Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 3, 1993 TAG: 9305270508
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: GRADS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But in fact, he said, the idea of not going never really crossed his mind. And with seven older brothers and sisters who have 10 college degrees among them, it's not hard to see why.
Raymond, 21, is only a year away from a degree in computer sciences himself.
Michael, 23, received his degree in health service from James Madison University in December.
Carolyn, 24, graduated in 1991 from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C, and is teaching people with impaired hearing in Dickenson County, Tenn.
Virginia Ann, 25, graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor's degree in finance, and works for an insurance company in Fairfax.
Mary, 28, earned a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech in 1985 in child-care administration and is working in North Carolina.
Patricia, 29, is a graduate of Vanderbilt University. She completed her nursing degree in 1985, and earned a master's degree in 1988 from the University of Missouri. She is working as a nurse practitioner in Monroe County, W.Va., alongside her husband, John Gazewood, a physician.
Maureen, 30, graduated from Longwood College in 1984. She taught school in Roanoke County afterward, and is now a full-time homemaker.
Bob, 32, the eldest Canfield, earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University in 1983, a master's degree from Stanford University in 1984 and a doctorate from Virginia Tech in December 1992. He now is on the teaching staff at the Air Force Institute at Dayton, Ohio.
So how does a family put that many children through college?
"It was a team effort," Virginia Canfield said.
The Canfields say they never really planned much for their children's education, at least as far as setting up formal savings accounts for them went; but when the time came for a child to go off to college, the money was always there.
"It developed because they expressed an interest in wanting to go," Robert Canfield said. "They wanted new horizons, and it was up to us to help them reach them."
To accomplish this, the family lived frugally from day-to-day, buying in bulk and handing down clothes. There was one telephone line, and calls were restricted to 15 minutes, an important rule in a houseful of teen-agers.
As a penalty for those who talked too long, "after that you could pick it up and listen in" on the extension, Raymond said.
Each of the children was expected to pitch in and help the others, especially during the times when their mother was working outside the home.
"We never had the best of anything," Raymond said.
"Nobody in this family has ever had a new car," Robert Canfield agreed. Spending money on education was much more important.
Instead, the family handed down used cars like used clothes. The oldest child in the house was given the use of the car in exchange for chauffeuring the others to school and activities. When that child went to college, the next one was given the car and the responsibility.
Summers and school vacations weren't playtimes, either, Canfield said. By the time each child went to college, he or she was expected to have earned as much money as possible, even if it mean missing family vacations. To do this, Virginia said, some of the children held down more than one part-time job.
Some of the children won scholarships, others got grants or work/study programs and most of them also took out loans. After everything was added up, their parents made up the difference between what they had and what they needed.
Education is important to both the Canfield parents. Robert, who works for the FBI, was the first person in his family to go to college. Virginia took some college courses before she married, but at that time, "it was not considered as important for girls" to go to school. She wanted more for her daughters.
Raymond said that as far as he knows, neither he nor his siblings felt pressured to go to college, and if there is any competition among them to earn degrees, it's unconscious.
None of the children had it easy, Robert said. "They all had to work for their grades."
Homework was not a problem, he added. The older children sometimes helped the younger ones, and "we expected them to study, to do the best job and to be the best student they could."
Having the children leave home was a little hard, Virginia said, but "this is what you aim for all your life. It's fun to let them go."
And besides, she laughed, the children visit fairly regularly, so "they keep coming back."
by CNB