The Myth of Independent American Families
August 1, 2022
In 1970, a 17-year-old named Lars Tragardh left Sweden for America, trading in the collectivism of his home country for rugged individualism. Or so he thought.
His disillusionment began while he was applying for college financial aid. He hoped to attend Pomona College in Southern California, and even back then, tuition seemed steep compared with the cost of education in Sweden, where university was free. When he learned that the school had two sets of aid forms—one regarding his own income, and one for his parents’—he was surprised. “Well, what does that have to do with me?” Tragardh recalls asking. “I’m an adult … I have no economic relations to my family anymore.” An administrator explained that in America, parents are expected to contribute to their children’s college costs.
