, long day, that is a great asset as well..

 

People just need to weigh up their options and choose wisely..

 

 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,892
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: Your child gets into MIT....

Basically a college education is what you make of it, how hard you are willing to work, how much you are willing to give up.  The student should be dreaming about the career and life he wants more than a school.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.
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Honored Contributor
Posts: 65,680
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Your child gets into MIT....


@NYCLatinaMe wrote:


@stevieb and @blackhole99 it is not stupid as a high school student to apply to MIT if the student doesn't have the ability to pay.  MIT is one of many schools that offer financial aid sufficient to cover the cost to attend if the student is admitted.  The school will, however, expect parents to make a contribution they believe the parent can afford.  They have formulas.  If more than one child is going to college, the school will also take that into account in their financial aid package..  


@NYCLatinaMe I think we all understand the financial aid factors, but the quote here was a cost to the student and his family of a quarter of a million dollars, which they can't afford... It was already noted the student doesn't qualify for aid... It might not have been stupid to apply if he didn't understand the potential costs and the limits of what was available, but there would seem to be something amiss at this point...


In my pantry with my cupcakes...
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,120
Registered: ‎03-29-2019

Re: Your child gets into MIT....

If my child dreamed of going to MIT, had the grades to get in, and was accepted, I would do whatever it took, to make sure that they went.

 

 

After all, what if it was my child, who helped to discover the cure to a disease?

 

 

Think of all the people who help build robots and whatnot to help us with space exploration.

 

My kid could be a part of that, and I would never throw up a road block to them reaching their full potential.

 

 

Even with space travel mostly going private, who do you think helps to build those rockets, and everything?

 

People.

 

Who do you think helps to build robots?

 

People.

 

My child could be one of those people, and no way in hell would I stand in their way, and say, "No, you can't go."

 

 

 

 

 

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,496
Registered: ‎01-14-2017

Re: Your child gets into MIT....


@stevieb wrote:

@NYCLatinaMe wrote:


@stevieb and @blackhole99 it is not stupid as a high school student to apply to MIT if the student doesn't have the ability to pay.  MIT is one of many schools that offer financial aid sufficient to cover the cost to attend if the student is admitted.  The school will, however, expect parents to make a contribution they believe the parent can afford.  They have formulas.  If more than one child is going to college, the school will also take that into account in their financial aid package..  


@NYCLatinaMe I think we all understand the financial aid factors, but the quote here was a cost to the student and his family of a quarter of a million dollars, which they can't afford... It was already noted the student doesn't qualify for aid... It might not have been stupid to apply if he didn't understand the potential costs and the limits of what was available, but there would seem to be something amiss at this point...


I think something is missing in the OP story about why this family states they can't afford it.  MIT provides generous financial aid, as @Isobel Archer stated in her post: "From the MIT website: For students with family incomes under $90,000 a year and typical assets, MIT guarantees that scholarship funding from all sources will allow them to attend the Institute tuition-free. ...  even families earning more than $250,000 may qualify for need-based financial aid based on their family circumstances, such as if two or more children are in college at the same time."

 

So if the family can't afford it, the school will pay.  If the issue was one of affordability, the student should have by all means applied because the school provides financial assitance to all admitted students with affordability issues.  Many people go to school with stident aid when the family can't afford it.  I did.  In this case, it just appears the family will not help, and that is why the student would have to borrow to attend.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,511
Registered: ‎06-17-2015

Re: Your child gets into MIT....

[ Edited ]

Since when is choosing a career you love a "hobby"???

 

The happiest people in the work field are those who love what they do and want to do what they do.

 

Back as an undergradute I could not imagine choosing a different career; it wasn't a hobby.  I chose a very important career because it was what I wanted and I knew I would excel in that field.  And I did.

 

Equating what you want to do for a career as a "hobby" is nonsense.

 

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,892
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: Your child gets into MIT....


@Anonymous032819 wrote:

If my child dreamed of going to MIT, had the grades to get in, and was accepted, I would do whatever it took, to make sure that they went.

 

 

After all, what if it was my child, who helped to discover the cure to a disease?

 

 

Think of all the people who help build robots and whatnot to help us with space exploration.

 

My kid could be a part of that, and I would never throw up a road block to them reaching their full potential.

 

 

Even with space travel mostly going private, who do you think helps to build those rockets, and everything?

 

People.

 

Who do you think helps to build robots?

 

People.

 

My child could be one of those people, and no way in hell would I stand in their way, and say, "No, you can't go."

 

 

 

 

 


MIT is not the only school that have amazing programs.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,120
Registered: ‎03-29-2019

Re: Your child gets into MIT....


@CrazyDaisy wrote:

@Anonymous032819 wrote:

If my child dreamed of going to MIT, had the grades to get in, and was accepted, I would do whatever it took, to make sure that they went.

 

 

After all, what if it was my child, who helped to discover the cure to a disease?

 

 

Think of all the people who help build robots and whatnot to help us with space exploration.

 

My kid could be a part of that, and I would never throw up a road block to them reaching their full potential.

 

 

Even with space travel mostly going private, who do you think helps to build those rockets, and everything?

 

People.

 

Who do you think helps to build robots?

 

People.

 

My child could be one of those people, and no way in hell would I stand in their way, and say, "No, you can't go."

 

 

 

 

 


MIT is not the only school that have amazing programs.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never said that it was, but MIT is the school that we're talking about here, isn't it?

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,415
Registered: ‎11-25-2011

Re: Your child gets into MIT....


@Cakers3 wrote:

The push for education, especially for us boomers, came about because many of our parents never went to college.  Parents especially from the Depression era wanted better for their children.  Neither of my parents graduated high school.

 


@Cakers3 

I totally disagree.

The kids graduating today are the result (most likely) of the parents

being of the ‘YUPPIE’ era of the 80s, when the corporate recruiter

was at their desk, smoking a cigarette while pouring over a mountain

of physical paper resumes full of degrees from here, there, everywhere.

I use this colorful visual to really point out the difference of then/today.

The status of a college degree was a line-in-the-sand when deciding

on who should be promoted.

That was then; this is now.

 

Parents are not of the Depression era...maybe their older

grandparents or even great-grandparents.  We’re looking at

parents today who grew up (young adults) in the 80s..their kids

are going to college.  But today vs 1980? Light-years away

in terms of opportunities.