OT: Would you mind if your child majored in General Studies (BGS) at LSA?

Daveheal: You make some good points. I agree and disagree though. It is up to parents to push their children to the path they want. This includes majors. (says the father of a 6 month old who is only hopes he can get through the next day). I think it is much harder to find an employer that is willing and more importantly able to give someone the training they need to succeed in their field than it is to find a higher education school with credibility (a degree) to provide an expected baseline level of knowledge. The challenge as parents is to figure out what the kids want to do before they know so you can nudge them in the general direction of happiness. 

OP, a different way of approaching this would to be to try to find out what your kid wants to do overall. If the kid says, things like clubbin' in LA and international jetsetting, then you are going to have to look at what paths get you there. On the other side, if they want to spend their time hiking and climbing mountains, then the education needed is much different than what is available at a university, but steady careers are available. Be the adult, sit down and talk about what they want to do and how to get there. It could be holding this current position for 5-10 years while developing a different skill set on the side until they decide what is really important to them. 

I've switch industries 4 times prior to my 40s and am doing better than I ever thought possible.

If it helps, the BGS guy I know personally is a VP at google, and was not an outspoken personality. 

Don't worry about comparing peers. A house may seem like a good measure, but realistically the bar for home ownership is pretty low. 

I fail to see what's so bad about saying "I will pay for your college degree if it's something that will help you get gainfully employed." It's your money. As a parent, that's totally up to you to attach strings that you think are reasonable.

At the same time, the kid could say "Respectfully, I want to major in underwater basket weaving, so I guess I'll be paying." And neither party would be in the wrong.

Yep, my roommate graduated with a BGS. Literally the only difference from a BA was that he did not have to take two years of a foreign language. He tried as hard as he could to get through Spanish, but it never clicked for him. He got his BGS instead and has done just fine.

Why would you steer someone away from accounting?  It is a relatively small sample size, but of the friends and relatives I have whose kids graduated with a degree in accounting all have landed quality jobs quickly.  Those with a “business” degree all have had a hard time finding quality jobs. 

Accounting is a special vocabulary and a skill set that provides multiple career opportunities. I disagree about "staying away" from it unless there is no desire on his part to learn about financial reporting, etc..

I found this advertisement for Accounting from Lasalle Extention University and it's via correspondence with a free sample lesson.  Can't go wrong.  "Good salary, fine car, a nice home."

I'm pretty sure there is a bit of sarcasm here from RedRum. I was in engineering, but I took every undergrad class required for a BBA except for the marketing classes--they were never open to those who weren't officially in the B-school. I have found those classes very helpful. I own an LLC now and I am glad for the tax classes and all the accounting / management classes I had. Most of it was just common sense, but it was immeasurably helpful to be guided by knowledgeable instructor.   But, for me, engineering was 10x tougher. 

Thankful for every class I took at UM.

Plastics!  Actually smart advice (at the time) from Mr. Robinson.  

This resonates with me and my experiences (both as a UM student and as a now dad of a 19 yr old).  I started in computer science, believing that was the path to stability and gainful employment, but discovered I basically hated programming, halfway through sophomore year.  I struggled a bit after that around the differences between getting a training or an education at UM.  Ultimately, I went the BGS route, which helped me pull together a lot of disparate interests and get the degree.  Not knowing what I "truly wanted" I worked a bit in publishing and then co-founded a small business and later discovered I really enjoyed working in non-profit (fundraising, so essentially sales like you).

I think in a lot of disciplines, simply having a degree from Michigan is all an employer really needs, outside of specialized degrees like engineering, etc.  Most real education-based professions need a graduate degree anyway, so most any undergrad degree can be that stepping stone - I've seen numerous examples of undergrad Russian literature degrees or cultural anthropology go on to MBAs, MDs, PhDs in completely different fields.  I don't think there's any wasted degree at UM, including BGS.

