OK Boomers, About That Working-Through-College Thing

OK...I am one of those that worked my way through college because when I went to get grants or loans they said my parents made too much money. They were both educators, low end of the pay scale with two kids in college and two still at home. I worked two jobs (milking cows at 5 am and 5 pm everyday/stocking at a lighting store/and other odd jobs where I could find them). My GPA suffered a little bit but I was also carrying 15-18 hours a semester. My senior year they allowed me to separate myself from my parents incomes and show that I was a veteran because I had served in the National Guard and was able to get a loan and some grants for the year. I was able to relax and hold one job my senior year I did this so I could complete a degree for my ROTC requirements. I got through and it worked out and I appreciate my degree even more because I had to work for it.

I have a daughter in college and she was smart enough to get scholarships. What I have seen with her friends and others friends kids is that it isn't the school so much as they feel the need to be in sororities and fraternities which eat up the wallet with expense after expense, have to live in an apartment or house because the dorms are "awful slums" and the apartments or house are what they are the lifestyle they are used to. Bottom line is that the generation that is in school now are (and not all of them I say) entitled and feel that they need the very best and very finest of everything because that is what they have been given. A minimum wage job is just that...minimum wage, it is not designed to take care of a family but if handled correctly it can take care of an individual going to school if budgeted correctly and with loans or grants.

The one thing I agree with is that Blue Collar jobs are paying better than most college educated jobs. Especially in the beginning. Not the minimum wage but the skilled trades. I always told my daughter to do what she loved if that was plumbing, electrical, contracting, or nursing, doctor, or lawyer...didn't matter...trade school or college but you will go to one and do something. the kids these days that are forced to go to college just end up partying and getting through but the ones that are focused and know what they want do just fine. Trade school kids do two years at a trade center and then go to work starting at $30 dollars and hour most places because they have a marketable skill. I don't think we need to push our kids in any direction...just give the guidance and wisdom of our years and let them decide their paths and support them along the way to get there.

Maj Marty Hogan Lt Col Charlie Brown 1stSgt Glenn Brackin
Cpl Craig Morton SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth COL Mikel J. Burroughs
LTC Stephen C. CPL Dave Hoover PO3 Bob McCord
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Sgt Wayne Wood PVT James Strait
SFC Jack Champion MSgt David Hoffman MSgt Stephen Council
SGT Elizabeth Scheck PO1 H Gene Lawrence 1SG Steven Imerman SGT Steve McFarland SSgt Terry P.

Worked full time as a single father as a full time Air Reserve Tech. Worked my ass off- deployed twice and still graduated- summa cum laude if I may brag some. Zero help from the ex- no child support and made just a bit too much for any other assistance. I am a few months after the boomers and not "designated." Education is NOT a right- it is earned- go earn it. I spent every drill check on daycare and classes- I left with ZERO debt. I was 35 when I walked across stage at Louisiana Tech- my son was 11 at his was the lone voice yelling that is my dad as I took my diploma. When I read stories like this- it truly pisses me off and comes across as whining. This is another shift in trying to make life easier- life is not easy- get over it. Sorry sweat equity built this country. Period.

LTC Stephen F. SP5 Mark Kuzinski COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter Maj William W. "Bill" Price SPC Margaret HigginsMaj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SGT Steve McFarland LTC (Join to see) PO3 Craig Phillips Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll PO1 H Gene Lawrence TSgt Joe C. Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Sgt (Join to see) SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG Donald H "Don" Bates Cpl (Join to see) PVT Mark Zehner

The key take away is that due to skyrocketing college costs vs relatively stagnant minimum wages, it is now essentially impossible for a student who works fulltime in the summer and even fulltime while being a student to cover college costs. So the old "I did it so the kids can do it" simply doesnt apply today.

As for taking college seriously, there have always been those who went to college and worked their asses off to maximize the educational opportuniries available, and those who went to party. It certainly was that way in the early 70s when I went to college. It is a myth that all students "back in the day" ere serious, and suddenly today they all goof off. And as for kids not working as hard as their parents, that is what every generation has said since time began. My dad said it about my generation. Yet now we're considered the old school tough generation compared to ones today.

And lastly, as to todays kids supposedly being spoiled and entitled, just who the f*** raised them to be that way? Why is it so common for older people to criticize the young peoples values yet never criticize the parenting skills of the generation that raised them to have those values? Oh, that's right--MY kids arent like that, just everyone elses are! People are so quick to generalize the entire population of young people based upon the examples of some, yet insist we not lump all the older generation into the category of crappy parents. :).