# How to Choose Between College Acceptances

Choosing between college acceptances is one of the most consequential decisions a family will make, requiring a careful balance of financial reality, academic alignment, and long-term career goals. Rather than defaulting to institutional prestige or emotional campus visits, prospective students should standardize confusing financial aid letters to compare actual net costs and utilize weighted decision matrices to objectively score their priorities. By stripping away marketing noise and focusing on program-specific outcomes, families can select an institution that maximizes post-graduation success while minimizing crippling debt.

## The Changing Landscape of College Admissions

Receiving multiple college acceptances is a fortunate outcome, yet it routinely triggers a period of profound anxiety for students and their families. Historically, the National College Decision Day on May 1 served as a reliable anchor for this process, giving families a predictable window in the spring to visit campuses, appeal financial aid offers, and weigh their options. However, systemic disruptions in the higher education infrastructure have increasingly compressed this timeline, forcing students to make life-altering financial choices in chaotic and unpredictable environments.

When staring down multiple offers of admission, families frequently gravitate toward the wrong questions. It is incredibly easy to be swayed by which university boasts the most recognizable brand name, which campus felt the most aesthetically pleasing during a highly orchestrated admitted students day, or which acceptance sounds the most impressive to peers and relatives. However, gaining admission is merely the first part of a much larger equation. The ultimate objective is not to choose the school with the most social buzz, but rather to select the institution where the student is most likely to thrive, graduate on a standard four-year timeline, and do so at a total cost the family can realistically manage. 

To cut through the noise of glossy marketing brochures and external expectations, higher education researchers and enrollment experts recommend a highly structured approach. Families are advised to run their options through distinct analytical filters: financial reality, academic and social fit, long-term career outcomes, and systemic viability. This structured evaluation prevents buyer's remorse and grounds a highly emotional, high-stakes decision in objective, verifiable data.

### Navigating Systemic Application Delays and Institutional Fatigue

In recent years, the standard college decision process has been severely disrupted, most notably by the troubled rollout of the U.S. Department of Education’s updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the "Better FAFSA." Mandated by Congress in 2020, the overhaul was intended to dramatically simplify the application process, reducing the form from over 100 complex questions down to as few as 18 for certain applicants, and directly importing tax data from the Internal Revenue Service. 

Instead of streamlining the path to college affordability, the implementation resulted in massive technical failures that cascaded through the entire higher education system. Instead of opening on the traditional October 1 date, the system faced development issues and did not become reliably accessible until late winter. Consequently, colleges and universities did not begin receiving Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs)—the crucial data required to build individual financial aid packages—until March or April, months behind schedule. 

The ensuing chaos had profound implications for prospective students trying to decide between acceptances. According to government accountability reports, the delays, glitches, and processing errors led to a nine percent decline in submitted FAFSA applications among first-time applicants by late summer, representing a loss of hundreds of thousands of potential students. Furthermore, when confused students and parents reached out to the Department of Education's call centers for assistance, approximately 74 percent of those calls went unanswered due to severe understaffing. 

These systemic failures placed unprecedented pressure on institutional financial aid offices, which faced tight deadlines to issue accurate award letters. Many colleges responded by indefinitely suspending their May 1 commitment deadlines, pushing them to mid-May or early June to give families time to review delayed aid packages. However, this shifting landscape created an environment where students were often forced to make rushed or poorly calculated enrollment decisions while still waiting on comparative financial data. Understanding this broader context is critical: if a student is waiting on delayed or recalculated aid packages due to systemic federal errors, they must proactively communicate with admissions offices to request deadline extensions rather than committing to an institution blindly out of panic.

## Decoding Financial Aid and the True Cost of Attendance

The single most critical factor in deciding between colleges is establishing the true financial reality of attendance. Student debt shapes a graduate's options for decades after leaving campus, dictating everything from early career choices to homeownership and family formation. Comparing college acceptances requires far more than a simple side-by-side check of the published "sticker price" or a superficial glance at the bottom line of an award letter.

