I can't imagine graduating college owing $900 a month

[JDPriestly]

16. Best strategy for poor kids: study really, really, really, really, really hard

and I mean really, really, really.

When my kids were about 12 or so, we took them aside, told them what life would be like without a degree and what it could be with one. Then we told them we didn't have the money to pay for college so they were going to have to work really hard in school for grades and all the things they would need to get scholarships.

We simply laid it on the line.

And they worked really hard and got the help they needed. There is a lot of money out there for education for kids who really want to go to school. But they have to want to learn more than they want to watch TV or date or do a lot of other things.

We never had any money, but we are both very well educated. We gave them what we could.

A lot of parents have neither money nor education, but the most important gifts parents can give their children is a strong work ethic and a membership in the local public library. It helps to ask your kids to keep a record of the time they spend on various activities like computer games and TV.

And -- a tip for the SAT. Have your child make vocabulary cards and practice them. Our children were bi-lingual. English was not their first academic language, so they really had to work on vocabulary.

Children in other countries compete to go to college. Our children are no different. They have to compete to get the money for college. But that has to be their choice, and they have to make it early.

Understand. I'm a Democrat. I don't think things should be this way, but this is the way it is.

About community colleges, I talked to a community college teacher over the weekend, and she told me they are now inviting a lot of paying foreign students into the community colleges. So, that may not be the greatest option either. It may become very difficult to get classes there too.