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[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. While private colleges and university can have very high sticker prices,

many of them give financial aid to almost all of their students. Sometimes without the students even applying, and I know that because of personal experience: my son was granted merit scholarships at two private colleges even though he did not apply for aid.

The essential point, that students and their parents need to carefully weight the costs is being somewhat overlooked. A couple of years ago I got into a conversation with a parent who completely misunderstood Pell grants. That's just one example.

Quite frankly, more students should start out at the local junior college, and while they're at it, look very closely at the vocational offerings of those schools. A four year liberal arts degree makes little sense for many young people, but a two year program that leads directly to a job can often be a better idea than staying in college for five or six years and graduating with (for example) a degree in anthropology, for which there are absolutely no jobs to be had in that field.