A Change Factor

The mother of the great student who is procrastinating on his college applications, says with disdain in her voice that he’ll just have to go to state college if he doesn’t get a move on.

Oh, and that’s what, punishment?

Maybe, just maybe, a state school is just what that boy needs. Maybe he can relax a little, have a little more fun, because that’s really what he wants. He’s only 17. But his mother is creating undue family stress and warning the kid of the dire consequences that are state schools.

Pu-lease!

Poor woman, she’s stuck in that awful abyss, the whole reason for this blog. Oh yes, state schools just don’t have the glitz of the selective private schools, I know that. Of course, I was all over those private, mostly selective, and expensive colleges last year at this time. But, the culture has got to change.

Here’s the newest change factor, possibly the best that’s come along in say, oh, 22 years.

It’s the economy.

This near economic depression we are experiencing might be the final blow to this need for the middle class to send their children to the “right schools.”

Maybe more families who are watching their retirements disappear with the stock market decline, will opt out of this crazy making college acceptance culture and see their children, who will be no less brilliant than they were before, head off to their state universities and colleges.

And perhaps those colleges that continue to be out of reach unless they can provide grants and scholarships from large endowments will be held more accountable for their horrendous tuitions.
A candidate for public office was asked what he will do to help middle class families with the cost of colleges. He said, the government can only do so much, but it’s about time for colleges to do their part to stop the tuition increases. He suggested we ask more accountability of colleges, as in “just why is the cost so high?”

I liked that response. It seemed honest to me, even if it isn’t going to help me, yet.
Meanwhile, unless a school is willing to provide substantial merit scholarships, (no I’m not talking those measly little $5,000 gifts) families should opt out.

State schools are not a consequence, and they just might be the perfect fit for your kid.