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Not including ANY other factors (like - love, family, friends, the love of nature etc.) How important is money to you on a 1 to 10 scale; 1 being the least important and 10 being the most.
Would you rather work in a job you detest and earn a six-figure, OR work in a field you love and make under $30,000?
Also (you do not have to answer if you do not want) How much do you parent(s) or guardians make annually, and how much would you like to make when you are at their age?


I am doing a research paper and would sincerely appreciate anything you would like to share/contribute on the controversial subject of money.
Thank you all.

By Lame (Lame) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 05:47 am: Edit

The very nature of your initial question makes money unvaluable since we can't include any other factors such as the ability of money to purchase things. Money itself, the paper and metal, are almost without value so money is therefore not valuable. However, knowing that money has buying power and the power to boost one's social clime, money has an importance level of 6 to me. I'd rather work a job I detest only so long as it is not something like janitorial work or being exploited.

By Electricmonkey (Electricmonkey) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 06:19 am: Edit

I'm going to put a 3. I want to be able to support myself, but I'd rather work at a job I like for little money than vice versa. HOWEVER...I also think I'd be willing to work at a job I like a little bit less (but still like) for a bit more money, if we're talking using an inverse scale (the more you like your job, the less money you make). So I can't put value at 1, because obviously money DOES have some value to me.

I'm planning on being a writer when I get out of college. I think that says enough about how I feel about money, considering that I will be most likely living near poverty for quite a while. I don't like money enough to sacrifice my happiness and go into a secure job.

By Emma (Emma) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 06:53 pm: Edit

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but i'm planning to do both.

I'm only ever going to apply for jobs which i know that i'll enjoy, and hopefully, they'll be well paid too.

By Serene (Serene) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 08:57 pm: Edit

I agree with electronicmonkey that I would choose a job I like less for more money. Let's say I love art, and I get a job that's paid 25k a year. How can I enjoy painting when the bills are snowing in and I can barely make ends meet?

Importance... I'd assign life value of 10, next important is intellectual freedom 9, love 8, so money comes next, 7. =)

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 09:26 pm: Edit

Health is #1 and contrary to what some may think, you can't buy health.
Money can buy you better quality of food, make it more likely that you won't have to work in a job that will compromise your health, and can give you better access to health care, but if you have a terminal illness, all the money in the world isn't going to matter.

Money IMO would be in the middle. Its nice if you have it, and some is necessary in our culture, but it isn't the most important thing or even close.

I cannot work at a job that would make me compromise my values or morals. While I can work at jobs that are distasteful, or boring, I would not hurt anyone, including myself for money

By Grapeful (Grapeful) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 09:27 pm: Edit

I'd assign it a 10. True, I may hate the job, but the consequences of a 6 figure digit would compensate for that. To mention some examples, give my mother the chance to tour the world, send my children to college of their choice w/o them having to worry about financial aid, be able to do recreational activities w/ my family w/o being hard up, having the ability to pay necessary bills if a loved one gets sick...

By Mike212 (Mike212) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:09 pm: Edit

I. Wonderful information so far.

II. Please tell me your main motivation for going to college.

III. No one has included an actual figure of how much they would ideally like to earn...

IV. Just as Grapeful posted: “I'd assign it a 10. True, I may hate the job, but the consequences of a 6 figure digit would compensate for that.” Your feelings on that.

V. It is a fact that money gives us the freedom to do whatever we want (just so long as it is legal). Most people say ‘Money does not buy happiness’ but Dateline on NBC might not agree with that statement. Some of you might have watched the exposé they did on how money affects people. The bottom line (as they concluded): Money does indeed buy happiness. Discuss

VI. We are bombarded with reality TV shows that literally throw money at people who put themselves through strange and sometimes disgusting situations. Would you ever do one of these ‘reality’ TV shows?

VII. The response from this site has been wonderful.
VIII. FYI: I have asked the same question on 4 different sites that I regularly go to, with four different types of teenagers. I’m sure you all know that CC is the ‘intellectual’ types.

IX. Keep the responses coming!!!

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:11 pm: Edit

It's not a linear relationship at all.

