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[NightmarePatrol]

This article I found interesting because the implications are more far reaching for a large chunk of the states population. While some of the people have family the could fall back on to take care of the kids during the day many others do not. Anybody here familiar with the situation at hand or know someone who is impacted by this?

[TiFeMb]

It's the result of an economy based on both parents working to barely make ends meet. I have worked myself to the bone to provide for my family while Mrs.TiFeMb stays at home with the kids - a full time job I might add.
And I am lucky to have a job in IT. In most places around this country, you just can't survive on $40k a year any more and live in a decent neighborhood. Trust me, outside of Crawford County the housing costs get steep. In most places I have lived down here you can't get an apt for under $1000, unless you're packing & have no regard for your kids safety or quality of schools.
God forbid you are a single mom and trying to make it. There has to be a fundamental change in the way we look at child rearing because a lot of our problems are caused by absent parents that have no choice but to work just to put food on the table.
And now these idiots are withholding money that directly affects these kids but they can give out billions & trillions to people who have never missed a meal in their life.
At the very least there should be a way for a mom to stay home until the kids are in school full time.
I'm working on cutting back on my swearing, even typing it, but I am mad.

[Spicoli]

God forbid people look at their financial situation before hand to see if they can even afford to have kids!

[bighair80s]

tife, here is an interesting article. i think it addresses many of your points and expresses many of the ones i am inept to explain.

( Minogue is  retired Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics.)  not a partisan hack piece at all.  it is a bit long, 8 pages, but it is fascinating.
 
 
http://www.articlearchives.com/government/elections-politics-campaigns/849495-1.html
 
this is the wrong article, i can not find the one i intended to post. this is a good one, but not the one i meant to post... i will try to find... dang it..

[TiFeMb]

God forbid people look at their financial situation before hand to see if they can even afford to have kids!

It's much deeper than that. I agree that there are a lot of people who probably don't need to have kids but that is a separate philosophical discussion about sterilizing stupid people.    seriously, it's hard to raise kids even if you 'think' your finances are in order. Day care sucks & is expensive. Food like doubled over the last year, and as previously stated, rent OR a a mortgage in a decent school district will set you back FAR more than Dave Ramsey's recommended 25%.
Again, society has been based for too long on the 2 income paradigm. Mrs.TiFeMb just got a job & will start in 2 weeks. That will make a HUGE difference, even though I have had a benefit paying professional job for thet need to past 20+ years (I started when I was 4    )
I need to read that article but I need to sleep...

[CindyLouWho]

MrsTife working aye?  This will change things a little.  Hope this works out.  Really.

Spicoli - A couple can do all the pre-planning in the world and do everything seemingly perfect and things can change in the blink of an eye without warning and without any fault on their part.  But there are people, on the other hand, who should not breed for sure.

[Kimmi]

This has been going on for years.  It is called kindergarten!

[CindyLouWho]

Most people don't know that Kindergarten is not a requirement.  And in PA you do not have to send your kids to school until they are 8 years old.

I am now very fond of private schooling.  My son is attending Cathedral Prep.  The plan is for the youngest to attend Villa Maria.  We are pleased with our elementary school here.  The high school on the other hand......

We have been on the receiving end of some not so nice comments from people regarding moving to private education basically insinuating we think we are better or we must have money to wipe with (I could go on endlessly) but none are the case.  These are people who were casual friends.   People we casually socialize with.  Parents of our childrens friends.  They are suddenly angry with us it seems?   We think our kids deserve better than they are receiving.  We think they are far more capable than what is expected.  I do not have money to wipe with.  The tuition and bussing will be a financial burden for us but one we are happy to carry for in the end it will be worth it.

The classes they have to choose from at Prep are incredible.  The choices!   The class sizes are very comparible to our local school.  I think about 90 kids are enrolled in the Prep freshman class.  That being said, our school, the year my oldest graduated, handed out 1.5 million in scholarships and about half went on to a four year school.  That was 2007.  Last year, Prep handed out over 90 million in scholarships and 99% of the class went on to attend a four year college.  So will the tuition pay off in the end?  I think so.  My son was testing at college level on nearly everything at the age of 14 according to the public school systems acedemic testing standards.  He is very bright but is he that bright?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But he doesn't do a lick of homeowrk and is coming home with like a 103% in history?  Come on.  I think our public schools have been dumbed-down.  There is almost zero challenge cause they have to pass everyone now ya know.   Have to get good scores for themselves!   I have attended many,many meetings with the principal, vice principal, teachers and administration all giving us the run-around about how resources are limited, the other students needs have to be met as well,  not enough students fit the needs to warrant an additional class or change of any kind, not even a teacher aide......it's all way too frustrating and I can't wait any longer or they will all be out of school before anything is done!  If then....

So we will pay for what they need.  It's actually easier than banging your head against the wall.  And as they whine about declining enrollment, I hope they think of me, cause I told them so.

[Jayhawk]

...My son is attending Cathedral Prep. ...   I think about 90 kids are enrolled in the Prep freshman class.  That being said, our school, the year my oldest graduated, handed out 1.5 million in scholarships and about half went on to a four year school.  That was 2007.  Last year, Prep handed out over 90 million in scholarships...

Let's pause for a moment and think about these numbers. First, i think you mean that members of the graduating class received these amounts in scholarship offers from colleges, not from the school.

I also think 90 million is a typo; even if the graduating class had 200 members, that's $450,000/kid. I know college is costly, but...

More importantly, the operative word probably is scholarship "offers". If a senior gets scholarship offers of $10,000 each from Gannon, Mercyhurst, Allegheny and Edinboro, that's $40,000 in offers but in reality the kid will only go to one school and only accept one school's scholarship ($10,000). If you get 4 job offers from different companies, you don't say that you got hired at a starting salary of the sum of the 4 offers.

Thus, it's funny math to add them all together and brag about the sum.

There's a certain catholic h.s. in hermitage that also boasts how its sr. class gets millions in scholarships while the awards lists for nearby public schools report only hundreds of thousands -- but they accurately report only the scholarships their students actually accept.

[CindyLouWho]

I actually made 2 mistakes.   Only 95% of the students went on to a 4-year college.  100% went on to further their education in some way.  And it was $9 million.  Sorry.  2008 did not fare as well as these stats with only a little over 5 million in scholarship plus a bigger class.   But I am told the alumni were being pressed for cash for the new football stadium that will open next year.  They have been using Vertan's Stadium. 

Another very cool thing.....since they are affiliated with Gannon, the kids can choose actual college accrediated courses in their junior and senior years that will count as actual college credits.  Some ambitious kids have shaved a whole year of college off by taking full advantage of this.