I (Usually) Heart Suze Orman

Another exciting Saturday night watching the Suze Orman Show. I never knew my early 20s would be so full of CNBC. Maybe I should have stayed in college a few more years... Anyway. One thing that really stuck out for me on one of the shows tonight was a mother and daughter who were feuding because the daughter wanted more money from her mother. What bugged me, though, was that it turned out that what the daughter most wanted was to take more classes and move out on her own. Apparently she was only taking two courses a semester at a COMMUNITY COLLEGE because she didn't have the money to pay for any more, and her mother wouldn't pay for it. Seriously folks, that would be the one thing her mother SHOULD have been willing to pay for. Screw paying for her cell phone, pay for her classes! And the mother said that she had told her daughter she was willing to give her the same amount as room and board at a state school, which should have been enough to get a place with a roommate. I kind of get the feeling that this is something the mother said a long time ago, in some other context, such that the daughter didn't think the deal was valid anymore, or it seems like she would have jumped on it. I don't think it was unreasonable for the daughter to work enough to pay for her car insurance (as long as she's not being forced to take out an individual policy since that is really expensive for a 19-year-old) and her clothes and what-not, but paying for school, especially such an inexpensive option, should always be an automatic Yes. I just think that's stupid to overlook the importance of taking enough classes, since so many people lose momentum in college and don't finish.. and at two classes a semester she could be 30 before she can graduate. Sheesh.

Suze did say that she should help her daughter out with the tuition and with the apartment, but I think she harped too much on the family's circumstances (father was in an accident and was a quadripalegic for 3 years and then died) rather than taking her normal brass tacks perspective. As with this case, I'm usually not a fan of the personal interview bits, I like the call-ins and emails better since it's a lot more rapid fire and less ooey-gooey.