[jonesb6]

I'm a perfect example of the problem you just described, parents basically let me handle all applications, pick my school, my major, and I ended up choosing an out of state school that was vastly beyond my means (~45k/yr). Parents who payed tuition ran out of money (after mortgaging the house to get my older brother through, and covering ~2 years of my education where I secretly took fewer credits to lessen the burden on my family).

So I dropped out and am now working for a recently funded start-up, making a decent amount of money with promises of more if I can work at a level that can elevate the company itself. I intend to finish a different degree over the next ~3 years (CS -> Philosophy). Needless to say none of this would've been possible had I not spent thousands of hours learning software development in my free time, such that the degree I ultimately get, or if I even have one at all, is much less important.

However I don't blame my parents at all for my poor decisions. I think today's youth need to be taught financial responsibility.. some how. Maybe mandatory minimum-wage work during high school? I don't know. This is all so ridiculous you would think it could only happen in theory. Financial institutions finding a way to take hundreds of thousands of dollars from the adult population using their children as a proxy and the parents being grateful to do it..