This Week in Education College Roadtrips

Tale of the Towers

As a parent of twins that are high school seniors, my wife and I both knew that this time would come, the kids going to college.  We both, like many parents, have always pushed our kids to go to college.  We push all kids to go to college. 

Being teachers we have sold every student on the fact that they need to continue their quest for knowledge.  Maybe over sold it actually. Because college demand is up and much of the state funding has decreased, and the cost of tuition has sky rocketed. As Baby Boomers we are aware of this situation. It has occurred our entire life. When I was young I saved money to by a car. But by the time I had that amount inflation had made the cost of cars go up, I was not even close to having enough money for the vehicle. 

Inflation has always played this trick on us even when they say there is no statistical rise in inflation. You save money for college but the cost has gone through the roof and the roof on your home has become worthless. We both have advanced degrees so we qualify for little aid.  Our daughter was driven in high school. She took all Advanced Placement , AP, classes and all the necessary college bound courses. She knew she would be ready.


We new that we needed to show her some of the possible colleges she might want to attend. This meant college road trips. We took the summer and our fall break to go to colleges in California.  We started in the summer with a Southern California swing. We visited the University of Southern California, USC, the University California Los Angeles, UCLA, in the Los Angeles area. We also  travelled further south to San Diego for a tour of San Diego State. Also we investigated the Golf Academy of America.  My son is highly interested in golf.

Our first stop was USC. Arriving there was magical. It looked like a college campus. It was brick solid. It was everything you could imagine in a university. The history was oozing with every step. The ghosts of great Americans were escorting you with the tour guide. The legends of living greats were etched in stone. The reminder  how even all the breaks can still come to a hubristic end. I sat there with my children knowing that this could be spark to inspire them. It worked in my daughter's case not so much for my son. She was impressed with USC.  As we sat there, I knew that there would be a hefty tuition to such a prestigious institution of higher learning. I had gone to California State University Sacramento.  I knew and wanted a step up for my children.  USC would have filled that requirement. 

Douglas Fairbanks    OJ Simpson

Our next stop was UCLA. Again the history was wafting through the air it was a beautiful campus. The rolling terrain spread out dotted with buildings for every type of study. An odd thing was that two months previous to our visit my wife had an accident in the kitchen of our home that resulted in a broken leg and a third degree sprain of her ankle.  Her mobility was limited and she unable to walk.  This put her in a wheelchair while recovering.  My son pushed her around on the tours.  UCLA is laid out on small hills.  He was a trooper but this was the second tour of the day and I'm sure UCLA lost its charms for him.  My daughter was not too enthused either.  The tour guide spiel was getting a bit redundant to USC's tour guides.  

When we were there, a student protest was occurring at the Office of the Chancellor. It was a protest because of the steady increase in tuition that has been announced what seems like daily. We were shown where movie companies have used the UCLA campus to shoot movies about other universities like Harvard in Legally Blond. The traffic leaving was LA strained. I'm sure this would cause someone to rethink their choice. My daughter was not thrilled by UCLA.  She thought that there was little difference between UCLA and Sac State.  On the completion of the day, we knew that USC was on the list and UCLA was not.

The next day we drove to San Diego. Another school my daughter wanted to investigate was San Diego State. The drive was pleasant enough. We pulled up to the security kiosk and asked where we should park for the tour. We were given directions to an outer lot. We showed them the handicapped placard but that didn't alter anything. We were miles away from where the tour started. Again my dedicated son maneuvered that wheelchair around the campus. This campus had some major terrain changes. 


We pushed on without complaint. My daughter is driven not only academically but in the quest to see everything that the college offered. Half way through my wife returned to the car. 

This occurred luckily after the presentation on the requirements necessary to enroll at the college. The requirements were not as stringent as USC or UCLA. Some of the facilities were impressive. The sports and recreation facilities were indeed top notch. Even though they were some distance from the center of campus. Probably the greatest reason for attending San Diego State would be the weather. San Diego has incredible weather.  Goldilocks weather not too hot nor too cold it is always just right. By the end of the day SD State was a possible school. We continued to the Golf Academy of America. My son is playing in his fourth year of varsity at his high school. He is young and aspires to be a professional golfer one day. We meet the representative from the academy at a golf fair. I personally asked him if they help with professional golfers. We asked on the phone when we made an appointment. Again the said yes. However, they really didn't have a program for tour professional.  The did have a program to train teaching and club pros.  We are still not interested at this time.  he still has eligibility remaining to effect his dream.  This Southern California swing was the first college road trip.  We then began to plan a Northern California adventure.  That is what we will talk about next time.