Now, my own son has had zero interest in college at all.  He was self-directed enough to graduate early from high school, but entirely because he wanted to be done with it.  He's now discovered a passion for cars and has just started in auto tech at a local community college.  I'm thrilled and know that if he keeps following his nose, he'll keep learning and I'll be there to prod and support him.  But he's way too stubborn to follow much of my own advice.

Good luck to the OP and his son - it'll get figured out!

Stop calling a degree useless—it is insulting to all professors, who actually teach folks more than just content in their discipline. UM is not a vocational school. A history degree is not a vocational degree at a liberal arts institution, especially a prestigious one. History falls within  social sciences, which fall within the scope of being able to grasp basic concepts of social webs and individual and collective mindsets. Sales sector is overflowing with need for skills in that area. How about credit the university and not pretend you went into UM the same hirable person that graduated.  

I second this sentiment a bit.  I took 7 years to finish, with multiple gaps.  Getting through was a slog, I couldn’t find a major that I wanted, took multiple gaps, etc.

After undergrad (finally finished in 2006) I bounced around boring (and low-paying office jobs) for another half decade, while trying to figure out what I wanted.  Went back for a Masters in a subject which I hadn’t taken a single course in before, and finally found my passion in my early 30s. Started my new career at the bottom rung with a bunch of kids just out of undergrad, but was able to blow past them professionally, because I had a lot of general work experience and an actual passion.  Within 5 years I had caught up to my original (age-based) peer group in terms of experience, responsibility, and salary (6 figures).

So my advice is to help him get through his undergrad at his pace, and let him figure it out from there.  Not everyone moves along at the same pace, but that doesn’t mean he won’t ultimately be successful.

I know.

The Michigan difference.  Right?

What does a degree in General Studies prepare you for though? What What is the ROI for that $60K? I think any parent would worry about these things.

This is the answer ^^^.  If he is not inclined for a certain major, it will be tough for him to get excited about your suggestions and really like IOE and Computer Science to not only finish enought courses for a major, but then also enjoy his career in those fields. 

While you may want him to have that U of M degree, he needs to be able to find what he likes and try and make a career out of that.  No point wasting his time and your money if he is inclined towards the trades, he can make good money AND one day open up his own trade related business and make some REAL GOOD money!

No joke. Some of the technicians for the various jobs and trades that my company subs work out to charge anywhere form $80-$100/hr regular time and anywhere from $120-$150/hr overtime.

I couldn’t agree with this more. I work in recruiting and professional development (so... on the output end of the education pipeline) and will give so much stronger of a look at a candidate who took time and a different path to find themself and didn’t just rush straight through on a degree that their 18 year old self thought they might like the job at the end of (but really has no earthly idea if they will or won’t). I’ll also give so much stronger of a look at the kid that waits tables up to and through college.

I think that is correct.  I flunked out of EE at Michigan because I didn't want to do it.  I moved to Hawaii for four years and worked in environmental jobs including plain, old labor and found what I wanted to do.  After then finishing my BS at Kansas at 28 and then getting an MS for free while working at CSU, I finally really got into a career at 38 working at Colorado Parks and Wildlife.  I excelled at school once I had a reason to be there (plus KU was remarkably easy especially compared to UofM). 

Basically I just don't think everyone figures out what they want to do in their 20s and that is OK.  You aren't guaranteed some crappy life because you haven't started a career at 25 and many of my friends who did envy my years of exploration while I was still young.

100% agree with this post.

His son is not currently motivated career-wise.  Which, while disappointing to observe, is not criminal or immoral or even really wrong either. 

However, there is only ONE person in the world who can ultimately change that.  That one person is not the OP.  

I say this as someone who, myself, was not motivated coming out of college and bummed around career-wise for several years until I aligned on a direction for grad school (100% paid for by me at that point) and my career.  I'm fully satisfied right now.

Point being, I've lived it.  In many respects, I WAS the OP's son for my first few years post-undergrad.  Moving forward was ultimately 100% my responsibility.

Good luck to the OP and his son.

You don't know OP's situation. Some people make an agree with their children that they will pay for 4 years of school. You aren't anyone to tell him otherwise or what he can/can't do with his money