Is making $20M/year going to make me happier than making $500k/year? Of course not. Actually, the extra $21.5M may complicate my life enough to decrease my happiness somewhat. Other than that generalization, I have no idea what the 'point of most happiness' would be.

However, I would much rather be a vagabond with little to no income whatsoever than be working a wage-slave job for <$20,000/year. I'd probably even take the vagabond over a job with a salary that maxes out at about $50k. I think being homeless for a few years would do most people quite a bit of good (I don't mean inner-city homeless, I mean Thoreau-ish homeless).

Just my ramblings.

By Leon (Leon) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:36 pm: Edit

i would probably put it as about a 9 or 8. i wouldn't do a job that i really hate for more money but money is the most important factor in deciding a job i would do, that is why i would like to be a foreign trader because according to princeton review's website, they make an average of 1,100,000 a year after ten years. for some odd reason i think they made a mistake or there are 1 or 2 trillionaires out there to make the average so high, but hey thats a heck of alot of money, plus it sounds like a kinda interesting job. for me i would like to make about 500,000 to 1,000,000 a year, although i know that is abit high. by the way, i would do the reality tv thing so long as i don't have to do something that i would regret for the rest of my life

By Magicdragonfly (Magicdragonfly) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:36 pm: Edit

actually..money means a lot w/ how healthy you are able to be..and..if you've got a terminal illness? well..at least if you have money you can live life to the fullest and not have to burden anyone else w/ debt, right?
i've read something from the MSN site about how..the amount of money needed to be happy:around a million dollars
hmm..i'd Like 100,000 a year or more..(god, that'd be nice..lol)- just b/c there's so much i'd like to do..being realistic: 50,000 is probably around what i'll end up making depending on what i do..and i could definitely live with that..but hey..you put that w/ my husband(if i have one..)..and i'm doing pretty good

this is what i was gonna post earlier when it wouldn't let me: hmmm..money doesn't buy happiness but it certainly does help..I want to
make a lot of money just b/c there are so many things i want to do and
you need money to do it..and i want my kids to be able to try
things..basically it's b/c i've never really had much..
My dad's the only one that works and we make around 25,000 a year..and
that's the most we've ever made (even when we had both parents working)
hmmm..i think I could deal w/ working @ the job I detest and making
six-figure..heh..esp since after a few years if you do it right you can
either quit or be higher up making more money and doing less work
anyway..one to ten..prolly around an 8..depending on stuff..but..i'm
cheating w/ this answer

By Magicdragonfly (Magicdragonfly) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:39 pm: Edit

seriously..the best 'reality' shows to go on: probably either real world or road rules..you get so much friggin exposure, you have the reunion specials all the time, so many opportunities to win money or cars and such, and it gets you in to places..it makes it much easier to be successful.

By Almostdone (Almostdone) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:45 pm: Edit

II. 1.Because it is MUCH easier to make money if you have a college degree 2.Because I want to keep learning 3.Because I want to get away from home and have fun without having to hold a job 4.Because Yale has a pretty campus (lol. seriously tho, if it were allowed, I would rent a dorm and live there forever). Well, this is assuming I get into Yale or a college with a campus that look's similar to Yale's.

III. In the END I would like to reach an income of about 5M/year. It'd be nice to start around 50k/year.

IV."I'd assign it a 10. True, I may hate the job, but the consequences of a 6 figure digit would compensate for that." Ditto. I would thoroughly enjoy cleaning toilet bowls if they paid me 5000$/per toilet. Then again, it COULD go the other way around. If there was a job i REALLY loved, although at the moment I have no idea what this might be, if I loved it enough to do it everyday for the rest of my life and sacrifice doing anything else (raising a family, living in a decent house, eating enough food, traveling, etc), then I wouldn't mind if they paid me in meal tickets only. I don't think either will happen though, it usually has to be a balance between the two, so i'd say i would rather have a job that i don't hate/don't love and earn more than 100k/year than have a job i love and earn less than 30k/year.

V. I just realized this this year. Well, money can't buy ALL happiness, but it can buy a LOT of it. Also, NOT having money can cause quite a lot of UNhappiness. not because you don't get the coat/car/food you want, but because not having enough money will limit you in many ways, and if someone else is supporting you, you lose a lot of control over what you can and can't do. For instance, your parents may keep you from your dream college by refusing to pay for it. They may limit your circle of friends by threatening to kick you out or move you to another city. Etc. etc. etc.

