Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 10:51:19 -0600
From: "Elle" 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Need your suggestions
	iQBVAwUAQ/IKh/l/I4+O31e5AQH43QIAlD7iU7adxG9pkgDDBkLIEOQoPRoFpd5O
	pnBJSLCFrRSFESkINpudeDvMV0qSwI4XBE7o4N6ldyin39dTPmzIfQ==
	=NWIS

 wrote
> "bo peep"  writes:
>> It is important to remember that your retirement is more important than
>> your children's education.
>
> That's not exactly how I would have phrased it, but the idea
> is right.  As they say, you (or your kids) can borrow money for
> college.  Nobody's going to lend you money for retirement.

Last I read, up to a certain age, federal student loan programs still ask 
for details about an applicant's parents' finances (income, assets, etc.). 
This has come up here before. I still think before a parent says to a kid, 
"You're on your own," fairness demands the parent recognize that this is not 
the way the federal government looks at the situation. Furthermore, to avoid 
adding insult to injury in such situations, parents who won't help their 
child with college costs should strongly consider not taking this child as a 
tax deduction while s/he works his/er way through college. Or if they do, 
they should at least give the child the amount of the tax benefit.

Parents who choose to toss a kid out after the age of 18 should also not 
expect their child to help them in their old age.

Parents one way or another /choose/ to bring children into the world. It is 
the parents who owe the children, at least up to the age of 18. The children 
owe nothing financial to parents in compensation for that time. At least, 
that's my view of the ethics here.

Be cheap about your kids' college education (something incredibly important, 
AFAIC), but then don't blame them if they're cheap in return.