I'm 28 turning 29 this summer and I realised it's been a full 10 years since I reached adulthood. I contemplated on that for a while and thought to myself what I have done all these years, what obstacles I found in my way, what obstacles I created myself and what other young adults do during this time.
The facts by themselves put me on a slow start. I still have a loose end (my final project) to wrap up before I get my first degree in computer science. If/when I go on a graduate course (MSc, 2 years worth of studies) it will be right after the summer I turn 30. Suppose I want to follow that with doctorate studies... I'll be like 35 at best when I'm awarded the degree. I don't really mind that to be honest. Looking back at all those years I don't see how I could have made that journey shorter by more than 2 or 3 years. Sure I could have done some stuff differently, I could have pushed myself harder on some semesters, but that would save me 2-3 years at best. It also would have made me a slightly different person. So all I can do now is carry on just bring out the best of me in the studying years to come.
Let's take it from the start though - Higher education I mean. What options do young adults have? And is it all up to them or are some stuff out of their control? Unfortunately it's the latter. When it comes to education - just like in so many other matters - money talks. Money can buy you the time to study (time you would otherwise spend working to cover living or personal expenses) it can buy you private schools to get the best head start, it can buy you tutoring during high school final exams to get the best scores for entering on top public universities and it can buy you tuition on the rest - and usually better than public - universities.
Of course personal ability, commitment and the attitude towards studying plays a very significant role. Tricky thing though is if you have the financial stuff sorted out it makes things that much easier. You find it easier to commit to studies if you know you don't need scholarships or just plain cash to get to the next level (MSc, PhD etc) and personal ability to some extent can be cultivated and trained just by getting the best possible in every step of your educational life. Leave the dough out of the equation and you have yourself a much more difficult journey but of course not impossible. Lots of people manage to get a good education for themselves starting from scratch - a result that comes from a mixture of intellect, hard work and some good old luck (don't ask me proportions though).
Enter the parents.
Educationally a lot will depend on one's parents' financial ability. There are parents that can and will pay the whole package for their child's education - private school/high school, university tuition for at least undergraduate and a graduate degree, living expenses for those 6-7 years as well as some other side expenses (foreign language lessons, tutoring for exams etc) There are of course others in our hard times that can barely afford to sustain their children. In between those cases there are many intermediate cases. Some parents may not be in the financial position to provide the full package, but they will pay for it even if it means going in debt for some time or working two jobs just so their children can have it better that they did - even if in the long run that means spoiling them. Some others - and that's the majority of families here in Greece from my knowledge - may not have the luxury of sending their children in private schools / high schools, but they will definitely pay up when it comes to tutoring during final high school classes and they will pay up for living expenses when their child leaves home to study in a Greek public university. Most of those expenses however are covered as they come with little planning or budgeting in advance on the parents side, resulting in many families going in debt just to pay for education.
Children come into play as well when they reach 15-16 or so. From personal experience they differentiate when it comes to two choices. The first one - and that one is most of the time financially biased rather than personal lack of confidence - is whether someone wants to pursue higher education or instead go straight to work and maybe along the way take up some classes in workshops or maybe some tech school. Most of them just don't want to burden their parents, and thinking they can't cut it in higher education they choose to give back as soon as possible - both to their parents and to themselves.
Those that choose to pursue higher education have to make another choice: to work as a student or not. Be it part-time, full-time, summer job, whatever. Of course that's something you review every year or so as you go through studies. Lots of young adults will see that part-time or summer jobs is the right way to go since it doesn't really interfere with studies and it removes a burden from your family - and even if there is no burden it's nice to make your own money and spend it for stuff your family shouldn't ever have to support you like a new video game or tickets to a football match.
Personally I think that the most critical period is the 4 or so years during undergrad studies. Before that public school isn't so bad and parents can help their children go through those years either by helping them with homework at early ages, showing them about hard work, responsibility, motivation, goals in life and all that to get them on the right tracks. After undergrad studies some options open up for the student - pursuing further education by scholarship, or attending a part-time master's degree while working. Options that make him slowly rely more on him/herself and less or not at all on parents.
Even then 4-5 years of full support can vary from a few hundred euros to upwards of a thousand euros a month depending on whether the student had to pay tuition and/or live in the parents' house or not. In the second case it is possible for prepared parents to setup a savings account the moment the child is born for the sole purpose of funding those years. 100 or even 50 euro a month deposits can gather a nice five figure amount after 15-20 years of saving and use that to support a university student with further supplement as needed from the parent or the student by part-time work or something.