VI. strange? maybe. disgusting? never. I don't mind being quirky, but being immoral or sacrilegious is something else.

* "Health is #1 and contrary to what some may think, you can't buy health." second part is true, first part is most definitely not. Well, at least, it is not true if you meant health in a physical sense. If you're the healthiest person on the planet but everyone hates you and you have no money so you have to live on the street, would you be happy? I'd rather be dying surrounded by friends.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 11:29 pm: Edit

I certainly did not only mean physical health.
health encompasses emotional, and mental health as well, in fact I don't believe you can be in optimum physical condition if you are emotionally and mentally a wreck.
However emotional and mental health can give you a better quality of life, than if you only had physical health.
We can look to Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawking for evidence of that.

In fact I will go as so far to say that those people who value money over anything else, including knowing themselves and others, will never have enough. Money cannot replace finding your place and your purpose in life.

By Magicdragonfly (Magicdragonfly) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:07 am: Edit

emotional and mental health are sort of the same thing, are they not? heh..in any case they go hand in hand most of the time

By Magicdragonfly (Magicdragonfly) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:08 am: Edit

on another note..who's to say that anybody has a 'place' OR 'purpose' in life? and there are plenty that value money quite highly and already know themselves..and you can have money as your highest valued thing and still be social and spiritual and such..

By B0otaful (B0otaful) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:16 am: Edit

whoever said money doesn't buy happniess never shopped at armani exchange, miss sixty or abercrombie & fitch ;] but seriously. to some extent money will make you happy, for superficial reasons of course, nonetheless happy. there soo many things money can't buy though... love, health, famo, ect. but yeah. money CAN make you happy. i mean shii, it buys you food right?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 03:10 am: Edit

Money doesn't *buy* happiness but it does allow you to rent it from time to time.

By Emma (Emma) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 09:11 am: Edit

Emeraldkity4, what you said about:
"Health is #1 and contrary to what some may think, you can't buy health"

Of course you cannot buy perfect health but you can come close to it. In England you may have to wait for 6 years on a waiting list to have an operation on the NHS; where as if you go privately, you can get it done instantly.

Out of England, another example is the patent laws in America which means that drug companies can choose prices for drugs they make up. I watched a documentary where a drug company made a drug (i forget for what but some thing that you will die of without the drug), and for different countries, they put an annual price on how much they would price a years supply of the drug. Needless to say, in many countries, people were too poor to buy the drug, so just had to sit by, knowing they would die, simply because they didn't have the money.

Millions of people starve to death each year because they have no food. Having no food is cetainly clearly not good for your health. If these people were rich, they could get the food.

Need i go on?


.....

ooooooooo and B0otaful, you have miss sixty in America????? please say yes! I've never seen it there and thought i'd die without it if I end up going to college in AMerica, where would i get my jeans from!?!?

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:20 pm: Edit

"Millions of people starve to death each year because they have no food. Having no food is certainly clearly not good for your health. If these people were rich, they could get the food."

And one has to wonder - if "these people" did suddenly become wealthy, would they begin to share with their former peers? What about total strangers? The list goes on...

Unless I have missed it above, I keep hoping that someone will say that increased wealth would increase their time and ability to lend assistance where needed.

By Digmedia (Digmedia) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:46 pm: Edit

Another adult view:

The answer to that question depends on your stage in life and your obligations. When I was young and single, I took jobs because they were what I wanted to do, even though I was setting the lower end of the scale for Ga. Tech graduates: VISTA, HS teaching, Dept of Natural Resources, AI Lab at CMU (small pay, but big future potential). For a while, it seemed like each new job was for LOWER pay, but a much more enjoyable/learning/service position.

When you're older, with a family to support, kids that need to go to college, and "experiences" that you want for you and your family (travel, computers, etc), then your focus changes to the money.

Then (I'm predicting), after kids are gone to live their own lives, it changes back again. When the responsibiliites are less, the focus changes back to less money and more enjoyment and more service volunteering.

The answer to your question is that it changes with age.

SO I would strongly suggest to all of you that while young you concentrate more on quality of life and service. Later you'll feel pressure that will move you away from that direction. And if you go for the gold now, you may be one of hte ones with a mid-life crisis later.

