An Investment in Your Future

We've been touring college campuses up and down the East Coast since Saturday. While the campuses have begun to blur together in my mind, there is one thing that stood out: every college touted how important it was to make an investment in your child's education, and went to great lengths to tell us just how easy it is to get student loans. They brushed off annual tuitions of $40,000 (at state run, public universities) as trivial in comparison to the gains they would have through life, beginning as soon as they graduate. I'm not sure what most kids earn starting fresh out of college, but I'm pretty sure it's not enough to pay that debt off in a timely manner and start their lives out on the right foot.

I paid my own way through college. No debt when I graduated. Yes, I had to work while I took classes, but I have forever been able to say that I paid for my own education. I went in state, and I went to a nationally recognized school. My husband also worked his way through college in the co-op program - a decision that earned him a higher starting salary upon graduation.

So, we've been looking at schools with an eye on tuition and expenses. We want our kids to have an excellent education, but we don't want them saddled with debt, either. Graduating with $160,000 or more in debt is out of the question.

We've found absolute gems. Hidden within the maze of public universities, we are finding amazing campuses with fantastic programs at reasonable prices. (We found one today for $15,000 annually.). We've found great scholarship programs at some of these schools, and we've found amazing business partnerships. It's been an eye opening experience.

The true investment for our kids is going to be the investment in time, the time to make certain that they find an excellent, affordable education so that they can begin their journey into adulthood debt free.