Video: How to Talk about College Costs

As the outlines of the student loan crisis were coming into focus, this blog featured a video of new college graduates dazed and bewildered by the size of their monthly loan payments and the intrusion on their lifestyles.

Beth Kobliner, a personal finance speaker and journalist, has a surefire antidote: talk to your teenager early and often so they know what they’ll be getting into if they borrow money for college.

She explains how to do this successfully in a new series of helpful, breezy videos.

She recommends that parents make the early conversations light and easygoing. Have the modest goal of encouraging your freshman in high school to start thinking about college broadly. Ask about his or her aspirations, interests, and the choice of Ivy League or state university.

Your teenager should know, Kobliner says, that they will “make about the same salary either way – turns out it’s more about the kid than the name of the college.”

As high school graduation gets closer, talk in more depth about paying for college. “The most important question often gets overlooked at first: Can we afford it?” she said. I would add that the question often comes too late – after the college applicant has already received their acceptance letters and expectations are set.

In addition to the how-to videos, another set of videos feature four conversations about college between real parents and their children. In one of them (above), a mother doesn’t tell her child not to go into debt for college. But she does explain the bad choices she herself made and that she regrets she is still paying off her student loans.

Many teenagers don’t want to talk about anything with their parents – period – but the videos provide tips for overcoming teen resistance and starting the critical conversation about the cost of college.

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