The effects of college attendance by working adults on educational motivations of their children were studied. A total of 740 parents in the Detroit area who attended a college program combining in-home televised instruction with weekend decentralized seminars were surveyed along with 211 of their children and 75 respondents from Kansas City. Many of the adults were blue collar workers without previous college experience. Questionnaires and telephone interviews were completed by those who had attended class in union locals and by graduates of the University Studies and Weekend College, Detroit. Parents were asked their opinions about the quality of the education to which they or their children may have access and about the importance of education. They were asked to state the importance of three factors regarding their children at the time they decided to enter college: a desire to be better equipped to help with schoolwork; the wish to encourage children by setting an example; or a need to keep up with children because school subjects have changed. Adults frequently reported that they enrolled in a college degree program to set an example for their children. Parent-child talk about school was consistently related to children's learning attitude and grade changes. Many parents perceived positive changes in the motivation of their offspring, and extensive verbatim statements from parents and children are included as illustration. Effects that were noticed shortly after parents began their college studies included young children pretending to do homework with the parent and young adults deciding to attend college. Blacks reported stronger program effects than nonblacks; graduates perceived more change than noncompleters. Children, especially blacks, reported that their attitudes toward learning were positively influenced by their parents' college attendance. (SW)