School Responsibilities

Agreed. I didnt mean to "poopoo" those that can ( thru means or scholarships ) ...they know their child. Each child is different and its incumbent upon parents to know. But sending your child to Old Miss to obtain a BS in Marketing doesnt make sense to me, especially if they plan to return to Louisiana to ply their trade.

One thing i know about SELA is that A LOT of business is done thru "who you know vs what you know"

And yes, when we first meet a new acquaintance, its still " where did you go to high school" ;)

Good friend was transferred here years ago ( Fed Agent ) - We had a crawfish boil ( neighborhood ) and he couldnt understand when he would meet folks, especially the men, the first question was " where you went to school?" he would reply - University of Maryland. And then get " no man, HIGH SCHOOOL" LOLOL
Yeah, I totally agree -- and that's a big part of the reason I wanted my kids to leave. But many people (and I'm very much including myself here) tend to project quite a bit in this area of life.

I wish I had the opportunity to go out of state rather than "commutering" it at UNO and Loyola with a wife and kid, so I wanted to send my kids out of state for the life experience and to get away from NOLA and Texas.

My eldest didn't want to go out of state at first, then got a full ride at Loyola, then decided at the last minute that he actually did want to go to Berklee in Boston after all (at $50k per back twenty years ago). I said, sorry Charlie, you're going to Loyola. Aaaaand, he ended up traveling the world and living abroad for awhile after graduating.

The youngest turned down his "name" schools when he fell in love with Oregon the first time he stepped onto campus. Less prestige = more scholarship and less debt. Far from home, not knowing a soul there, and conservative by Oregon standards (he's actually fairly liberal), it was an incredible growing experience for him. He made friends for life there, returned to live there at one point, and has also lived abroad.

I guess my point is, we often bring our own baggage to these college decisions for our kids, but if they're good people and you raised them with the right values, they tend to figure out their own sheet just fine.