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Alas, we've been outed by the New York Times. In a recent article in the Money and Business section (Pamela Kruger, 3/8/98), all the news that was fit to print included the accusatory question, "Guess Who Didn't Save for College?" Is it mere coincidence that prescriptions for Prozac are increasing geometrically as children of the Boomers accrue tuition bills of $130,000.00? Are we, middle class denizens of the generation who liberated class and race from its Victorian confines, about to fight for financial aid with the truly needy? Are there parents among us who don't remember the astonishing impact of our college years? The Times implies that Generation Xers open tuition accounts for their children before conception. Of baby boomers, however, they suggest that we are not only financially ill-prepared, but also indifferent. "They (the afore-maligned boomers) have grossly underestimated the price tag --", they accuse, "or deliberately ignored it."
I can understand that some might consider me financially ill-prepared. But just because I needed CPR when my daughter's first tuition bill arrived doesn't mean that I chose to ignore it. I have little sympathy for the mother who drives an Acura Legend and travels to Europe with her children and then complains that she had to destroy all of her credit cards because of tuition pressures. Helping our children get a college education is a privilege, not a punishment. I am thrilled to see every student flourish in the fine tradition of the liberal arts. And even those of us who can't put our money where our mouths are should not be accused of preparations so haphazard, contends the Times, that they are easily reversed by "unexpected expenses," such as, and I quote in astonishment, "... medical bills for an elderly parent." I hope they didn't put that article in the large-print edition. The pearls would be popping!
When I finished my undergraduate degree in 1969, four years of tuition, room and board at a private eastern college came to $20,000, more than the average annual income of a middle class American. But I knew that I had been given a gift of even greater value. During, after, and even thirty years down the road, my college years give me great pleasure, irrefutable skills, irrepressible opinions, and a savory appreciation of life, love, lox, and other luxuries.
I could list hundreds of earthshaking experiences that make college a bargain at any price, but some might make my relatives gambol in their graves, and others might be actionable when the great non-inhaler leaves office. So that we won't be reading until retirement, I'll limit myself to ten. Attention, college shoppers, these are the blue light specials of academia. They are acquired through initiative, not indifference.
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| Written by Marcia Brown Rubinstien March 26, 1998 |  |
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| BOOM! E-Zine - A light e-zine for baby boomers, is a collection of witty articles on topical and nostalgic themes with lively comments. What happens when the generation which could trust no one over thirty turns fifty? Join the thoughts, grounded and otherwise, of Marcia Brown Rubinstien as she observed the 21st century through the lens of the sixties. |