Financial aid award letters are notoriously inconsistent across the higher education sector. Every college formats its notifications differently, employs varying terminology, and frequently presents the numbers in ways that can make a highly expensive school look deceptively affordable. Learning to translate and standardize these documents is the most valuable financial exercise a family can perform during the college decision season.

### Unpacking the Components of Cost

The starting point for any financial comparison is the Cost of Attendance (COA). The COA is an institution's official estimate of what it costs to attend for one full academic year. Families must be wary of institutions that prominently display only bare tuition figures at the top of their letters while burying the full cost elsewhere in the documentation. A comprehensive COA consists of two distinct categories: direct costs and indirect costs.

Direct costs encompass the expenses paid directly to the college. These generally include tuition, standard mandatory fees, and room and board if the student plans to reside in on-campus housing and utilize a university meal plan. Indirect costs are estimated expenses incurred as a result of attending college but paid to third parties. These include off-campus rent, utilities, groceries, textbooks, a personal computer, local transportation, and travel back home for holidays. Because indirect costs are merely estimates, colleges often manipulate these figures to make their total COA appear lower. For instance, a university might use a standardized, unrealistically low allowance for textbooks or cross-country flights. Families should manually audit these indirect cost estimates and adjust their personal spreadsheets to reflect realistic local living expenses and travel realities.

To determine a family's eligibility for need-based aid, the government calculates a Student Aid Index (SAI), which recently replaced the older Expected Family Contribution (EFC) metric. The SAI is an index number derived from the FAFSA that indicates a family's financial strength; a lower or negative number signals higher financial need. The college's financial aid office determines the student's overall financial need by taking the total Cost of Attendance and subtracting the family's Student Aid Index.

### Separating Gift Aid from Self-Help Aid

The most common mistake families make when evaluating an award letter is failing to ruthlessly separate "free money" from money that must be earned or repaid. Financial aid packages bundle various sources of funding together, and it is up to the consumer to parse them accurately.

Gift aid represents true discounts on the cost of education. This category includes federal grants, such as the Pell Grant for low-income undergraduate students, as well as state-funded grants. Crucially, it also includes institutional scholarships, which can be awarded based on financial need, academic merit, athletic talent, or other affiliations. Gift aid does not have to be repaid and should be subtracted directly from the Cost of Attendance.

Conversely, self-help aid requires future sacrifice. This category includes federal student loans and Federal Work-Study. Some colleges utilize highly misleading formatting, listing federal loans as "awards" that reduce the apparent bottom line the family owes. However, loans are a financing mechanism, not a price reduction; they must be repaid with interest. Similarly, a work-study award is not a guaranteed check applied to a tuition bill. It is simply an authorization that allows the student to apply for specific part-time jobs on campus. If hired, the student works and receives a standard paycheck over the course of the semester, which is typically used to cover indirect living expenses rather than direct tuition costs.

When evaluating loans, it is also vital to understand the difference between federal subsidized and unsubsidized student loans. For subsidized loans, the federal government pays the accruing interest while the student remains enrolled at least half-time, making them a relatively affordable borrowing option for students with demonstrated financial need. Unsubsidized loans, available regardless of need, begin accruing interest immediately upon disbursement, meaning the balance will grow while the student is in class. Additionally, Parent PLUS loans are credit-based instruments taken out by the parent, not the student, and generally carry significantly higher interest rates and origination fees.

### Identifying Hidden Financial Traps

Beyond the immediate numbers, families must investigate the longevity of the aid offered. A common, albeit predatory, institutional practice is "front-loading," where a college offers an exceptionally generous mix of grants and scholarships during the freshman year to secure enrollment, only to quietly reduce that aid in subsequent years, replacing it with loans. Students must explicitly ask financial aid officers whether institutional need-based grants are guaranteed for four years assuming financial circumstances remain stable.

Furthermore, families must verify the exact criteria required to maintain merit-based scholarships. If a massive scholarship requires maintaining a 3.5 GPA in a notoriously rigorous engineering program, that money is highly precarious. Finally, if a student has secured outside private scholarships from local businesses or nonprofits, they must check the college's policy on "scholarship displacement." Some institutions will reduce their own institutional grant aid dollar-for-dollar when outside scholarships are reported, meaning the student’s hard-won private scholarship ends up subsidizing the university rather than lowering the family's bill.