Get a variety of experiences.
Travel.
Find work now that you enjoy.
Volunteer.
Don't get married early.
Don't worry about making lots of money now.

ps: That's why I don't want to burden my kid with a large debt after school. I want him to be free to pursue his passions in life. If that means he goes to a state university, then so be it.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 01:28 pm: Edit

If I were emperor, I'd forbid people to get married earlier than 25. I think for a while in Rome the age was 30.

By B0otaful (B0otaful) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 04:30 pm: Edit

emma - yep we have miss sixty!! i know of two places in new york... i'm not sure where else they have miss sixty though ;P but you're lucky you live in england and you have FCUK!! we have french connection here (minus the UK of course lol) but fcuk has a better selection if you ask me!

and if you're going to college here in the states there are sooo many places to buy jeans. we have BLOOMINGDALES SAKS & BERGDORF GOODMAN!! not only that we have diesel, mavi, buffalos, juicy couture, a/x yupp... but where are you going to college??

By Emma (Emma) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 05:27 pm: Edit

ooo a like the juicy couture t-shirts

Not sure exactly where, my list is along the lines of: Yale, Brown, Tufts, Duke, Northwestern, UPenn, Georgetown, NYU

What do you think of those colleges?

By B0otaful (B0otaful) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 06:16 pm: Edit

well i don't really know what to say about those colleges that haven't been said already... those are, as you know great colleges - have you been accepted to all of them? well, if you go to NYU - shopping won't be a problem. but hey don't choose a college because of the shopping lol i'm sure they all have a decent shopping district around. so best of luck wherever you go`

By Lederman (Lederman) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 08:02 pm: Edit

money is priority 10 for everyone. In the end it doesn't matter if you went to harvard it matters what your salary is.

By Logic447 (Logic447) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 08:41 pm: Edit

I'd probably say a 7.

Pulling up in my porshe to my big mansion in my secure, beautiful neighborhood to sit on my big leather recliner and watch a TV screen up to the ceiling getting ready to eat some big, delicious steak will without a doubt bring me some happiness. I would work at a job I love if I got paid at least okay. Not a 20,000 dollar salary or something like a McDonalds employee. Struggling to survive, not being able to pay bills and being unable to have all the luxuries of big TVs and fast cars is not something I would enjoy.

Personally, even though I think my job might not be the greatest, considering how much financial struggle I would have without it, I would think I would be better off.

You may be happy with your job, but I guarantee you that if you are struggling with everything in your life that you would still be very unhappy. Coming home to a studio apartment in the ghetto after riding your bike home to a mailbox of unpaid bills and threating letters with a bowl of Ramen waiting for you--is not exactly everybody's dream.

By Olive_Oil (Olive_Oil) on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 09:10 pm: Edit

hey bootaful--we have fcuk here in san francisco!

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 01:25 am: Edit

TheDad:
In Rome, it was recommended that men get married around the age of 30 - the may have legalised it at some point. However, women were married around the age of 15 or 20 to these men... and sometimes married to an even older man after his first wife died or they divorced. Good for men, certainly... not women.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 02:32 am: Edit

Ariesathena (make up your mind!) quite right...being of the male persuasion, I was thinking of the male marrying age. Given life spans, a society couldn't afford to lose that many childbearing years from a female. There's not that justification now.

By Mike212 (Mike212) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 05:26 am: Edit

Some (not all, but some) of these posts have been very helpful and insightful.


If at all possible, let’s try to reduce the number of fashion posts (Bloomingdales, FCUK, and miss sixty, Saks etc.) I get a lot of that on the MTV board I post at, and here @ CC I am trying to get the ‘intellectual side’ of how you all feel on the subject.

Thanks to all who have responded, and lets keep the great responses coning!!!

By Number9 (Number9) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 01:08 pm: Edit

I think my Motley Fool book said it simply and nicely:

Money cant buy you happiness, but it can help you gain happiness.


Id be happier with money, Im not one to spend it on grandoise things, but still to have that sense of comfort that you have money incase something does go wrong.

By Number9 (Number9) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 01:12 pm: Edit

As for your other question.

