student loan advice | When Mom and Dad are away, College Students play

When Mom and Dad are away, College Students play

Hey Mom and Dad, guess what Jr. is doing in College while your busting your butts to pay for it?

Sure, we’d all like to think that Jr. is studying real hard to get his degree. We’d also like to think that he or she is on the straight and narrow, never messing around with those rowdy drunks or at the beach being taped topless by some camera crew for Girls Gone Wild.

Weeelll Mom and Dad, statistics prove otherwise.

Here is a short list of the things your little Johnny or Jane are likely doing while away at College.

  • Running up credit card debt - It seems the average Mom and Dad has taught their Children well. Living within their means is out of fashion with the College crowd.  The average College student has 6 credit cards and over $3000 worth of debt.  Statistics also say that nearly 11 pecent of students fail to pay the minimum payment each month which leads to difficulty in obtaining credit for purchasing a home or renting an apartment, getting a job or getting a car loan.
  •  Hey Mom and Dad, look! I’m a Prostitute! – It seems some College students will do anything for money….and I mean ANYTHING! It comes as no surprise to anyone that the average College students are strapped for money. Whether they are trying to keep up with the Joneses, trying to scrape up money for the Keg party this weekend or replace some books they lost (of course, your kid lost his/her books, it’s not the first two reasons), College students need cash.  Just about any campus you go to will have a bulletin board full of offers from everything from part time Pizza delivery to companies looking for students to perform lab experiments on.  Another source of money on some campuses is young women donating their eggs. A young, attractive female can get up to $30,000 for donating eggs. Little thought is given to the long term mental and physical effects of such activities. And then there are the the “Escort Services” that thrive in College towns. It’s not only the women are making a little on the side, young men can fetch a pretty good price on the open market as well. It’s Midnight, do you know what your College student is doing?
  • Mom and Dad have no right to see my grades or other personal information – In this day and age of “Privacy”, many Parents are surprised to find out they have no right to see Jr.’s grades, health records or any other private records for that matter, even if they’re paying tuition. Better to get little Johnny or Jane to sign and FILE a consent form before sending them off to College!
  • It’s PAR-TAY time! – The stats don’t lie. A staggering 2 million plus Collget students drive drunk. Approximately 1700 of these die from accidents due to drinking and driving. Many of these are kids who were on the straight and narrow when living at home and just fell to peer pressure when getting to College. Another 100,000 college students say they were the victims of Sexual Assaults on or off campus. Drug use is through the roof on the Nation’s campuses. 29% of College students say they have used prescription drugs recreationally which leads to using hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin (heroin use is on the rise amoung College students by the way).
  • Cheater, Cheater – Cheating is up amoung College students. Gone are the days where little Johnny studied hard for good grades. Now its paying for the test that were stole from the Professor by some computer hacker or other forms of Hi-tech cheating. What’s more alarming is that 77% of college students don’t consider this cheating. They justify it by any number of ways. And of course it’s Mom and Dads fault….or the faculties fault….for the students being lazy and cheating…according ot the Students.
  • “Mom and Dad, I’m a Career College Student and I Plan on Living at Home Forever if I Graduate” - What’s up with kids wanting to move back home after graduating College? When I was in my teens, we couldn’t wait to move out and get jobs! Now it seems it’s okay that we live at home until we’re 39! One shocking statistic says that just 53% of undergraduates get their degrees in 5 years or less! Mom and Dad, if you’re paying little Johnny’s or Jane’s way through College, you’d better be putting some time limits on how long it will take them to obtain their degree. Chances are they are planning on moving back in with you and becoming professional bums….or staying a few extra years at College doing what they have been doing (see above) and letting you pay for it!

We all want our children to be successful. Sometimes Parents stop helping their kids and start enabling them to do things they know are wrong. It’s your job as Parents to know when to put your foot down and say “Enought is Enough”. Sadly, many Parents don’t have the will power or take enough interest in the Childrens future to do the right thing. This has led to the “Victim” mentality that is rampant in our Society today. Hey, life’s a Beeaatch! Stop enabling your Child to be a Victim and give them the Life tools to go out there and kill something and drag it back to the Cave!

Related Posts

Filed Under College Life | Leave a Comment

Tagged With , ,

Comments

Comments are closed.