College

Last night, we began the process of applying for financial aid for my daughter, using the federal form. Along the way, the site gave us some statistics about the five colleges she's chosen. We were startled to learn that the one she wants the most has some dismal statistics. 23% of first year students leave the college after the first year (unknown whether that's a transfer to another college, or just dropping out, completely), and about 10% don't get a degree. In comparison, the other four schools had about a 10% rate for not continuing, and about a 3% rate for not getting a degree. We suspect that it's a combination of things -- it's a military college, which is a completely different lifestyle than most people are used to, and it's in northern Vermont, where it's very cold about half the year.

We told this to my daughter. This turned out to be a very bad move, as she thought we were trying to convince her to drop the idea of going there. I admit, the thought was in my mind, but that wasn't our goal. We simply wanted her to know what the odds were. It turned out that she's apparently been having second thoughts about the whole college idea generally, being not at all sure that she can hack it (she's doing some college-level work now, and finding it difficult). Learning those numbers made her extremely nervous and more than a little emotional.

Both of us assured her that we aren't trying to talk her out of it, and neither of us mentioned the we just wanted you to know part, because that would have sounded like we were trying to talk her out of it. She seems better this morning. After she left for school, though, my wife and I talked about it. Think we should consider some what-if scenarios? I asked. My wife agreed. We're not going to tell her, though.