Money ranks high on my scale of priorities. About 9 or 10. Power is somewhere around there as well.

Id rather work at a place where I make a ton of money and still have fun. But money over fun, because apart from work I can have fun.

By Serene (Serene) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 05:45 pm: Edit

Mike212: If you keep people from posting what they want to say (fashion etc), then your survey won't be very accurate will it? =) There is not one "intellectual side". Most things people want are the same. You can't just make others give you a different answer, which'd be in the neighborhood of manipulating data. =)

By Mike212 (Mike212) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 07:09 pm: Edit

I am not trying to "Keep people posting what they want to say" I said:
If at all possible, let’s try to reduce the number of fashion posts.

So by all means, post whatever you would like... I am not trying to manipulate data whatsoever. I am just TRYING to make this topic reasonable, in the sense that there are not a whole bunch of posts that diverge from my original question. Thank you.

By Alita (Alita) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 08:50 pm: Edit

11. I want to go to college for several reasons, the main ones are mostly- gain independence, gain knowledge, and gain (sorry for the cliche) life experience.
111. I would like to earn 60-70 thou year,ideally, because i know that in the job i want, thats as much as ill ever make
4. In a day, there are 24 hours. in most 6 figure jobs, about 10 of those are spent on jobs. assume you get 7 hours of sleep a night, and thats only 7 hours left in the day-less than one third. Im afraid that Id rather have a job that pays 50 thou less and be happy the rest of the day than get 6 figures and be miserable the majority of my day.
5.I think to a certain extent money buys happiness... I think this is part of america's fascination with the "middle class"- a good enough job to be fed and clothed, but still the time for family and fun (at least stereotypically.) however, once you have all you need, i dont think more and more necessarily makes you happier...
6.no...i think my personal integrity (and the respect of my family and friends) is worth more than that.

By Cutie911 (Cutie911) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 10:21 pm: Edit

money on a scale of 1-10 is a 7 to me, so yes, i would work at a job ihat and get paid a 6-figure salary,because my family is the most important thing to me and i want ot be able to support them to the best of my abilities, and my parents are both doctors, so i am pretty sure they make a 6-figure salary, and they both have time for my brother and me

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:10 am: Edit

TheDad:
Make up my mind? Never! Agreed about there not being that justification now - certainly do not need to maximize child-rearing age; also, most women now do not die in childbirth, and the infant mortality rate is thankfully well below 30%. (That doesn't necessarily include all the female children who were exposed).

The thought that men should not marry until around age 30 was due to the belief that there was a new cycle of life every seven years. So, after four cycles of life, a man had completed childhood, adolescence, etc and was in the prime of his life. Interesting considering that the life expectancy wasn't much greater than 25 or so... that's also due to dying in wars - no war widows back then!

By Thedad (Thedad) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 02:53 am: Edit

AT, re making up your mind, it's just that there's such an obvious psychic conflict between Aries and Athena. My long-languishing novel is set at the boundary between Classical and Hellenistic Greece, so such things attract my attention.

By B0otaful (B0otaful) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 09:24 am: Edit

o0o i didn't know you have fcuk in san francisco?? lucky duck. anyway what's wrong with the fashion posts? the question is whether or not money = happiness and for me... money = clothes = happiness. so yeah. heh.

By Digmedia (Digmedia) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 11:48 am: Edit

This is becoming a depressing thread. I can't believe that I don't see any thought toward giving service to less fortunate, country, world...

Perhaps it's the people who post here: the goal is to get into one of the Ivies (or other prestige-type school) and then make lots of money to buy cars, houses, and clothes.

All of you who think that that's where happiness lies are in for a big disappointment in life.

Sorry for the down tone of this post, but are you guys really serious in your answers, or I am just missing the sarcasm I hope is there?

...or have I just become an old curmudgeon?

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:15 pm: Edit

Dig - I keep hoping I'm missing something, too. Out of all the "accomplishments" in our S's life so far, his dad and I were the proudest when he made his final college choice and told us he just didn't want to rack up so much debt that it would limit his future career choices. So far, he is pretty committed to the idea of government service - and knows that will never make him wealthy. Maybe it's because we have always done our darnest to live below our means and the kids have been working with us on service projects since they were about 8.

