[Rick Lee]

I have to confess that I'm one of the spoiled people whose parents paid for college and didn't want me to work during semesters. I worked anyway, but only because they gave me a lump sum check for room and board for the semester, which I usually pissed away in the first two weeks on booze and music equipment. But they were happy I chose a university that cost less than my prep school had. And I finished in four years, going part time my last semester.

My sister, OTOH, picked a very expensive school and goofed off, then transferred to an even more expensive school that wouldn't accept her other credits. I vividly remember seeing her get a check for $10k for Xmas around 1995. The check had little strings taped to it, meaning strings attached. It was enough for tuition, room and board for one more semester. Condition was that, if she didn't get at least a 2.7 GPA, that was the last my folks would be paying. And so that was her last semester of college. Luckily, she didn't take on a bunch of debt to drag college out to seven or more years. And she found an excellent job in almost no time after moving to Dallas. College really isn't for everyone. When she recently spent over a year on unemployment, she was actually living very well because she had no debt and her rent was about the same as her weekly UI check.