I was raised the same way thankfully or I would have been some slobbering idiot in a wheelchair cursing a cruel, cruel world. That was not how my parents wanted me to be and pushed me constantly to be better and more than any so-called "disability." My father was a firm believer in discipline as well as my backside showed when I was younger, he had
zero sympathy for whining and excuses!! :D I have done my best to raise my daughter the same way. Unfortunately, as far as college costs goes, even though she was in the top 10% of her class she was just not high
enough. Her mother and I are also very middle-class in our income so we make too much for the number-crunchers but not enough that college expenses
really hurt our bottom line! We fall in that middle limbo area where we make too much but not enough and she's "not dumb enough" but not "smart enough" if that all makes sense.