re: Why are boomer parents so dedicated to the college scam?

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$100K

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Where are you finding it this cheap?

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The quicker all Boomers are gone, the better off we will be. They are a worthless generation.

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As a boomer...frick you

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Yes, while college is more expensive than it used to be, much of it is exaggerated by private school and out-of-state tuition.

Virtually every person in Louisiana lives within driving distance of a 4-year university, or at least a junior college.

A degree can be had relatively cheaply. Much of the expense is room and board, as if they don’t have to eat and live regardless.

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Hammer meets nail.

Agree 100%.
I've got a freshman in college, a high school junior doing dual enrollment, and 2 more behind them.

86% of our expenses are just room and board (which he would be paying anyway the second he leaves home).

All depends on what your kids want to do. I don’t think you can have a broad approach for this discussion. I wanted to be an engineer. I worked construction in the summer, but I wouldn’t be where I am without college. Not everyone parties in college btw.

They created the businesses from nothing and grew them to what they are today. I don't get the negativity.
Some of the dumbest people I know, and, I include myself at times, are college graduates.

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They created the businesses from nothing and grew them to what they are today.

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And likely didn’t turn a real profit for 2-3 years. Don’t play dumb.

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Yes, while college is more expensive than it used to be, much of it is exaggerated by private school and out-of-state tuition.

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That's BS. Unis do prefer out of state students because of the extra money, but out of state fees get waived or granted repeatedly depending on the kid.

Maybe you don't recall when TOPS was passed, but nearly 30 years ago, when I read the text of the law, I predicted that "fees" which weren't covered, would become the majority of "tuition." The majority of the numbers published by LSU here are bullshite, because it cost me more to attend school (without booze and brunches) decades ago. Do you not notice at this link (PDF warning) the amount of straight fees? I surely should already know why kids need to be charged an "Academic Excellence" fee in addition to a "Student Excellence" fee. And a building use fee, the technology fee, an "operational" fee, etc. Operational fee? WTF? Is that for garbage removal from the quad?

Undergrad *tuition* fees go from $4002.55 a semester for a 12 hour load to 4014.55 for an extra class (15 hours.) But if you drop to 11 hours (barely part time) tuition drops to $2885 (not including fees, same as the full time quotes.) A single credit hour vaults you from $2885 to $4012. Why? What's the justification?

This doesn't change the fact that outside of certain professions, the degree only teaches you how to follow rules on how to graduate. That does have a value, but not "$60k" worth of value. There are other places where they pay you to learn the same rule in 6-12 weeks, and it's called basic training.

College has been social posturing for parents and kids for at least 20 years.

I agree with both of you. A college degree has become a check list. Big corporate HR's are already starting to use AI to sort through resume's. So college will be a pre-requisite for most middle class jobs.

Now that being said, AI will not discriminate on Vanderbilt vs UTk. The goal for a job seeker is to first get an actual interview to sell yourself. Attending the most expensive colleges do not always bring the ROI that you think. I have peers that have graduated from Dartmouth down to Univ of Phoenix. We all make roughly the same.

I've had to have the same discussion with my kids. They have both done well in college but think most of it's a waste of time. My daughter made one "C" in college... it was a mandatory DEI course.

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It used to be a filter. If you had a college degree, it meant you had some intelligence and basic skills, and more important - you had demonstrated the ability to learn.

None of that is true any longer.

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There are still majors and fields of study that are of concrete value and assure high chances of success. Marxist Interpretive Dance and anything remotely related not being the case.