Dad kills sons at college in West Virginia

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/father-sons-dead-in-apparent-murder/20060902174509990013?ncid=NWS00010000000001

I couldn't find any explanation in the story why people aged 24 and 26 were collerge students in an undergraduate setting.

 

Wow. Shepherd's football team was playing at my alma mater while this happened. Very quiet little town, Shepherdstown.

 

Maybe he was upset over having to pay tution for 6 and 8 years respectively

 

It's possible they both went into the military out of high school. It's also possible, given the location, that they went to work in the coal mines after high school but eventually realized, "The money's nice but damn, this is a shitty way to make a living."

 

I'd dare say it's more common than those who graduate four years after high school.

 

Heck, I worked a full time (or more) job all through college myself. As far as I know, so have all of my siblings that graduated from college.

I'd rather take an extra two years to get the sheepskin than graduate with $25-50k in loans.

 

I think it deserves mention of why, especially for the 26-year-old.

 

I went to a college where the median undergrad age was 27. And this was 15-20 years ago.

Granted, it was a commuter school, which tends to skew older. But there's nothing that needs to be explained about why someone 24 or 26 is going to undergrad. Yeah, it could be post-military, it could be post-coal mine, it could be dropped-out-because-girlfriend-had-a-baby. Especially with what college costs these days, there are a lot of people coming out of high school that need to work for a while just to afford college, or need to go part-time for a long time to keep a lid on costs. Who knows? And in this story, who cares?

 

It jumps out.

I don't care what you guys say, 26 is above average for someone at undergrad.

And, in a case where , even by murder-suicide standards, this is bizarre, any abnormality should be checked out.

I mean, killing two adult sons... that is bizarre, even within the realm of an already horrific crime.

 

According to Shepherd University's enrollment numbers for 2003-04 (http://www.shepherd.edu/college/enrollment04.html) ...

Average Age (All Students): 26.36
Average Age (4 Year): 23.48
Average Age (2 Year): 27.79
Average Age (Non-Degree): 34.76

So, no -- 26 is NOT "above average for someone at undergrad," specifically at this school.

Any more questions that "jump out"?

 

So, the guys were graduate students?

Thank you. Question answered.

 

according to the same link, 27 of the 4,831 were enrolled in 'graduate studies'

it's west virginia, hell, not sure they can read until 13, it takes a little longer to get to college level classes