There are hundreds of Everett young people heading back to college this week.
Everyone participating in the college experience understands how expensive the experience is.
There are hundreds of parents, grandparents, friends and the kids themselves, trying to come up with enormous amounts of money to pay the schools the huge fees necessary to gain entrance to residence halls and classes.
Parents, grandparents and students are emptying their checking accounts and their savings accounts to pay extraordinary tuitions.
They are also taking loans, enormous loans, to pay for their college educations.
The amounts are mind boggling – and they are real and they must be paid back.
Student loans are the only loans not allowed to be bundled into a bankruptcy. Why exactly this is so is likely because of the strong lobby representing college loan distributors.
We have all heard stories or are familiar first hand with former students owing college loans for 30 years or longer – which is of course, a crime.
Would there be anything wrong with the government paying for our childrens’ college fees?
Many economists say we can’t afford it.
But what if we had one less $1trillion dollar war?
Then everyone’s college tuitions could be paid twice with that savings.
Education above all is about as important a tool we can give our children as they go out into the world to make something of their lives. It is a huge sacrifice for all of us committed to doing the right thing for our kids to empty our bank accounts and to sign loans so we can watch them take rooms of residence at the various colleges in the area and across the land.
It is an American right of passage to educate oneself, to get a degree and to hop on board the success trail.
It is expensive.
But it is worth it.