krigare@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> I was reading an assignment for a sociology class that started a
> discussion with my husband about parental willingness to pay for their
> children's college education.
>
> The authors of the article said that parents rationally calculate the
> financial payoffs to themselves of paying for their children's college
> and were more likely to pay if the child exhibits academic prowess
> because it increases their ability to make lots of money. I wonder,
> though, whether those parents expect to see any of that money, either
> as payback or as help during retirement. I think that most parents
> don't even consider possible financial benefit to themselves; instead,
> they pay because they want feelings of success, for the chlidren, and
> for themselves. This seems to me a more likely motivation than
> financial rewards. My husband, on the other hand, thinks parents are
> even MORE altruistic; parents, he says, pay for college merely because
> they know it will result in big payoffs FOR THEIR KIDS. Not expecting
> anything in return, they make the sacrifice because they care about
> their children's future well-being. While I agree that this attitude
> would be the ideal, I suspect most people engage in at least a little
> calculation of costs and benefits for themselves. After all, some
> families refuse to sup****t a wayward or ungrateful child, and some even
> disown them entirely if they reject family traditions or goals. I
> think few parents are as altruistic as my husband imagines.
>
> Which do you agree with?
> Which motivations do you think represent the majority of the
> population?
>
I don't believe that parents weigh costs against benefits, to any great
degree, except in exceptional cir***stances, but rather simply cost.
Either they can afford it or they cannot. Benefit is determined by the
reputation of an institution, and thus parents may find other economies
in their personal lives to fund the education of a child who is accepted
to a highly regarded school, thus evidencing one of those 'exceptional
cir***stances.' For most parents who do not have to weight the benefits
that 'exceptional cir***stances' appear to offer, do not have to weight
the benefit factor, and therefore, make the choice simply on cost.
Alan
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