my greedy girl, advice needed

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-13-2007
my greedy girl, advice needed
12
Tue, 02-13-2007 - 10:57pm
My 15-yr-old has a bad case of the gimme-gimmes more appropriate to someone ten years younger. She has a cell phone, but wants a more advanced phone with Internet access and that plays music. We have a family computer but she wants her own. She even has access to my old 96 Toyota junker but she wants a new car of her own. She just whines about not having all these things more often than I’ve ever heard from her since she was very young. I think it’s partly because she goes to a private school and is friends with many girls whose families have large disposable incomes and spoil their children imho. We’re not poor by any means but we certainly can’t afford to give our DD anything her heart desires at the drop of a hat. How can I tell her to stop complaining and bugging me about what she doesn’t have?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-18-2006
Fri, 02-16-2007 - 9:36am

That's really odd, the system of going to college and having to pay for tuition upfront.

Here in Australia we have a government-funded scheme called HECS - Higher Education Contribution Scheme - whereby the government foots the cost of your tuition for up to eight years in one course, and when you start working and earning over a certain income threshold, you start paying it back. You can also pay some of it upfront per semester and the debt will be lower. This is often the first debt a university graduate pays, unless s/he takes out a loan for a car.

... Is there really nothing like that in the United States? If not, that's a really big shame. :(

Of course, you can go for a fee-paying place and you foot the cost yourself, but a HECS place is the dream. Put it this way, I wouldn't be going to university if I didn't have a HECS place.

I'm not really contributing here, but I've always wondered if the US government offers anything similar to help students pay tuition.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
Fri, 02-16-2007 - 10:11am

This sounds similar to govt sponsored student loans, which have a lower interest rate than bank loans. There are also very small grants given to students based on need. We are middle income and just found out we make too much money to qualify for this grant. It is a real pain to try to fund a university education. Obviously the rich people can go wherever they want and the really poor usually qualify for financial aid, but the middle class is pretty stuck.

My DD is going to college next year. She is very smart but we are just unable to pay for the tuition at private univ. What you have to do is fill out a financial aid app. which is sent to all the colleges. This org. decides what the family contribution should be and theoretically they will give you fin. aid for the rest and you should get more aid for a more expensive school. The "expected family contribution" is really a lot more than we can afford. She has been acceped to 3 out of 3 colleges so far and has obtained some scholarships based on academics. Her first choice is the one we haven't heard from yet and it's my first choice too, since it's the state univ. and the tuition is actually affordable. She will probably have some loans, but a reasonable amt. It's unfortunate that some students graduate w/ loans that would equal a mortgage payment.

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