Jay um my kids are are both in college um
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		and i'd played i played a fairly active part in helping them decide where to go on the other hand they really decided themselves um what what kind of experience did you have
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		well i uh
 		one girl went in in state and has graduated and then uh that was um
 		you know that was her choice pretty much where she wanted to go and i have uh one out of two out of state both in Missouri
 	
 	
 		
 
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and um i teach uh in a college and so i had they had heard me talk about it and for years that
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		i didn't think it really made too much difference where they went for their undergraduate
 		uh
 		so that was pretty much uh
 	
 	
 		hm
 		i see well i maybe maybe i'm wrong but i think it makes a big difference in terms of finding a school that is sort of right for the child in terms of
 		his or her happiness and and and the appropriate support environment and things like that
 	
 	
 		oh they if they if they're content there but i mean as far as the education and as far as looking at the degree at the end that uh to it's very little difference is paid to it where you get that bachelor's
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		uh if it's a halfway decent school they should be happy naturally and if they can get uh
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		um two out of let's see
 		my son got a full total uh scholarships and so there's uh there's plenty of scholarships out there and so people should be advised to
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		to look for those and um
 	
 	
 		did did you play a a strong role in helping them pick schools or did you just sort of say listen to your uh guidance counselors and
 	
 	
 		uh
 		well they uh i went we went around my son was a graduated from a Jesuit high school and so he he was pretty much looking for a Jesuit university and so there were you know that was limited to
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		uh five or six different places and um so he's in Saint Louis U and i
 		guess i played a role in that i i just sort of uh let them um
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		you know they'd all been uh pretty uh  efficient as far as studies and and uh
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		so i didn't have that much to do they just uh they just knew they wanted to go to college and and i you know helped them uh
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		uh get there as far as uh traveling with them to look at different places we did do that and i would suggest a person always goes and looks at the school before they sign up
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah
 		yeah i think think that's a great idea i mean that
 	
 	
 		some people don't do it and then they get there and
 		hate it or or whatever so
 	
 	
 		right it's it it seems expensive at the time you're doing it but but the compared to the the total decision it's nothing
 	
 	
 		if it's possible
 		right
 		
 
 		i think in the short run it is expensive in the long run it's very uh reasonable if the person my daughter that's been in in Missouri uh for a
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		a second year now she's coming home at the end of the semester
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		so uh you know she's already twenty one she started late so that's you know strictly up to her and uh she'll finish down here um um finish this year down here and then decide what she's gonna do next year
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		it'll save me a lot of money because i'm not going to have to pay out of state tuition but again that's her decision
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		right
 	
 	
 		so uh but i have so many students in my classes that have dropped out and come back and they're much better students at twenty five twenty six maybe twenty eight
 		so you know i don't i never have pushed them i just say that education is important you should do it
 		uh but uh they have to do the work
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		so uh
 	
 	
 		you know well back back to this visiting thing i mean i found that my kids had no conception of what college was really like um and and that the process of going around to a few schools with them really helped them understand
 	
 	
 		right
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		and being able to go with them to some at least some of them  you know it had gave me a chance to explain things to them in terms uh in reference to what we had seen
 	
 	
 		oh i think so
 		and also i'm opposed to the to the size does they've just gotten so huge and so my daughter first looked at a place that was forty thousand see that's just too many
 	
 	
 		good grief
 	
 	
 		ended up going to where i used to go and that was twenty five hundred when i went there it's twenty one thousand now it's too big
 	
 	
 		good grief what is what is twenty one thousand what what school is that
 	
 	
 		so uh
 		pardon it's Southwest Missouri State University
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		and um it was twenty five hundred when i went there forty years ago and uh
 		my son is in a school about seven thousand and that's that's not bad i teach in a school about eight thousand and that's that's even a little large but it's much better than twenty one thousand
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		yes
 	
 	
 		but they do have to visit and and if if the parent can point out all the different places to look for for scholarships and then
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		oh those rating uh the magazines and all those things are doing the ratings now and everything i don't
 		think it hurts to look at them i don't put that much stock in them but probably fine just to compare
 	
 	
 		yes
 		um-hum
 		helps helps to at least set up range of things to look at
 	
 	
 		right and uh if they you know uh they need to