[Tim Hancock]

Some of the guys I work with that have no kids yet are always spouting off about how they worked their way thru college, paid rent at 12, bought their own car, paid for all auto expenses etc etc. Well I did most of the above myself, but my college cost me under 5 grand a year and I did all my own car repairs to my deathcrap POS cars. I had a liability bond for under $200 a year and I split a fleabag apartment with 4 other guys.

I just do not see how my 17 year old daughter can make enough money part time working at Mcdonalds yet still participate in a school activity and keep getting straight A's.

It is a different world now than it was in the 70's and early 80's. My daughter pays for her gas and dates etc, but no way is she going to make enough money to pay her way thru the average college nowadays.
My wife and I encourage her to keep getting good grades to hopefully use to obtain some scholarship type assistance, which hopefully will be worth more than the couple grand a year she might be able to squirrel away scooping ice cream at her summer job.

I bet 75% of the guys who claim that their kids are on their own once they hit 18 will change their tune when their kids get older. It obviously is still POSSIBLE for an 18 year old to make it on their own, but it is much tougher now than it used to be.

I unfortunately will have two in a row in college (1 is 16, one is 17, both girls). They will most likely go to a local college and live at home to defray costs. Right now it looks like about 10-12k a year each, some of which they will be able to help with by working part-time. The colleges they would like to go to would probably cost 20-30k per year not including the costs of a car.