But I want to go a different route, even though you may not want to hear it. I too work at a college and my kids will receive a similar benefit. Fortunately, my benefit includes an exchange program with other schools as well (you should ask your father if this is the case for you).

But my point is that your father is probably making a sacrifice in salary to work at a college (higher education pays OK but not as well as the business world) to receive this benefit to give you free college tuition. Please understand this from your parents standpoint. Your grades are good so you are likely to receive academic scholarships from other schools and that will help – talk with your parents about your desires to explore other schools as I think it is fair, especially because you may get good financial aid.

But be prepared for your parents to hold firm. My three children will be told they can go to where I work, go to the one of the schools on the exchange list, or they better be very good students so that they receive a lot of scholarships because I will not pay full-price or even close to that for them to go another school. Some readers may thumbs-down me for it, but I could be making more money in the private sector so I am not dipping into my retirement funds to send them to a college they want when they have more than ten good choices.

This may sound harsh, but I know other folks that this is what they do. My two cousins were told they had to go to Bradley because it was free. One wanted to go to Arizona St. but couldn’t.

Communication is the key, but be willing to understand your parents point of view on this – college is so expensive that it can drain a family’s finances.

Good luck!

Too many students pop in to college with ideas about enjoying the sweet student life, partying, getting into activities, etc. Then four years later they’ve finished a major in something they chose because they liked a particular professor, and many find themselves ‘way in debt and not very employable.

If your dad’s college will offer the service, go to their career development office and ask them to help you figure out your future career.

Let’s face it, history, writing, advertising and politics is a little too broad–and just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you want to earn your living at it (I’m a good cook but restaurant work bums me out, for example)–nor even if your interested in it (I’m a decent musician but I don’t want to make a living at it–there’s some music I don’t want to play even if I get paid!). So you want the experts to help you figure out what would be a rewarding and fulfilling career for you ASAP.

Once you know your career, you’ll be able to make an intelligent decision about college. Maybe you only need a 2-year degree and a community college would be perfect. Maybe your dad’s school doesn’t offer the major you need, or it’s one of those majors like Journalism where program quality is important and an AEJMC accreditation would be crucial.

Another aspect is cost. If you can go to the college tuition-free and live at home (or cheaply nearby with the parental units as close support, meals, laundry etc.) then you get out of college with rather small student loan debt. We’re seeing some students who graduate from college with a student loan bill up in the $80K range–and they think it’s going to work out OK because they don’t believe anyone would lend them money without expectations that they can repay. In the end, they may NEVER repay those loans–the banks will collect interest only for 45 years and then forgive the principal when the person retires–that’s a crummy way to manage your finances throughout your adult life, you probably never have the cash to put down on a nice house or new car.

Now, don’t forget that you always have the opportunity to change your mind–if you find your interests shifting, you can get into a different major, and current wisdom is that people change careers 3 times in their adult lives, on average.

So find out your long-term goal. Don’t just go to a college because the recruiter made it sound good or because your high school friends will be there.

That would give you some time as well as exp;erience in college life. Ylou would be able to talk to people there at the college for ideas of other universities that has programs that interest you.

It would be a good start and also keep your tuition costs down as well.