I graduated college from a UC and law school from a private. Both experiences were different and had strong pluses and minuses. I always felt strongly that my children would be UC graduates (for undergrad) and go to public school up to that point. As for graduate schools, I've saved regularly since birth (their births, not mine, haha) for both of them with investment funds. My wish for them is to have the option of the finest educations available, and to select the choices with them, hopefully, by then, without finances being a consideration. My mother did not attend college, and my dad did not attend a four year college.
My kids current preschool tuition is equal to, if not slightly more than my private accredited law school tuition was.
I've worked throughout high school, college, and all years of law school, and believe that work experience is equally important. But I would not want tuition to be a limitation should they get into a school of their choosing. I would sell the GT to fund their education without hesitation, although I hope I would not have to. Even if I were to lose this cherished prize, the memories already created would be everlasting. Plus the chance to change or improve a life would be a great trade. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful every day to own this Ford GT, for so many reasons.
Also, it's been an extreme shock as to what my wife and I are experiencing in our involvement and volunteer work with our local California public schools, which are in a historically top ranked geographic area.
At times as a volunteer, I am solely responsible for 12-14 kids for reading instruction. I am not a professional educator, although I have worked in curriculum development (motorcycle rider coaching). Staffing limitations seem to force schools to rely heavily on parent volunteers that may or may not be specifically trained or adequate. I am doing my best, but I am not specifically trained either.
I am personally concerned about the current state of California public schools, and I am doing (along with other parents) what I can financially contributing and with volunteering, but when the class sizes for the elementary schools are 30+ kids with one full time teacher, it's pretty rough no matter how qualified or dedicated those teachers are.
I'm worried by the trend I see in California locally, and I have decided to consider and investigate private school options, although we love our public school and community, I am simply not confident of the level of education, but have not yet made a decision to switch.
As for college, it's difficult to get into the University of California system these days, and the competition is increasing each year.
According to WIKI: Berkeley received 48,461 applications for admission to the undergraduate program in 2008; 4,261 enrolled. The average unweighted GPA of admitted freshmen in 2008 was 3.87 (4.35 weighted).
