A family had a son who got accepted at a great college out of state. Since the family valued education highly, the parents figured out the costs of tuition, books, rent, food, utilities, transportation, and other expenses to be $18,000 a year. The son argued that if he had the money for the year he could do a better job of making sure that it was spent wisely than if he had to write home every time an expense arose, so the parents agreed to put the money for the year into their son's bank account, and let him handle it. After their son graduated from high school, he was all set to move to the city where his new college was located, so his parents gave him the money for his first year of school - they decided that their son should have a bit of fun while attending school, so instead of just $18,000, they gave him $22,000 for the first year - an extra $4,000 above and beyond what he needed. The parents were happy to do this because they had been saving for their children's college for years, because they were a family who valued education. The son moved out of the house in early July, so he could get set up in a living space and maybe even get a part time job before school started that fall.
The son was enjoying his life in college, but when he came home for the winter break, he took his father aside. "Dad" he said, "I'm going to need a bit more money to make it through the year. I don't have enough to pay my spring tuition, because I flew to my girlfriend's house for Thanksgiving and I spent a lot of money on a fancy necklace for her this Christmas." His father was unhappy that his son had wasted his tuition money on frivolous things, but education was important to him, so he dipped into his retirement investments and gave his son the extra $5,000 he needed to finish the first year of school.
At the end of his first year of college, the parents gave their son $27,000 for his second year, because $22,000 hadn't been enough the first year. Even though they had to take quite a bit out of their retirement account to do so. It was a major setback to their finances, but education was important to them.
That September, their son made a frantic call home, asking for more money. It seems that he had decided to purchase a car, and while he could pay his tuition, he didn't have enough for rent or books. The parents were upset that he had spent the money on a car, when he was supposed to have used it to pay for his tuition and books, but because the family valued education, they sent him an extra $10,000. They sent the money even though this took all of the money out of their retirement account. They were still young, the parents thought, and they were a family who valued education.
That December, the parents purchased a plane ticket for their son to come home and visit them, since he told them that he couldn't afford it. It meant that they had no money for gifts for their other children, but seeing their older brother for the holidays would be a treat for the younger children, and the family could see how their son was doing in school.
When he came home, the son took his father aside again, and once more asked for additional money. "I didn't take a part time job this year, and my roommates moved out so that there would be more space in the apartment for my girlfriend. I'm going to need another $10,000 to make it through the year." His father was disappointed that his son had once again squandered his tuition and rent money on luxuries, but didn't want to refuse his son; after all, their family valued education. That night, he spoke to his wife about the problem. "I guess I could ask my boss for more hours, even if it means I won't have as much time to help the younger children with their after school activities and homework" she said. It was a difficult decision, but since the family valued education, they made the sacrifices with smiles on their faces, and gave their son $10,000 from the money they were saving for his younger siblings' college expenses.
That April, they received a telegram from their son, from the Bahamas. "School is going great" it said, "but I needed to release some stress over spring break. Expenses were higher than expected, please send $3,000 so I can pay rent and buy groceries for the rest of the year." The parents were worried that their son was making such poor choices and wasting the money on frivolous things while they scrimped and saved to pay, but they valued education, so they took more money out of their other children's college savings to send to their son.
That June, the parents prepared to give their son the money for his third year of college. Based on what his costs had been the previous year, they decided that they had to give him $50,000. This meant that there would be almost no money left in the college accounts for his younger siblings, but the father was working a lot of overtime and was also hoping for a big promotion, and the mother was starting to work on Saturdays to make extra money. They hoped that they would be able to put enough away for the other children to attend colleges, and warned their other children to start applying for scholarships.
Things went pretty well that year. Their son didn't ask for money during the fall, or when he came home at Christmas. The parents were relieved that they had finally been able to give their son enough money to pay for his education - because the family valued education.
That May, the parents received a letter from the school, indicating that their son had not yet paid his tuition. The school needed $8,000. The parents cleaned out all of their savings accounts to pay for it. Then they began to get letters from a credit card company. Their son had run up a credit card debt and hadn't made a payment in months. The credit card companies needed $4,000 to pay the son's debts - mostly textbooks and groceries. When the parents asked their son why he had put his textbooks and groceries on the credit card, instead of using the money they had given him, he told them that he had used up all that money on a weekend trip to Vegas with some friends. The parents were disappointed that he had wasted his textbook and grocery money, but scraped together enough money to pay the cards, because they wanted their son to be able to stay in college - after all, their family valued education.
That June, when their son came home, he asked the parents for the money for his last year of school. "With the extra expenses I had last year, it cost me $62,000. I guess I'll need at least that much this year." he told them. "Son," his father told him, "I'm sorry, but all that we can afford to give you this year is $30,000. That will cover tuition and books, rent, food, utilities, and leave you about $12,000 for things you want to do. I hope that will be enough."
"C'mon dad, my girlfriend likes it when I take her on mini-vacations on the weekends and buy her jewelry. The lease payments on my BMW are pretty hefty, not to mention the insurance... I know you can come up with more money than that - you always told me that we value education."
"We do value education, son. I'm working 20 hours of overtime a week, and your mother works six days a week. We hardly have any time to see your brothers and sisters, let alone help them with their homework. We've already exhausted the college savings for all of the children, as well as taken all of the money out of our retirement accounts. There's just no way we can afford to give you more than $30,000 this year.
"You could take out a second mortgage on the house, couldn't you? After all dad, what's more important than education?"
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What is more important than education? Is it more important that the son has a nice car, or that he can buy gifts for his girlfriend?
Was there enough money in the budget to pay for the son's education - if he had only made it a priority?
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In tonight's story, the parents were played by the citizens of California, the siblings were played by their children, and the son was played by your California State Legislature.
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