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My mom and dad didn't go to college and fortunately found really great careers and retired recently. However, with my daughter it is more than expectation. It is a rule. She better have a good reason to NOT go to college or else. I'm not even telling her it is a choice to stack the decks. I got so much out of it and I want her to have the same opportunities.

@Boogs: yes, I expect college and grad school.

Yes, undergrad at a minimum. I also think there's a lot more to the "college experience" than just the education.

I think it's kind of hilarious that people think that they can require their adult children to do . . . anything? If my children want to go to college, great, I'm saving for it. If they find something else meaningful to do with their lives, that's fine too. My job as a parent is to raise the kind of person who can make these choices on her own, not someone who needs me to tell them how to run their life.

@sarac: Word.

My husband and I are both teachers (with masters) but I would never dream of requiring that my children go to college. A.) They would be adults B.) I have known plenty of people who went to college with no intention of finishing and just messed around for a few years and wasted tons of money C.) There are many trade careers that don't require degrees. If my son wants to be a mechanic or refrigeration technician...cool.

All I care about is that my children find means to support themselves and do so with integrity.

@sarac: I agree.

I hope that my kids choose to go to college but it is their choice. I do not think that college is for everyone and it does not guarantee success or happiness.

Statistically it's likely our boys will go to college, based on the fact that my husband and I are college educated with professional graduate degrees. So we are saving for that likelihood. If they find something they would rather do, I've got their back, but hopefully we have a good, collaborative relationship where they would be open to us helping them plan for their success in some way and at least listen to our advice. I think fostering a forward-thinking hustle factor in my kids is more important to me than a degree.

College is a necessity. I am pro education for everyone regardless of career plans.

However, in regard to a career, I hope they find what they enjoy and can support themselves doing. If they find another way to be educated without a degree... I'd be open minded.

Yes; college is an expectation in our family. Of course there are plenty of successful people without college degrees, but I also think the unemployment figures during the recent recession for college educated and non college educated individuals are pretty compelling.

Yes; undergrad.

@ElbieKay: totally agree.

I would be ok with them taking a gap year of some sort, but higher education is definitely an expectation, especially since my kids can go to university for "free".

It was always the expectation that my sisters and I go (especially since both my parents dropped out to get married). 3/4 of us absolutely love school and have masters as well, and one a phD.

But my fourth sister hates school, struggled massively, majored in something she did not really like, took 5 years and has massive debt. Plus she still works at the same job she had before graduating (but higher up). Now she knows what she wants to do, but the thought of going back is daunting and she can't really afford it. My mom always says she wishes they had not forced her to go, and gave her time to figure out what she wanted to do in life so that she could have made a better choice for herself.

Just food for thought that it is great to encourage it if it is the right fit, but it is really not for everyone (or at least, not right away).

There would have to be a compelling reason for him not to go. Even if LO wanted to join the military there are collegiate options to start his career. A compelling reason would be he's a child star and is consistently working. Or he is a child genius and has angel investors making his passion come to life.

I think some sort of higher education is almost a necessity these days. I have a lot of family members in the trades (my husband included) and they all went to college as part of the requirements to get licenced. I guess I expect our kid(s) will have post-secondary education of some sort but I'm willing to be open minded about it.

Our focus is making sure that our adult children are self-sufficient and productive members of society. If that includes college, cool, but even then we won't be paying their way through. They'll need to work, save, budget, and look for opportunities like any other functional adult.

My husband comes from a country where around the 6th grade, kids are tracked. This means that you're either going to go on the college prep track, the complete high school and get a professional apprenticeship track or the vocational track. I think the system has pros and cons, you can easily find work in a professional environment without a college degree, BUT the decisions are made so early and it's difficult to change tracks once you're on. You can always go down, but you can't go up, so once you're on the trade track, you're not getting on the college track. This is how they are able to allow students to attend universities for no cost, other than room and board.

I don't know what the future holds for my son, he sees my husband and I both going to work, we talk about the schools that we've gone to and what kind of work we did there. One of these days, I will take him to where I went to college so he can see what it looks like. At the end of the day, do I expect him to attend college? Yes. Am I mandating it? No.

I would love for my kids to have some sort of education after high school. I don't think I'll "force" then to go to college or make them feel like it is their only option.
I was one who was just not sure what I wanted to do when I grew up at 18, and was forced into college. I wasted a lot of money and scholarships, changed my major a zillion times and didn't have the college experience that I would have wanted anyway. I did end up going back to college on my own dime and graduated with a 4.0 in a career that I absolutely love. My husband had a very similar experience after going to school as an althlete who had a career ending injury.
I'd really like to be able to use our experiences to help guide our children into the path that's right for them. Whether that's college, trade school, or something else. I just want them to be happy, productive members of society.

@T.H.O.U.: I agree, I wouldn't expect a high school graduate to be able to easily figure it out if they hadn't been taught earlier. We will be strongly encouraging our kids to get summer jobs once in high school, so they can learn about all of the things I mentioned. It is also our personal experience that being primarily financially responsible for our own education (ie tuition) was extremely beneficial in both the long and short term.