Personal Responsibility and College Success: Taking Ownership of Your Academic Career and Your Life

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Personal Responsibility and College Success: Taking Ownership of Your Academic Career and Your Life June 9, 2014 Personal responsibility is the ability to stand up to one’s own decisions. It means to take ownership of one's own actions, reactions and decisions, especially one as important as deciding to attend college. Though some may argue that colleges and parents ought to share the responsibility of students' college success (to include finances, time management and homework), taking personal responsibility (ownership) for individual decisions will lead to college success - and beyond - depending on particular individual values. These values – moral obligation, integrity, respect, honesty and discipline – given to themselves and the academic community will affect students' academic success. It takes responsibility to be a successful college student. For those who attend college right after high school, taking personal responsibility for actions is unfamiliar territory. Young men and women tend to depend on their parents to help with college expenses, personal finances, living expenses, food, etc. But do parents have a financial obligation for their student's college expenses? Laws on parental financial obligation vary from state-to-state. Of the 50 United States, thirty states require parents to support their adult children who are in need and unable to care for themselves. Nineteen of those states limit the parents' responsibility to circumstances where the child is physically or mentally incapable, and “statutes in nine states establish a parental support obligation whenever the child is needy and unable to maintain himself." (“Parents’ Support Obligations to Their Adult Children,” 1985, p. 184). But if I had to presume, I would say the beginning of college is the perfect time for these new students to start taking responsibility for their financial

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