BEGGING TO OWN THEIR FUTURE:

Great to see teens think they should help pay for college (TERRY SAVAGE, 9/02/04, Chicago SUN-TIMES)

Here's what surprised me most about all the suggestions I received from financial planners for back-to-school columns. It wasn't the suggestions that you take your child shopping for clothes and school supplies to "teach them the value of the dollar." It wasn't the "this is a good time to teach the dangers of credit-card debt" pitches.

It was a survey from Fidelity Investments that caught my eye. The "Surprise! Research Shows Teenagers Feel a Strong Obligation to Help Parents Meet Skyrocketing Cost of College Education!" That last exclamation point is mine. Whose kids did they survey? Do only the unspoiled, thoughtful kids of parents who have done the best job of teaching real values answer those surveys? The footnote says the study talked with "477 college-bound teens ages 14-to-17 years old," and their parents, with household incomes of $35,000 or more.

Here's what they found when they talked to the teens:

**The vast majority of teenagers (95 percent) feel obligated to shoulder some of the financial burden of their college education.

**Three-quarters (74 percent) think their parents should pay only half or less of their college expenses.

As for the parents:

**Under ideal circumstances, half of parents surveyed (50 percent) would be willing to pay for all or most of the cost. However ...

**Two-thirds (67 percent) of parents don't anticipate being able to contribute as much toward the cost of their teen's college education as they would like.

Lifetime Savings Accounts--as part of the Ownership Society--will afford them the opportunity they seek.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 2, 2004 10:30 AM