### Calculating and Comparing the Net Price

The only accurate metric for comparing college affordability across multiple acceptances is the Net Price. The Net Price is calculated by taking the comprehensive Cost of Attendance and subtracting only the total amount of Gift Aid. It represents the true cost—the actual amount of money the family is responsible for covering through existing savings, current income, or future debt. 

Relying on the Net Price often upends traditional assumptions about public versus private higher education. Because elite private colleges frequently possess massive endowments, they can afford to offer substantial institutional grants that drastically slash their intimidating sticker prices. Consequently, a private institution with a highly inflated sticker price may ultimately yield a lower Net Price than an in-state public university that offers minimal gift aid. 

| Financial Component | University Alpha (Private, High Endowment) | University Beta (Public, In-State) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Total Cost of Attendance (Sticker Price)** | $78,000 | $34,000 |
| **Total Gift Aid (Grants & Scholarships)** | $52,000 | $3,500 |
| **Calculated Net Price (True Annual Cost)** | **$26,000** | **$30,500** |
| *Federal Student Loans Offered* | *$5,500* | *$5,500* |
| **Total Out-of-Pocket / Financing Gap** | **$20,500** | **$25,000** |

*Note: In this comparative scenario, University Alpha requires less out-of-pocket funding and borrowing despite having a sticker price more than double that of University Beta. Families must always calculate the Net Price independently, ignoring any proprietary "Net Cost" lines on award letters that inappropriately deduct loans.*

## Academic Fit and the Nuances of College Choice

While financial viability establishes the boundaries of the decision, academic fit determines the quality of the ensuing four years. One of the most persistent errors students make is relying on overarching national university rankings as a proxy for academic quality in their specific field of interest. A university that is celebrated in global rankings for its graduate medical research might offer a mediocre undergraduate experience, while a less famous regional college might house a top-tier department in the student's chosen major.

### Department-Level Strength and Graduation Rates

To evaluate academic strength, families must dig beneath the university's main landing page and examine the specific department the student intends to join. Important metrics include the depth of the faculty roster, the frequency with which specialized upper-level courses listed in the catalog are actually offered, and the ratio of full-time tenured professors to adjuncts and graduate teaching assistants. For students pursuing disciplines that require hands-on experience, such as the hard sciences, engineering, or film, access to undergraduate research and specialized facilities is paramount. Smaller colleges often allow undergraduates into research labs during their freshman or sophomore years, whereas massive research universities, despite having superior equipment, may reserve those coveted spots entirely for doctoral candidates.

Equally important, yet frequently overlooked, is the institution's four-year graduation rate. Families routinely obsess over financial aid and visit-day experiences while failing to ask how likely it is that the student will actually finish their degree on schedule. A lower four-year graduation rate is a massive red flag. It typically signals systemic institutional problems such as severe course bottlenecks, weak academic advising, or inadequate student support services. A college that appears affordable on an annual basis becomes an immense financial burden if the student is forced to pay for a fifth or sixth year of tuition and lost wages simply because they could not register for required prerequisites.

### Exploring the Dimensions of Fit

Higher education consultants often advise students to evaluate institutions across multiple dimensions of fit, sometimes categorized as the "Six Fs": Focus, Faculty, Facilities, Finances, Fulfilling student life, and Future networking. Assessing these dimensions requires looking at both the structured academic environment and the surrounding ecosystem. 

Because an estimated 80 percent of undergraduate students change their major at least once, it is highly risky to select an institution based entirely on the prestige of a single, highly specialized program. Students must ensure that the university offers academic flexibility and is reasonably strong in secondary areas they might wish to explore if their initial career interests shift. Additionally, students should investigate special academic programs that enhance the undergraduate experience, such as honors colleges, robust study abroad networks, cross-registration agreements with neighboring institutions, and cooperative education (co-op) pipelines that integrate paid industry work with academic semesters.

