Parental Financial Help in College Lowers GPA

[Reeve]

Yeah, the conclusions here don't seem very valid. They controlled for a few factors only. I can think of several possible reasons for average GPA to be lower that is related to financial help that isn't a causal link. Since you mention the increased chance of graduating, I'll say that one of those possible reasons would be later year courses being harder than earlier year courses and those without financial help from parents are less likely to be able to continue attending college long enough to reach those harder courses.

I think it probably has something to do with that, but also with the fact that there are probably numerically more people in universities with parental help than not, since it makes the education more affordable for the students.

[Catta]

Well that depends on his field.

If my son wanted to get a degree in something ridiculous like music history I'd tell him he was on his own.

I'm not sure how one can get bad grades given they do the work. In college, just knowing the material is enough to get a GPA 2.5 or higher.

You Americans on this forum really have it in for certain faculties :P

[Laize]

You Americans on this forum really have it in for certain faculties :P

Just those of us who value practicality in society.

[Grizzly Willy]

You Americans on this forum really have it in for certain faculties :P

It depresses me when I have to refrain from telling people my major when people's first reaction is to insult me and make me the butt of a joke because I'm interested in studying English and philosophy.

[Catta]

It depresses me when I have to refrain from telling people my major when people's first reaction is to insult me and make me the butt of a joke because I'm interested in studying English and philosophy.

/gasp the horror
My sister studies Italian.
Because its what she likes.

I study Medicine.
Because i like drugs... I mean... medicine...

[Reeve]

It depresses me when I have to refrain from telling people my major when people's first reaction is to insult me and make me the butt of a joke because I'm interested in studying English and philosophy.

If you've got the money to do that, awesome. If you don't, and you're borrowing money you won't be able to pay back with a job you can get with an English degree, that's probably why people are a bit condescending towards your choice. That said, I have a very good friend who is a Sociology PhD student, who has taken out large student loans for his program. He also lives with his wife in what amounts to a closet, works a full time job, and will move to Estonia upon graduation. He's a good guy and I wish him well.

[Deleted]

I pay 275€ Tuition every semester !
It used to be 650 but that was 6 years ago.

Hooray for cheap education !

[Catta]

If you've got the money to do that, awesome. If you don't, and you're borrowing money you won't be able to pay back with a job you can get with an English degree, that's probably why people are a bit condescending towards your choice. That said, I have a very good friend who is a Sociology PhD student, who has taken out large student loans for his program. He also lives with his wife in what amounts to a closet, works a full time job, and will move to Estonia upon graduation. He's a good guy and I wish him well.

What is it with you and Estonia...

---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 06:18 PM ----------

I pay 275€ Tuition every semester !
It used to be 650 but that was 6 years ago.

Hooray for cheap education !

I pay 0 € in tuition and get paid 770 € every month :3

Hooray for cheaper edumacation

[Badpaladin]

GPA is highly relative to where you go to school.

Absolutely. In the case of a CC, it's also largely dependent on where the school is located. The CC whose main "school to transfer to" is something like UC Berkeley is likely going to have a much more rigorous curriculum than one that transfers to Easter State School of Nothing Ranked Anywhere.

I definitely agree with your assessment on the article. Now, if they were to state the schools they sampled from, and have those schools encompass a range of ranked programs it may be a different story.

[Klutzington]

I pay 0 € in tuition and get paid 770 € every month :3

Hooray for cheaper edumacation

I really wish I lived in the Scandinavians right now for free education.

[poser765]

Just those of us who value practicality in society.

The problem is practicality is SOMEWHAT subjective. I find music to be a very important function of society.

[Grizzly Willy]

If you've got the money to do that, awesome. If you don't, and you're borrowing money you won't be able to pay back with a job you can get with an English degree, that's probably why people are a bit condescending towards your choice. That said, I have a very good friend who is a Sociology PhD student, who has taken out large student loans for his program. He also lives with his wife in what amounts to a closet, works a full time job, and will move to Estonia upon graduation. He's a good guy and I wish him well.

I mean, I'm not taking out a lot of money, and I expect to be able to pay it back.

Man, every time I think about this I feel that I made the wrong decision.

[FathomFear]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/s...e-gpa-18219523

A recent study that will be published in the American Sociology Review shows that parents who help pay for college will lower their children's GPA.

Would you still financially help your kids (or future kids) through college knowing this?

Yes, because I had to pay my for my education entirely on my own and wouldn't wish that on anyone. It puts someone so far behind the financial 8-ball that it doesn't outweigh any slip dip in GPA.

---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 02:39 PM ----------

It depresses me when I have to refrain from telling people my major when people's first reaction is to insult me and make me the butt of a joke because I'm interested in studying English and philosophy.

I pursued a double major in English and Philosophy. I paid for it entirely on my own (I took out student loans, which took me about 7 years to pay off). Most people who criticize a choice of major usually have no idea how irrelevant the choice major actually is in the actual job market. A bachelor's degree is not "job training". An employer is not going to care what you majored in or what you marks were.

Choice of major only starts becoming relevant at the Master's level and beyond. And it's only releveant with respect to your track within academia. eg, if you want to become a nuclear scientist, you need an appropriate major that leads into that. But if your intent is simply to stop your education after the BA/BSc level, it's pretty close to irrelevant what you major in.

