College Costs & Ideas

I was lucky and made some good decisions about college. The lucky part is I failed out of Clarkson. Three semesters there cost just over $21,000, a paltry figure today but overwhelming then. I had a grant or two and my parents absorbed the majority of the bill. God bless 'em. On the way home from failing out with all my stuff in the back of the station wagon, I sat nervously waiting for Dad to go off on me. Instead, he said, "the next school is on you."

So it was. I went to Onondaga Community College for two semesters, total cost $1,340. I paid out of pocket. Then I paid for SUNY Oswego without incurring much more debt, maybe a couple thousand dollars. I got into a graduate school that, for one out-of-state student (me!), waived tuition and gave me a teaching fellowship that allowed me to make money while attending full time. Within five years of graduation I had paid it all off.

My kids shouldn't have to depend on luck and penny-pinching. It's in everyone's best interests that children be educated and come out of school as something more than indentured servants.

Elizabeth Warren is talking about debt forgiveness. She'll be labeled whacko for that (Americans can't allow women to voice ideas without first belittling the women and the ideas) but the idea makes sense. College and university have become ludicrously expensive and not because professors and adjuncts make so much money. The system is broken and needs a radical fix.

I'm suspicious of free college tuition. I was more engaged when my money was involved and tuition is only a fraction of total costs. I don't have the solutions, so I'll vote for someone who is thinking well about them. Elizabeth Warren is talking the talk so far. I'm listening.

Childish Contradictions

EDIT: I posted this late at night using a bluetooth keyboard attached to my phone. It did not go well. There was no alcohol involved, but five hours of driving, no sleep, a cold, and a bad keyboard took their toll. I've noticed and hopefully corrected the typos that were littered all over this.

I'm in a hotel room near the Univerity Of Vermont while my girls and wife explore the hotel in search of a bubbler for water. I woke this morning at 4:40 and wrote Morning Pages as always, had some breakfast, went to the job (last day before break!), stopped for gas, bread for sandwiches, and a book from the library on the way home, made sandwiches, helped pack the car, and drove for just shy of five hours from Syracuse. I'm tired now. Ready for sleep.

Tomorrow we tour St. Michael's College, an institution that has been heavily courting our girl. We will have to see what she thinks of the place and what our financial situation thinks about it.

There is also the question of distance. I'm not sure how she feels about being five hours from home. I know how my wife feels. I'm curious what it would be like for me. I've been thinking about distance and closeness throughout most of the drive.

Seems to me it's not that far away even as it is a long drive. It might be the sort of thing that would be good for her and therefore good for us. I like the idea of her going out into the world even as I hope that she will come right back.

I know this much about raising children (and probably not much more): I can't predict what tomorrow will be like even as I have some ideas. This is a good balance like being far away from and close to understanding. Raising kids is an act of faith and of discipline. It requires vigilance and turning a blind eye. It is holding tight and letting them slip out of sight.

Does parenting contradict itself? Very well then, it contradicts itself. it is large. It contains multitudes.

One other thing about taking our kid to tour colleges: watching our daughters grow up is heavenly wonderful and absolutely terrible. I suppose that's exactly how things are supposed to balance.

Financial Aid

I just went through an annoying hour of compiling financial information and making educated guesses for The College Board. Our daughter is graduating high school and interested in attending college. A couple months ago I filled out the Financial Aid Form and thought I was done, but several schools to which she has applied require this second more invasive, less convenient form, so I lost the hour to finding information, filling in online forms, and realizing that we are just broke, broke, and broke. At least in this case, that works to her advantage.

Bernie Sanders is back on the campaign trail and I wish I could get excited about that. I was supposed to be excited last time too, being a liberal and leaning toward socialist tendencies — God forbid we share with one another! — but I couldn't get excited about his ideas especially the one about free college. That's a nonstarter.

I think it's a mirage. Free tuition, maybe, but free college, that ain't gonna happen. And anyone who has looked at college can tell you, tuition isn't the half of it. Anyway, I doubt "free" college would be the solution to our problems. I'm not into free college. Instead, I wish we could have guaranteed inexpensive college. Why not? I like the idea of my girl having to pay something, to have some skin in the game. Free stuff too often is valued as much as we've paid for it. I want college to be inexpensive and to not burden her for the rest of her life with crushing debt. I want her to get an education, not become indentured.

There's a good chance I'll need to fill out the forms again next year and show that we're making even less money. Yay!? Quitting my job will likely have that effect. The forms I completed today asked what I think my 2019 income will be. I almost laughed and then put in numbers half of what I made in 2018. Who knows what will be?

The whole time doing the forms I wondered who comes up with these things. I imagine they evolve over time like viruses or infections. One lawyer adds something and an accountant adds another and before long it's incomprehensible to the mere mortal. It becomes something that no longer makes sense but we do it anyway because no one can imagine pulling the whole thing down and starting from scratch.

What would happen if every college cost the same low nominal fee? I'm sure selection criteria would get crazy. It's like making all school districts funded by the state per pupil according to the cost of living in that town, instead of funding schools through local property taxes. I'd love to see the Syracuse City School District funded the same as a suburban district like my alma mater Fayetteville-Manlius. I'd really love it if students could choose to attend either one. That's not going to happen. Savage inequalities must be maintained.

Can Bernie Sanders change that? Can anyone? Not right away. There will be plenty of bluster and bloviating from the left side of the campaign trail. That's better than the hate which spews from the right. Still, I would support a candidate who said simply that she rid us of financial aid forms and level the playing field. Yeah, I could go for that. Especially the first part. I'm so sick of those forms.