All my posts about financial aid and scholarships, plus the psychological influence of a new year, make me want to step back and address the most common concern of parents. A college degree is very expensive and getting more and more costly each year. Is it really worth it?
Yes, yes, a million times, yes. Putting aside the obvious "the more you learn the more you earn" correlation between education level and income, let's just talk about what every parent wants for his/her child: a better life. Spending another four years (or more) learning actually leads to more brain development. People who stop learning after high school end up halting their brain development, while those that push on into college develop more advanced brains. These more advanced brains pay off with a life time of deeper thinking, better common sense, and a clearer understanding of one's relationship to the rest of the world. People with college educations have more confidence and approach life in a pro-active way, believing they control their own destiny through effort and goal setting. As a parent, the most important thing I want for my child is the ability to think and solve problems so that he will be able to make it in an increasingly competitive world. If having a college degree also lands him a higher paying job with better job security- that's just icing on the cake.
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