<p>I'm glad everybody agrees with everybody else on this thread. Problem is, in your world there'd be no artists, actors or dancers with intellectual vision. You cannot quite fathom how some kids will choose material sacrifices to engage their imagination on a daily basis by working professionally in the arts after a top quality experience at a college? </p>
<p>Having no fear, I'll weigh in to say that my S, who graduated from a top LAC with a major in Theater/Dance and Music, just visited home for l0 days. It's the first break he's had since graduating nearly 2 years ago. He brought his girlfriend, a gifted teacher of autistic children. He doesn't own a car b/c he lives in Manhattan where owning a car is a second job. He has roommates to keep down costs, and they're okay. He knew that all ahead of time when he chose his college majors. It's just the pricetag for a way of life that he chose.</p>
<p>The staggering humanity and decency of his LAC environment shaped him into a kind, intelligent man who now attracts support from others when roles are cast. He's a classy guy. He enjoys the trust of others, a decade older than himself, who are starting a new theater company, and who knows where that will go? He acts in one production after another, meanwhile working several jobs that only an educated person could perform, including: adult literacy tutoring, SAT tutoring, Hebrew school teacher, commercial photographer. He also works on assignment with a nonprofit organization that performs plays in the city's middle schools against bullying. The actors perform in the school auditorium, then conduct discussions in the students' classrooms. I can't imagine anything more socially useful, and well-paying by the hour, as there is a grant behind this work. </p>
<p>The college absolutely focussed his intellect so that he can research acting roles for their historical context, emotional nuance and more. He will be acting in a Shakespearian production this fall, and in June a new translation of a Spanish playwright's masterwork, "Life Is A Dream." </p>
<p>Because he anticipated a frugal lifestyle following college, he worked his tail off in campus jobs and each summer while some of his friends did whatever. I was stunned with how SMALL his debt was when he graduated, for he had already ripped into those student loans. Aside from us covering his health insurance, he is entirely self-supporting and has been so since graduation. That's actually a better track record than some with other more practical majors. </p>
<p>I just want to weigh in that there are some students for whom a college major in the arts is the right choice. If you know anyone pursuing this path, you'll quickly find that they are passionate that the lifestyle frugality is worth it to do what they find redemptive. They measure their success by the quality of their performance and the ensemble. When my S meets friends in the city who are making a fortune now in I-Banking, they are still friends; however, he can't join them for ski trips or afford to be their roommates any more. His clothing is excellent and elegant as theirs, because he hawks designer labels on ebay and buys them for dollars-- not hundreds of dollars. He looks turned out and handsome as they do. He remains their treasured friend, and as each new graduate decides to move to NYC, he's among the first friend they call b/c he knows so much of the city, having made films and met people all over. He guides them to neighborhoods, housing and more. If they eat a pricey restaurant, he joins them and eats more simply, and he DOESN"T MIND. </p>
<p>I feel, as long as he's paying off his loan and supporting himself, we made exactly the right choice to set up his mind and spirit for the rest of his life. We arranged a second mortgage on our house but we're managing that, and if we never retire to one of those pretty picture places in the South, I just don't mind AT ALL. This was the value system of my family; education was paramount over things. </p>
<p>If the acting doesn't pan out in a few years, he can apply at age 30 to law school because of his top quality undergrad education, and will have no trouble gaining entry as long as his LSAT's ring in, which I'd expect they would. </p>
<p>Anyway, a certain unchallenged crassness on this thread finally got to me.
Some haven't forgotten that there is also a civilization to create through the arts. I'm proud that my kid is using his college degree to work in that direction. </p>
<p>And, he may never retire with those extra millions that the differential provides had he gone to a community college. I'm absolutely sure, however, he'd refuse to make that trade. </p>
<p>I do not apply this to graduate school. My D, who has a Religion major from a top LAC, intends to obtain a teaching degree as a literacy specialist but from a state college, rather than a prestige school. As Roger Dooley just pointed out, there are some professions for which a prestige degree won't bring in a better salary, and teaching with all of its union steps is one of them. She'd rather have the intellectual quality of her undergrad degree, coupled with a simple straightforward professional training at a state school for the teaching certifications, to work. There, the degree for $5K/annum sounds adequate to her and she rejects the thought of applying to the elite universities for teacher education at $40K with great professors and name recognition, although she could certainly qualify. So we're not all crazy around here. It depends on the degree. Maybe we have it upside-down to put all the bucks into the undergrad, but our own experience as parents tells us that it set us up for a life of flexibility, imagination, resourcefulness, and great friends.</p>