College 2022

I’ve often remained oblivious to several modern day societal challenges. Perhaps because of a natural naiveté or maybe due to living the somewhat cloistered life of a career Soldier.

Until I had a high school senior in the house this year, I didn’t fully grasp why there is so much stir about higher education in the United States. Finding, applying, getting accepted, and paying for college is an incredible challenge. 

It is over seven months before my son even graduates high school, but we are already submitting an application. 30 years ago, I only applied to one school, a state college and certainly don’t recall things such as early decision. On the surface, early decision seems like a good opportunity for those students who want to go all in to try to get accepted at their first choice.

Therein lies the challenge, getting accepted! I guess now I understand why there are these sensational news reports about some folks trying to cheat the system. Getting accepted to college these days, especially to the “selective schools”, is tough!

From what I understand, good grades and high test scores aren’t always enough for the selective schools. Through the college application process, a candidate must show the school why they are a good fit for the institution. I knew it was competitive, but certainly not like this!

And then if fortunate enough to be accepted, how do people pay the astronomical tuition bill? We made a deal with our children long ago that if they put in the work to get accepted to the college of their choice, mom and dad would figure out how to pay for it leaving them debt free upon graduation.

Well my oldest lived up to his end of the deal and is looking at selective universities! We are very proud of his achievements in high school. I don’t know which college he will get accepted to, but his application should be pretty competitive. His brother three years behind him is on a similar path.

I’ve written at length about how great 529 plans are but I’m not sure I fully understood why until now. Our 529 plan will go a long way to pay for college but even then it may not be enough!

Which brings me to my final rant, how did college get so expensive? Does it really cost as much as a nice house to educate ourselves? To be fair, even in 1991 state college tuition wasn’t exactly cheap for an 18 year paying their way through school. One reason I joined the Army!

I haven’t studied the reasons why college tuition has increased dramatically over the years but I understand why this is one of the most pressing social issues of our day.

Normally I prefer my blogs to be a little more pointed. As I wrote last week, it’s been very therapeutic to share some of my life experiences along Living – Leading – Investing with the hope there may be a small nugget of information that could help someone.

This blog has certainly been more rant than helpful. If there is a message to glean, I think it is start early to learn about finding, applying and paying for college. If you got toddlers at home, start now! I definitely waited too late.

Over the years I was just too concerned with working and investing. I didn’t spend the time to educate myself on the entire college process and truly grasp the enormity of the task.  Now I understand why there are literally hundreds of blogs, books, seminars and media of every kind on the college application process.

Our son has done his part. When he hits send on that application in a week or so, I truly believe he is putting the culmination of years of hard work for the admission department’s consideration. I truly hope his dreams come true. The gnawing feeling I have now though, is did I do everything I could have to help him prepare for the application process?

An important part of the college application process is recommendation letters. During my career in the military I wrote dozens of recommendation letters but I am learning through the college application process, recommendation letters have changed too! Tune in next week as I share some (perhaps outdated) thoughts on writing recommendation letters!

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