[Reeve]

What is it with you and Estonia...

I have a friend that lived there a while, who has an Estonian wife, and I went there for a few weeks for their wedding. I loved my trip there, so I have positive feelings towards the country. Plus, they've been in the news a bit for being sort of a model of good governance.

[Grizzly Willy]

I pursued a double major in English and Philosophy. I paid for it entirely on my own (I took out student loans, which took me about 7 years to pay off). Most people who criticize a choice of major usually have no idea how irrelevant the choice major actually is in the actual job market. A bachelor's degree is not "job training". An employer is not going to care what you majored in or what you marks were.

Choice of major only starts becoming relevant at the Master's level and beyond. And it's only releveant with respect to your track within academia. eg, if you want to become a nuclear scientist, you need an appropriate major that leads into that. But if your intent is simply to stop your education after the BA/BSc level, it's pretty close to irrelevant what you major in.

I realize this is probably the wrong mentality, relying on others to have a bar to compare myself against, but thank you for saying that.

[Annapolis]

But if your intent is simply to stop your education after the BA/BSc level, it's pretty close to irrelevant what you major in.

I don't think that's always the case. I've known people, specifically computer science majors, who got jobs in their field right after graduation and I think they wouldn't have gotten those jobs had they not been computer science majors.

[Reeve]

I pursued a double major in English and Philosophy. I paid for it entirely on my own (I took out student loans, which took me about 7 years to pay off). Most people who criticize a choice of major usually have no idea how irrelevant the choice major actually is in the actual job market. A bachelor's degree is not "job training". An employer is not going to care what you majored in or what you marks were.

Choice of major only starts becoming relevant at the Master's level and beyond. And it's only releveant with respect to your track within academia. eg, if you want to become a nuclear scientist, you need an appropriate major that leads into that. But if your intent is simply to stop your education after the BA/BSc level, it's pretty close to irrelevant what you major in.

Not really. You aren't going to get hired as an Electrical Engineer with a Philosophy major, or a Geophysicist with an Art History major. There are types of jobs where your major isn't that important, but there are a lot of jobs where it is.

I did not end up doing a job that was related to my major, personally, but I also wasn't applying to be a Chemist or something like that. I also had a very hard time getting a good job at first, until I got lucky and had an extended family member find an opening for me in his company.

[Badpaladin]

Choice of major only starts becoming relevant at the Master's level and beyond. And it's only relevant with respect to your track within academia. eg, if you want to become a nuclear scientist, you need an appropriate major that leads into that. But if your intent is simply to stop your education after the BA/BSc level, it's pretty close to irrelevant what you major in.

That's entirely untrue for almost every engineering major and almost all CS fields. A BS is exactly "job training" for those fields, with the exception of a few schools designed to have a BS -> MS track.

[araine]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/s...e-gpa-18219523

A recent study that will be published in the American Sociology Review shows that parents who help pay for college will lower their children's GPA.

Would you still financially help your kids (or future kids) through college knowing this?

Proves what have been common sense knowledge for decades that spoiled rich kids fail at a higher rate than poor people, with serious motivation for studies. Now the problem is to make sure we have an education system that allows the seriously motivated to get affordable access while we still are able to keep the play around and screw around group of rich spoiled frat babies, that is only in college due to dad forcing them to be there and that he is paying the bills for the namebrand private college costing like 30k a year.

[FathomFear]

That's entirely untrue for almost every engineering major and almost all CS fields. A BS is exactly "job training" for those fields, with the exception of a few schools designed to have a BS -> MS track.

Computer Science (and to a lesser degree Engineering) are pretty much the only exceptions to that rule, though. In part because those fields are often tailored to be job training. It's one of the reasons why CS was originally (and still is, in some places) a controversial addition to the roster of many universities, as it was seen as a glorified training course vs. a pure academic pursuit. The same could even be said for most "Commerce" degrees. And this is why they tend to be treated with disdain and/or skepticism in academia.

My point was that if you get a major in just about anything and stop at the BA or BSc level, it really doesn't matter what you major in. Just about any advanced career in the Sciences or the Arts are going to require more than a Bachelor's degree. If you believe you're going to stop your academic career at the BA or BSc level, your best bet is going to be to focus on a subject you enjoy. This will increase the likelihood that you'll be engaged with the material and see your degree to completion. However, if your intent is to enter a more advanced field and progress beyond a BA/BSc, you should be very selective of what your end goals are and ensure that your choice of major lines up with those goals.

---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 04:08 PM ----------

Not really. You aren't going to get hired as an Electrical Engineer with a Philosophy major, or a Geophysicist with an Art History major. There are types of jobs where your major isn't that important, but there are a lot of jobs where it is.

I did not end up doing a job that was related to my major, personally, but I also wasn't applying to be a Chemist or something like that. I also had a very hard time getting a good job at first, until I got lucky and had an extended family member find an opening for me in his company.

My point was that someone who gets a BSc in Physics (and nothing more) isn't going to be qualified to be a Geophysicist either. Just as a Chemistry major is not going to suddenly have a bunch of job opportunities in the field of Chemistry. The job opportunities for those people who stop after a BA/BSc are pretty much the same, with very few exceptions. The situation really only changes for those who pursue very "applied" courses in CS/Engineering or Business/Commerce. And they're exceptions because these degrees are often highly tailored to be job training.