Parenting is hard but rewarding. I’d allowed myself to feel accomplished when our three sons hit adulthood. But, in truth, parenting keeps going, and with three in college we’re the latest to realize how expensive it’s become to start a career.
Today’s column (gift link) brings new perspective on the challenges. I grew up in a low-income household that allowed me to use government grants and subsidized loans to pay for college. It was still hard. I worked through college to pay expenses myself and avoid higher-interest loans.
Thanks to the success made possible by college, my wife and I joined the upper middle class. No more grants and subsidized loans for our kids. While we have far more funds to help than our parents did, it feels like just as much hustling as when we were broke. Different, but the same.
No rest for the weary. It still feels like we’re front-loading the youngest members of our society with debt that will follow them far longer than older people seem to understand.
Read “The class-blind conundrum in paying for college,” in the Saturday, April 25, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
