Birth control prices soar on campuses

[Rach620]

Perhaps rising birth control costs are like rising oil costs; people will begin to look for ‘alternative sources’ only when prices go up! Hey, abstinence is free, and it’s even ‘organic’!

College, especally grad school, is what you make of it. If you only got a modicum of skills during grad school they your own effort was not enough.
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And you’ll never be paid for “being smart”.

Sadly, you’re right. And it’s quite a bummer for those of us who go to college or grad school for something more than job training (ie, a real education).

Actually I feel THIS is the problem. If the kids in college had to be adults without mom and dad paying for college, covering their behinds or otherwise being their buddy then they would more likely value what they had and not look at college as highschool without a parental roof.

I’m only a junior, but there is far difference in the promiscuity of the freshman this year, as the first generation of “hilicopter parents” and their children arrive. My friends and I are part of a lingering breed who non-hovering parents led us right, support us just enough, but otherwise give us enough free reign not to make stupid choices.

I’m a sophomore, but probably your age (just about 21), and have noticed no such shifting trend in the kinds of students here. There’s always bad parenting, and while there might be a marked difference between today and 50 years ago, there certainly is not between the freshman and junior classes. We’re all generation ME or whatever they’re calling us now, but there are definitely pockets of resistance within our generation that hasn’t completely given in to this idea of arresting adolescence for as long as possible.

I also would have to disagree with the idea that parents paying for college is bad parenting. I go to a top-20 university that’s over $40K a year. We’re unique in that most students here are incredibly appreciative of being able to be here, whether that is through their parents’ support, their own loans, ROTC, or work-study.

There are always going to be a few people who waste it all, but frankly this incredible undergrad experience I am getting would be impossible for me to have if it were not for my parents’ support. And they and I know that even though my future more than likely does not include a six-figure salary at any point, it will have been worth the money and the effort I am putting into it.

Just because our society doesn’t appreciate the wisest and smartest among us doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t, nor does it mean that people should shy away from careers which might be fulfilling but aren’t well-paid or won’t provide a ‘return on the investment’.

This is coming from someone considering a PhD program in political philosophy or theology, btw. I’m more than likely headed for a professorship, and trying bring my own Catholic intellectualism into the picture and bring academia back to the pursuit of the truth, rather than wandering with silly relativism and envisioning itself merely as a place for job training. Not really a lucrative field, but my vocation nonetheless.

 

[Meggie]

At a top 20 university that is obvously somewhat exclusive the breed of kids getting in and wanting to be there is much different than a somewhat selective 3.0 min gpa and 1060 minimum on SAT school. I notice the trend because I work new student orentation, so I get to deal with the hillicopter parents and '05 parents were nothing compared to '06 parents, and the '07 parents are even worse. I also work with professors and in offices and they have noticed the rising of hillicopter parents to the point where there is more, rather than less. I believe that the '06 was really the turning point.
When surveyed my freshman class reported, 80% had cell phones, 50% had ipod/mp3, and 10% had their own car.
This incresed in the next year
Last year it just jumped…95% had a cell, 98% had a mp3/ipod, and 50% had cars.
Their attitude, demeanor and ways of making friends are drastically different. They don’t respect upperclassmen as my friends and I did. They have 3x as many write-ups as the seniour class did their freshman year.
I’m not saying that there aren’t parents like that in my year, there are, but they remained in the minority.