In our years of helping thousands of students and parents we see it’s very common they don’t always agree on college should attend. Some reasons include the cost, location, the student has a friend(s) attending a specific college, academic reasons, the student wants to attend a prestigious school that may not be appropriate or benefit them etc.
One of my suggestions is that the parent(s) and the student take a “time out” and agree to discuss the topic again in the near future. But before doing so, I recommend both the parent(s) and the student take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle and at the top on one side write Pros and on the other side Cons and list all that come to mind. In their next discussion it becomes more clear to both sides on how to make the best common sense decision.
If the disagreement is over the cost of a certain college, it is the parent’s responsibility to educate the student on the amount of debt he or she will graduate with. Also, the student should be responsible for some of the cost. I have found that the more the student is involved in paying for their education, the more serious they are to achieve the best in their education.
