The search for right college

My family has been touring gateways to success.

That's what colleges and universities are, and that's why getting into college, especially a good one, can be a stressful exercise.

Getting into one is a big step toward the middle class for poorer people, and getting into the right one can be an obsession for people already middle class.

Our son is a high-school junior, which for middle-class families means college-hunting time.

Like April pollen, families blow through campuses during high-school breaks to see which one fits their child.

While people here were talking about whether the University of Washington and Washington State should raise their tuition and fees to around $10,000 a year, we were looking at colleges that cost several times that.

No, we didn't win the lottery. Like lots of families, we have faith in the holy financial-aid package to whittle those numbers down to something manageable.

Some students have to take out loans and many emerge from college weighed down by debt.

What does all that money buy?

Well, knowledge and self-development. Anybody getting their checkbooks out for that?

The education part is important but can seem kind of incidental these days.

When people talk about a college education, often it's as a path to more money and higher status.

How many times have you heard that a college degree doubles a person's annual income?

I've been guilty of that, talking about education (at all levels) as a way to move up the ladder more than as a good in its own right.

The two go together, but I have a feeling the success part now overshadows the learning part.

It's the success part that drives the frenzy to get into the "best" colleges.

There are more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, but people in the know only want into the few that make the top of national rankings.

I'm sure those schools are good, but it's hard to tell how much credit for later achievement is due the college and how much the student, since the most exclusive institutions mostly admit people who are already accomplished.

To get in, a student has to have close to a perfect GPA, top test scores and proof that she has personally rebuilt a Central American village.

My guess is that the biggest leaps in upward mobility happen at less renown institutions and at community colleges, whose students typically start with fewer advantages.

Of course, college isn't just about academics or economic advancement, though I was a little surprised by how much attention campus tours place on the eating facilities.

Food is important. Social life and atmosphere matter, too. College gives students a chance to explore themselves as much as their textbooks.

It's four years in a safe place to grow into adults, someone on one of the tours said.

College is where young adults go to marinate. They come out nice and tender, just right for proper middle-class society.

I like the idea of college as a time of exploration and freedom. It's too bad so many pressures are attached to it.

We're still trying to help our son find the right place for him and probably worrying too much about it. Unless we're not worrying enough.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.