As I said somewhere earlier: Gee, I hope there is someone left to deliver Meals on Wheels to all us elderly parents some day!

By Serene (Serene) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:26 pm: Edit

Digmedia: well of course giving services has crossed my mind... but usually you have to be quite rich to help right (hence reaffirming the point money is quite important)? Most donations would come from big corporations I think... It would be nice to make a difference, really. =)

Momof2: I never considered sending my parents to a nursing home.

By Ferrari (Ferrari) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 02:42 pm: Edit

"What's money if your mind is empty"

By Emma (Emma) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 04:57 pm: Edit

Basically, if you want your answer, no it cannot buy solid happiness (there are so many factors), but it can certainly help. How much depends on a lot of things but it could extend happiness considerably, or indeed not much or even negatively (spend all day working- no personal time).
Having money simply makes any finantial problem disappear and thus: less problems : more happiness. Few people would agree that more money would be unwelcomed.

For me, the main factors for happiness are love, friends, and the weather (millions suffer from the SAD syndrome in the dark winter months) - i am sooooo much happier with the sun shinning on me.
Money is also there, because it makes everything so much easier, and piece of mind is priceless (i've just contradicted myself by saying piece of mind is priceless but you know what i mean).

By Digmedia (Digmedia) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 06:19 pm: Edit

serene -

Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on highschoolers. I didn't have a clue either. That's what college is for. It wasn't until about junior year of college that I started getting "involved." First it was a campaign for Maynard Jackson (anyone hear of him? before he was mayor of Atlanta he had an unsuccessful run for US Senate). Then as a senior I started working with VISTA. No longer around, but then was the domestic version of the Peace Core where volunteers worked to accomplish something in an impoverished community (at $75/week!!!). We built a food coop that was MUCH cheaper than the local grocery stores that were such ripoffs. Once it got very successful, it was burned out. Hmmmm, were we surprised by that??? Then I spent two years teaching at an inner-city HS. Very rough - two kids were shot right in my classroom (today would be national news; then, not even a local news story). But I wouldn't trade the experiences for money.

I'm not going to go on; it's beginning to sound like a "we had to walk five miles uphill each way to school in the snow" story.

By Alita (Alita) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 07:44 pm: Edit

momof2- just curious, what area of the government does he want to work in? also, where did he decide to go to college? Im asking because it sounds like the situation im in now, except im having extremely difficult time finding a college that I like that is inexpensive (relatively), within my parents' set driving distance and has my field of study.

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 10:37 pm: Edit

First, serene - you are never too young or too lacking in talents to share with someone FYI, Meals on Wheels delivers a hot meal and cold sack lunch 5 days a week to mostly seniors living in their own homes. Many no longer drive and it helps keep them in their homes. Sometimes they are recuperating from a hospital stay or sitting with an Alzheimer's spouse and just can't leave the house to get to the store. Some are for a week or two, some for years. We delivered to a young woman with two broken legs and no local family for about 2 months during her rehab. She is a driver now. BTW, this is a GREAT volunteer opportunity for anyone who has a car and 1-1 1/2 hours once a week or even every 2 weeks in our area. A group of "us girls" has done this on our lunch hour for the last 16 years and my son filled for vacationing drivers the last couple of summers in high school.

Alita - he is majoring in computer engineering and hopes to go into some segment of national security - information assurance, NSA or something related. We have several relatives with advanced degrees working in defense, so this is a pretty natural choice for him. He knows the pay scale will never rival the private sector, so he decided to take the Nat'l Merit full ride at a state university and keep his college savings to go toward grad school. He will be in their Honors College, though, so that will help a lot with class size and research opportunities.

No offense to your parents, but maybe you need to talk a little more about the driving distance thing. I left for college at 17, went 95 miles down the road and didn't come home until Thanksgiving - and we were on fine terms! I would hope you could find some possible colleges with your field of interest and then worry about discussing the cost/frequency of transportation. You REALLY don't want your parents dropping in because they are in the neighborhood. (spoken as both a parent and former teenager!)

By Alita (Alita) on Monday, September 01, 2003 - 06:08 pm: Edit

Momof2-they are relaxing some, but in their opinion theyre paying for college so they get to choose-which kind of sucks for me.