Brain Fertilizer

To start with, let me just say that I am slightly disturbed by the huge leap one must take from high school to college in our nation. Our high schools lag behind many nations' high schools in knowledge achievement, but our universities are the best in the world. As a result, there is a larger gap in demands from our high schools to our colleges. I don't really want to lower our college standards, but I would like to raise high school standards. However, that is another topic for another day.

It impacts today's subject in this manner: I think it is very unfair to our children to expect that after mandatory attendance in high school, they must deal with too many new situations, experiences, and temptations, while simultaneously being largely fully responsible for themselves for the first time, and still be able to choose the proper major for the career(s) they will pursue for the rest of their life. This is made more difficult since most of the college students right out of high school have no real work-experience other than fast food or perhaps retail clerking. Oh, yeah: the bulk of these students are also living hand-to-mouth and/or working part-time jobs just to have enough to eat.

Here is what I'm going to teach my children:

You must obtain a college degree, and you will be best prepared in life if you continue to pursue higher degrees. You will have to sacrifice to do this. But right now we are most concerned with your intial Bachelor's Degree.

But unless you are skilled enough in sports to have a realistic chance at a professional career (and thus are risking eroding your skills through disuse if you don't go to college immediately), there is no reason you actually need to attend college right after graduating high school.

Perhaps the best method for preparing yourself for your adult life would be to enlist in the military. At one time, the minimum enlistment was two years, but now I think you have to do four years. While that may seem like a long time, it really isn't. It will allow you to learn skills and discipline that you can use throughout your entire life, to earn some great benefits for college, and allow you to buy a decent car, nice clothes, good computer, etc, before you enter college, so you won't live like a pauper for five years. In addition, your training will probably give you college credits, and while you are in the military, the military will pay for you to attend classes in your time off or take tests for college credit (AP, CLEP, and Dantes).

If you would prefer not to spend that many years in the military, you can also sign up for the reserves. You will spend approximately a year between basic training and advanced (skill/job) training, but the commitment is far lighter for the next few years. Many state National Guard units will also pay for much of your college, as well.

If you sign up for the Montgomery GI Bill when you enlist, you will pay $100 each month for the first year, but then when you attend college, the government will pay you approximately $600/month if you attend college part time and nearly $1000/month if you attend full time (which is 12 hours, minimum). Unfortunately, you can't get any of it in advance to pay for your school, it is best used for living expenses like rent and food.

Some states offer extra benefits if you enlist in that state and then attend a state school. In particular, the best are Texas and Illinois, which will allow you to attend any state school for free if you enlist there.

However, in many ways it is better to be an officer than enlisted. More responsibility is demanded of you, but you also are paid better...much better, and there are other benefits, as well. If you have decent grades in high school, you can apply for an ROTC scholarship. In addition to paying for your school, they give you a small stipend each month. When you graduate, you are guaranteed a good job that will give you "management"/supervisory experience that is invaluable in most career fields, and you'll get that experience much earlier than you could in the civilian world. It is demanding, but most people feel it is worth the sacrifices.

But it is true that not everyone wants to join the military. Even among those who want to, not everyone can join the military, for physical reasons. Not everyone has the mental strength to make it through basic training or deal with the loss of some rights that others take for granted. And do not fool yourself: you may be forced to fight, or to deploy away from your family to support the fighters. You may end up risking your life or being killed. If you cannot endure that possibility, do not enlist.

However, don't forget the Coast Guard. You won't get sent to war, you will certainly be assigned to somewhere near water, with a darn good chance to be placed at some of the most beautiful beaches in the nation...and you still get all the benefits of military service.

If the military isn't for you, you must plan ahead in high school, and ensure that you work hard in academic, sports, and artistic endeavors. If you can get a full scholarship (tuition, fees, room, board, and books) on the basis of any skill, by all means, go ahead.

However, if you did not perform well in high school, or simply were unable to obtain a full scholarship, there is still no reason to go heavily in debt, put your parents heavily in debt, or starve yourself to be able to afford college.

The most important part of college is the knowledge you gain. The name of the college is important...to an extent. However, any prospective employers only care about your last level of achievement. They don't care about what you did in High School if you are applying for jobs that require a college degree. Likewise, they don't care where you completed your freshman and sophomore classes. So go to a junior college. The cost is a fraction of what a major university charges, and the information is the same, thanks to accreditation standards. Heck, at most major universities, your first two years are spent in huge classes with Teaching Assistants standing in for the assigned professor; you'll get more personal attention at a junior college. Junior College also gives you a second chance to excel if your high school grades or ACT/SAT score weren't excellent...a 3.8 or 4.0 at your junior college is within the grasp of most people who apply themselves, and such a performance can also net you full-ride academic scholarships at a major university.

Finally, if paying for even the last 2-3 upper-class years of college are still problematic, you might consider trying to find a decent job with your Associate's Degree from junior college, and attending college on nights and weekends. You would probably be unable to obtain a specialized degree like music or physics or microbiology, but general degrees like business, english, history, teaching, are quite easy to obtain that way.

This won't solve everyone's problems. Not everyone will be able to attend college. Not everyone can afford college. But this is at least another way to look at making college as affordable as possible.

Parents: One idea I saw in Wealth Without Risk, by Charles J. Givens, that I really liked was:
If you can afford the down payment (and perhaps some part of the monthly payments), purchase a multi-room house near the college your child will attend. Even better if you can convince allwill have to deal with problems, but even such experiences will help prepare them more for life. In addition to the tax break of depreciation, interest payments for the house, and whatnot, you are allowed two tax-free visits per year to inspect your property; if it is some distance from your home, that could be a substantial savings if you already itemize your deductions. Since most college requires five years these days, even if only one child stays there, you should be able to sell it five years later at a profit, with the renters having given you the funds to make the payments for five years.

I hope that is clear enough to make you consider it. If not, Mr. Givens explains it better than I do, so see if you can find the book.