One parent I interviewed, a 65-year-old Bakersfield, Calif., human-resource manager, is willing to risk his financial independence in retirement to enable his 23-year-old son to graduate debt-free from a state-university architecture program. His son earned his basic course requirements at community college and has been trying to work his way through his junior and senior years, this father says. But he can’t find a job that pays more than minimum wage. So the father is making up the difference between his son’s earnings and his $20,000-a-year tuition bill.
　　我采访过加州一位65岁的人力资源经理，他想冒着丧失退休后财务独立性的危险让23岁的儿子在不借债的情况下就读州立大学的建筑专业。这位父亲说，他的儿子在社区学院完成了基础课程，一直希望凭自己的努力学完大学三、四年级的课程，但却找不到工资高于最低标准的工作。因此父亲需要补上他儿子的收入和每年2万美元的学费之间的差额。
　　Hard times call for greater parental sacrifices, he says. ’How can you go to school, work part-time and get good grades, and pay off $20,000 a year You can’t,’ he says. ’The days when people worked their way through college are gone for the foreseeable future, anyway.’
　　他说，艰难的世道要求父母做出更大的牺牲。他说，你怎么能够边上学，边兼职打工，获得好成绩，又能交纳一年2万美元的学费？你做不到。人们可以凭自己的努力读完大学的日子至少在可以预见的将来是不会再回来了。