The facts by themselves put me on a slow start. I still have a loose end (my final project) to wrap up before I get my first degree in computer science. If/when I go on a graduate course (MSc, 2 years worth of studies) it will be right after the summer I turn 30. Suppose I want to follow that with doctorate studies... I'll be like 35 at best when I'm awarded the degree. I don't really mind that to be honest. Looking back at all those years I don't see how I could have made that journey shorter by more than 2 or 3 years. Sure I could have done some stuff differently, I could have pushed myself harder on some semesters, but that would save me 2-3 years at best. It also would have made me a slightly different person. So all I can do now is carry on just bring out the best of me in the studying years to come.
Let's take it from the start though - Higher education I mean. What options do young adults have? And is it all up to them or are some stuff out of their control? Unfortunately it's the latter. When it comes to education - just like in so many other matters - money talks. Money can buy you the time to study (time you would otherwise spend working to cover living or personal expenses) it can buy you private schools to get the best head start, it can buy you tutoring during high school final exams to get the best scores for entering on top public universities and it can buy you tuition on the rest - and usually better than public - universities.
Of course personal ability, commitment and the attitude towards studying plays a very significant role. Tricky thing though is if you have the financial stuff sorted out it makes things that much easier. You find it easier to commit to studies if you know you don't need scholarships or just plain cash to get to the next level (MSc, PhD etc) and personal ability to some extent can be cultivated and trained just by getting the best possible in every step of your educational life. Leave the dough out of the equation and you have yourself a much more difficult journey but of course not impossible. Lots of people manage to get a good education for themselves starting from scratch - a result that comes from a mixture of intellect, hard work and some good old luck (don't ask me proportions though).
Enter the parents.
Educationally a lot will depend on one's parents' financial ability. There are parents that can and will pay the whole package for their child's education - private school/high school, university tuition for at least undergraduate and a graduate degree, living expenses for those 6-7 years as well as some other side expenses (foreign language lessons, tutoring for exams etc) There are of course others in our hard times that can barely afford to sustain their children. In between those cases there are many intermediate cases. Some parents may not be in the financial position to provide the full package, but they will pay for it even if it means going in debt for some time or working two jobs just so their children can have it better that they did - even if in the long run that means spoiling them. Some others - and that's the majority of families here in Greece from my knowledge - may not have the luxury of sending their children in private schools / high schools, but they will definitely pay up when it comes to tutoring during final high school classes and they will pay up for living expenses when their child leaves home to study in a Greek public university. Most of those expenses however are covered as they come with little planning or budgeting in advance on the parents side, resulting in many families going in debt just to pay for education.
Children come into play as well when they reach 15-16 or so. From personal experience they differentiate when it comes to two choices. The first one - and that one is most of the time financially biased rather than personal lack of confidence - is whether someone wants to pursue higher education or instead go straight to work and maybe along the way take up some classes in workshops or maybe some tech school. Most of them just don't want to burden their parents, and thinking they can't cut it in higher education they choose to give back as soon as possible - both to their parents and to themselves.
Those that choose to pursue higher education have to make another choice: to work as a student or not. Be it part-time, full-time, summer job, whatever. Of course that's something you review every year or so as you go through studies. Lots of young adults will see that part-time or summer jobs is the right way to go since it doesn't really interfere with studies and it removes a burden from your family - and even if there is no burden it's nice to make your own money and spend it for stuff your family shouldn't ever have to support you like a new video game or tickets to a football match.
Personally I think that the most critical period is the 4 or so years during undergrad studies. Before that public school isn't so bad and parents can help their children go through those years either by helping them with homework at early ages, showing them about hard work, responsibility, motivation, goals in life and all that to get them on the right tracks. After undergrad studies some options open up for the student - pursuing further education by scholarship, or attending a part-time master's degree while working. Options that make him slowly rely more on him/herself and less or not at all on parents.
Even then 4-5 years of full support can vary from a few hundred euros to upwards of a thousand euros a month depending on whether the student had to pay tuition and/or live in the parents' house or not. In the second case it is possible for prepared parents to setup a savings account the moment the child is born for the sole purpose of funding those years. 100 or even 50 euro a month deposits can gather a nice five figure amount after 15-20 years of saving and use that to support a university student with further supplement as needed from the parent or the student by part-time work or something.
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