I don’t know…I live here in e”y and I see the seminary girls and I’m not particularly impressed. It seems like one long year of camp to me. With some studying, depending on the sem, but even that, while good, is not preparation for real life. Maybe for a very specific type of girl who is very attached to Mommy, it’s a good idea. The case you mentioned where someone got divorced is one case and extreme. I wouldn’t take an example from it. I’m not saying girls don’t gain and grow in seminary but not necessarily in ways that make them better wives or mothers. It’s very narrow to say that you wouldn’t consider a girl who didn’t go away for that reason. You could be rejecting a lot of good, independent girls. I went out of town for sem and I don’t feel it made a difference either way to my independence. So I learned how to do laundry. By the time I got married, I had forgotten already and it took me approx. 5 minutes to relearn.
I don’t know the percentage of girls who are are on a strict budget in seminary, but I don’t think most people have as little spending money as you described. There are ways to learn budgeting at home too. Parents can start very young with that if they want to.
One more thing: just because someone is homesick in sem doesn’t mean they will be homesick when they get married. It’s not the same type of situation.