<p>This issue of the student's awareness of the financial burden as a motivator came up in another thread.</p>
<p>The discussion there seemed to convey the idea that this sort of motivator would work well for some students but not others. </p>
<p>For some students, intellectual passion may be enough of a motivator. For others, whose eyes are on a future career, the need for a suitable degree in order to launch that career may be the motivator (my son is one of these). Still others have long obtained satisfaction and recognition from doing well academically and would like to continue to do so (my daughter is like this, although the career thing motivates her as well). And yes, there are others for whom "My parents are paying a fortune for this; I had better not foul up" or "I am going to owe $50,000 when this is all over; I had better make it worthwhile" are good motivators. </p>
<p>For some students, though, knowing that their college education is creating a huge financial burden for their parents or will create a huge future financial burden for themselves might be more of a motivator to drop out of college -- thus decreasing the burden -- than to do well.</p>