In my opinion, obtaining a college education has one purpose—to secure a better paying job and a more lucrative career.   

Just like any normal person would expect some positive measure of return on an investment in the stock market, bonds or real estate, you too should anticipate some positive result from the enormous investment a college education requires today.  You will spend thousands of dollars over four to five years for your child to earn a college diploma.  For the end result to be a dead end job or one not requiring a degree is simply bad business. Your money was poorly invested.     

So the decision to go to college must be a very practical one, yet in moving from decision to implementation, the process of determining where to attend becomes muddled by any number of personal, family and peer group filters.  The practical decision to attend college for a better job becomes an emotional purchase based on preconceptions, misconceptions, and artificial parameters, yours and those of others.  Just as the practical need for transportation can quickly evolve into the purchase of something fast and sporty, the selection of a college can be skewed by the need to attend the institution with the strongest football team, the best social scene, the most extra-curricular activities, or the most prestigious reputation.       

Some filters aren’t bad, however.  A result of the recent terrorist activity is fewer students going to college out of state.  Mom and Dad don’t want their child too far away and flying regularly.  Is this decision emotional?  Yes, but given the circumstances, perhaps a fairly wise one.        

With the written and electronic resources available to parents and students on college and financial aid planning, there is little left unanswered.  It is the use and interpretation of those resources that begs guidance. Left to their own devices, most families’ college planning efforts go astray.  Objectivity is elusive.  There needs to be a plan, a process to follow to help fend off emotional decisions and hopefully make a good college investment.