Hi all,
One thing that I've seen over and over again both on these boards and in other places is people talking about paying for their kid's education. Like many fortunate people, I had amazing parents who gave me a huge leg up in life. However, they didn't have the ability to fund their kid's education beyond a little bit of help. I think I received $1100 twice and while my siblings got a bit more they didn't get anywhere near the 200k that their ivy league educations would have cost.
I took the route of military first followed by school. This was a good deal back when I did it (leaving with minimal debt, would have been none if I'd been more careful during those 4 years) and is a fabulous deal now with the new GI Bill. After 4 years of learning useful life skills, discipline, seeing the world, learning about themselves, etc enlisted people leaving the force these days also get 4 years of school + housing/food paid for.
My siblings took the route of school first on the military's dime followed by 4 years of service. In addition to free college (instead of 200k), my siblings also enjoyed or are enjoying challenging and interesting jobs around the world and 70k+ salaries while doing it. If you tack on the amount paid in school to their current salaries, officers in the military easy make 6 figure salaries right out of college: not a bad deal! Many of my brother's best friends are from his time in the Navy and they've forged lifelong bonds and followed each other into careers after the Navy as well.
Thankfully the general civilian attitude towards military is way better than at some periods in our past. I've always had people thanking me for my service, offering reduced/free things on Veteran's day, etc. However, the military is not JUST a noble sacrifice that some take on so that others don't have to. Its also a heck of a great way to pay for school, grow up a bit, and start life off the right way. Hollywood likes to show the dark side with the soldiers dealing with PTSD and messed up lives etc and for an infantryman in the Army that's a legit concern. However, there are thousands of jobs that DON'T involve getting shot at in a foreign country for a year or more.
In a forum that talks constantly about finding every way to save money, credit card rewards, DIY rather than paying someone: why is there so little discussion about education and especially the military as a way to pay for it?
I'm not a recruiter and certainly don't mind if people have specific reasons. I've just read a lot of "currently paying for 2 kids to go through college" in various threads recently and it boggles my mind.