Cause for a little P15 celebration cruise!

[David Maxwell]

The ceremony was great and we had an excellent dinner last. Then we woke up this morning to find my wife and daughter had made the front page!

[eric wissing]

Congrats!!, Good Luck to her. Eric

[JerseyHarold]

Bravo! That's something to crow about!

[greg g]

Best wishes to your daughter. Our's graduated 2 years ago. She is now living and working in Florida.

[1just4don]

Congrads on BOTH counts, the graduation and the news picture/article.

My LAST (youngest) child graduated three weeks ago,,,with a degree in chemical engineering. (I didnt contribute ANY brainpower to that child!!)

Wish somebody had explaned back then what a degree could have done for "ME" and all the different fields to enter with one.(and earnings)

[Johnny S]

That's a very nice touch to end one journey and begin another. Congrats.

[bob_amos]

Wel, well, well... Congradulations to the family David. You have everythng to be proud of. It's good to see that the paper had the good taste to omit YOUR photo... (snicker, snicker)

[Don Coatney]

The ceremony was great and we had an excellent dinner last. Then we woke up this morning to find my wife and daughter had made the front page!

Excellent and congrats David and family;

Make the celebration cruise to Tulsa...

[AJ Johnson]

Congrats to your family. Now that she has graduated, you should have a little more spending money. When I got out of high school my parents bought new furniture and a big TV. When I graduated college, they built themselves a house. When my wife earned her masters, they built a bigger house just a few minutes from the beach.

It seems like the more education we earn, the higher their standard of living. They keep telling me they are spending my inheiritance & I am starting to believe them. More power to them! They made a ton of sacrifices for their 3 kids to go to college. Now all three of us are making more than my father did after 30+ years as a policeman.

AJ

[David Maxwell]

Yes, soon, the financial hemorrhaging will stop, but not yet. My daughter just completed two associate degrees at the local community college. She now enters Cal Poly SLO this summer as a Junior to complete her bachelor's degree. She plans to continue for her Masters as well. She's only 19 but is an outstanding student with high aspirations. We're proud as can be, but it's going to hit our pockets deep!

Aahhh..., the joys and pains of parenthood...

[greg g]

Dave, interested to read about your daughter going to CC first. I insisted that our daughter attend community college first. Several factors involved, finances, and acedemics, being formost. She was not a motivated student in high school. So we did not want to dump a bunch of money down a hole if she didn't do well in college. So she did 2years at CC (cost roughly equivelent to day care) and after a shakey first semester did well. Our deal was if she did the CC thing, she could go anywhere she was accepted that we could afford after 2 years. She ended up getting her Bachelors from Russell Sage College. We are very proud of her accomplishment.

The ironic part of this situation is that her high school is very hoity toity about where its graduates attend college. They have a bulletin board where juniors and seniors post their acceptances, of course there are a lot of Ivy leagues, and other well known eastern liberal arts colleges plastered about.

Her guidence counselor was not excited about our daughter's chances or prospects, compared to her class mates. So be it. Well two years later I happened to bump in him again. I spoke to him about what transpired over those two years. Seems the majority of those kids who whent off to Harvard. Princton, James Madison, Tufts et all were currently toiling away at the local CC after squandering 80 to 100K for two years and not making it at their choice colleges. Our daughter by contrast was now enrolled and doing quite well, thank you, at the college of her choice.

I heartily recommend the Community College route to any one. On the financial side of the equation, she has no loan payments, and we paid off our portion 9 months after her graduation. We financed her two final years 1/2 with cash and mutual funds, and charging the rest on what ever 0% credit card teaser that happened to come our way. Got lots of airline miles and bonus points to boot........

Good luck to your daughter as she continues.

[AJ Johnson]

As a high school teacher I recomend a lot of students looking into the local colleges first before Texas or A&M. I was one of those who wasted a nice chunk of money my first year with classes of 500+ at the University of Colorado.

I then went to the local state college & found it easier to concentrate in classes of 30-40. Pocketbook took it a bit easier too. I eventually earned a degree from Mesa State College in Grand Jct, CO and another from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, CO. (Found my wife there too).

It drives me crazy that society promotes "Big" schools as better ones. I work with people who graduated from Ivy League schools, private colleges, and state colleges and everything inbetween. Guess what? We still make the same money.

My sister graduated from Mesa State & now is in charge of corporate accounts at Coors Brewing in Golden, CO. My brother graduated from Colorado State and is now working in the oil industry. His Christmas bonus was more than my salary last year.

Just goes to show that employers want good people with an education. Not just a piece of paper.

AJ

[David Maxwell]

Our daughter was an honor student in high school and could have gone just about anywhere she wanted. She was recruited by Harvard, Princeton, Brown, University of Chicago etc. My wife and I both went the transfer route and my wife is currently a CC Counselor while I teach high school. We have both seen endless numbers of students go directly to "Big" Four year schools only to, as Al said, wind up back at the CC with huge debts and a defeated attitude. In the end, our daughter will be graduating ahead of many of those who went directly to four year universities and Cal Poly SLO is one of the top rated universities to boot.

I too STRONGLY recommend the CC/Jr. College transfer route! We are already at least $40,000 ahead of the game and our daughter is entering her junior year at Cal Poly with a 3.87 GPA and two Associate Degrees. You just can't beat that!

[BobT-47P15]

David, best of luck to your daughter in her coming academic endeavors. Nice picture!!! We have some good junior colleges and small 4 year colleges in this part of the country that make education a bit more affordable.

[wldavis3]

Congratulations David! I agree 100 percent with your advice about

going to a CC your first two years of college. Another way to "get

your priorities straight" between high school and college is to sign up

with Uncle Sam. After four years of "seeing the world", most kids

- well, they are really not kids after that - are ready to earn some

good grades in college.

[blueskies]

Make the celebration cruise to Tulsa...

I'll second that motion...

Pete