Our oldest child is a senior in high school this year. In just a few short months she’ll officially be a high school graduate. How did that happen? It seems like yesterday she was performing in her 3rd grade class holiday concert and bringing home the artwork she made in class. Instead of helping her with her ABC’s my husband and are helping her to prepare for the next step – college!
Our daughter wants to go away to college – as in far away. It has nothing to do with us. She would like to spread her “wings and fly”.
We live in a tiny condo. We also do EVERYTHING together as a family – even if it’s not exactly what the kids want to do. I can totally understand why she wants to go away – so she can find herself and become her own person. We also cannot afford to travel. Our vacations are mostly day trips where we are back home by the end of the day. Our daughter is a lot like me – she wants to see the world and travel. Life is an adventure and she wants to relish every moment of it.
When I went to college I was supposed to go away too. No too far – just 3+ hours from home. My parents had other plans. They wanted to see how well I did in college before spending a small fortune to send me away. They told me to attend our local community college for a year. If I did well I could go to any college I wanted to. That sounded like a great deal to me.
I hate to admit it but my parents were right now to send me away.
My first semester I did “ok”. The second semester I pretty much failed every class. I enjoyed my new freedom a little TOO MUCH and barely attended class. I would rather hang out in the lounge or go to lunch with friends.
After that fiasco I quit college and got a full time job. It wasn’t for many years later when I matured enough to return to college and ended up graduating with honors and moving on to an accelerated Bachelor’s degree program. I was simply not ready to go to college when I first graduated. It happens. Sometimes students just need to take a year or two off before going to college.
Our daughter wants to go away to college, but we are making her go to a community college first. It has nothing to do with her not being ready – she IS ready for college. It’s simply a money issue and the fact that she has no clue what she wants to go to college for.
If our daughter had her own way she’d go to a college in California when she graduates in June (we live in New York). That is fine and dandy but the problem is she has no clue what she wants to go to college for. She keeps bouncing around ideas…
- Lawyer
- Paralegal
- Forensic Psychology
- Criminal Investigator
- Teacher
- Fashion Merchandising
She simply cannot narrow it down. There is a huge difference between a lawyer and a fashion merchandiser and a Forensic Psychologist and teacher.
Our daughter is currently taking all college classes in her senior year of high school. That means when she graduates she’ll already have college credits and probably one semester of college already done. Therefore she’d only need to attend three more semesters to graduate with an Associates Degree.
Our “game plan” is for her to either go to our local community college for three semesters and then she can transfer anywhere she wants – or – attend the community college where her grandparents live and live with them. That way she’d be away from home but still with people who can help care for her. The only problem is my father has no clue what he and my stepmother are going to do next year. They might move, downsize or ???
Sadly our daughter might not have a choice. She might have to go to our local community college.
Money is a factor too. Our kids have a trust fund from their grandfather and currently our daughter has about $15,000 in her accounts. That is not a lot when it comes to college. Many colleges are double that amount – per semester! And that doesn’t include books or the dorms.
Until she figures out what she wants to go to college for we feel that it’s better if she goes to a community college which is cheaper (about $1,500 per semester) the go away to college and have her get into debt with student loans and have to pay $10,000++ for her to living in a dorm – money we don’t have. If she goes to community college it will give her time to figure it out while she gets the basic classes done and out of the way. She hates that idea but we don’t see any other way around it aside from her taking a year or two off to work and figure out what she wants to do with her life.
If you and your child are having a hard time figuring out going to college check out this FREE download helpful – 2014-2015 KapMap College Planner.
To find out other ways Kaplan can help your college bound student visit www.Kaptest.com/College-Prep. They can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Is your child heading off to college soon? Do they know what they want to major in? Do you know what college/colleges they are looking to get accepted into?
If you have a child currently in college, or recently graduated from college, feel free to share tips, suggestions and advice. It will not only help me but others who have children heading off to college.
You can also check out the hastag #JourneytoCollege to see what others are saying.
Kimberly
*This is a compensated post from She Speaks and Kaplan Test Prep however the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Mary Happymommy says
I think community college is a smart idea. I was lucky I had a full tuition scholarship so I was able to go away to college. I think I will encourage my kids to try community college first.
Darlene Jones-Nelson says
I went to both a community college and a private one. I know from experience that a community college is so much cheaper
Darlene Jones-Nelson says
Wishing your daughter the best in the colleges she pick or picks her! Hope yu guys can get some financial aid it does help!
Donna K says
Thanks for the info. I will be going through the same thing with my daughter before too long.
claudia says
Great information what will come in handy next year when my son is starting to apply.thank you
Megan Filzen says
I couldn’t imagine that day coming for me!