### Evaluating Campus Reality

If logistical and financial constraints permit, revisiting a campus after being accepted offers a fundamentally different experience than the initial prospective tour. During admitted student days, prospective freshmen should strive to separate marketing from reality. They should attempt to sit in on a real class within their intended major to observe whether the current students appear engaged and whether the professor seems genuinely invested in undergraduate instruction.

Most importantly, prospective students should seek out conversations with random students in the dining halls or library rather than relying solely on the highly polished narratives of official campus tour guides. Asking current students what they wish they had known before enrolling, or what they would change about the institution if given the power, often yields the most honest and actionable insights about campus culture, administrative bureaucracy, and the true quality of life in the dormitories. For those who can arrange it, an overnight stay in a residence hall provides the most unfiltered read on the social environment.

## Does Institutional Prestige Actually Matter?

As the cost of higher education continues to escalate, students and parents are increasingly behaving like consumers, prioritizing tangible economic outcomes over country-club campus amenities. For the vast majority of enrollees, the primary motivation for attending college is to launch a sustainable career and achieve upward economic mobility. Consequently, the debate over whether institutional prestige justifies a higher price tag dominates the final weeks of the decision process. 

### The Signaling Effect and Elite Universities

The role of a college's reputation in shaping a graduate's labor market outcomes has been the subject of extensive economic analysis. Nobel laureate Michael Spence introduced the concept of educational "signaling," positing that individuals pursue rigorous educational credentials not merely to acquire skills, but to signal their underlying high ability, discipline, and intelligence to prospective employers. Elite college admissions processes, which are incredibly selective, effectively act as a pre-screening mechanism for the labor market.

However, comprehensive research challenges the absolute value of this prestige premium. Landmark studies, including those by economists Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger, have demonstrated that once researchers control for the underlying unobserved ability and ambition of the student, the positive relationship between attending an elite, highly selective college and future earnings largely vanishes, particularly for men. In other words, a highly motivated, intelligent student who gains admission to an Ivy League university but chooses to attend a more affordable state flagship institution will generally earn just as much over their lifetime as if they had attended the elite school. Engagement, personal effort, and innate ability ultimately matter more for long-term outcomes than the institutional brand name. 

Interestingly, research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) indicates that the outcomes differ slightly for women. For female graduates, attending a highly selective elite institution does show measurable career and family impacts. It significantly increases the probability of a woman pursuing advanced graduate degrees, influences labor force participation, and tends to delay timelines for marriage and family formation. Furthermore, for individuals of any gender who plan to enter highly gate-kept, status-obsessed professions—such as top-tier management consulting, investment banking, or academic medicine—an elite undergraduate degree maintains a substantial premium, particularly because it serves as a critical stepping stone to elite post-baccalaureate graduate programs.

The power of college signaling is also dependent on the information available to employers. Economic research utilizing data from Colombia, which instituted national standardized college exit exams, found that when the labor market is provided with an independent, objective signal of an individual's actual skills, employers rely significantly less on the reputation of the university to infer competence. 

### Field of Study: The True Driver of Social Mobility

While the name on the diploma garners the most social attention at high school graduation parties, overwhelming economic data suggests that *what* a student chooses to study dictates their economic future far more than *where* they study. 

Utilizing vast datasets from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, researchers at the Brookings Institution have demonstrated that a student's choice of college major is a vastly underappreciated arbiter of social mobility. The variance in median earnings based on field of study is staggering. For instance, early-career graduates holding degrees in engineering disciplines routinely command median annual wages approaching $96,000. In stark contrast, those holding degrees in education administration or general human services average between $44,000 and $57,000. 

Crucially, the data reveals that the earnings disparity *within* a single university across different majors is almost always far greater than the earnings disparity *between* graduates of highly selective universities and less selective regional colleges who majored in the same subject.

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This dynamic also highlights a systemic socioeconomic inequality within higher education. Lower-income students, specifically those receiving federal Pell Grants, are disproportionately concentrated in academic majors that yield the lowest future earnings. For example, analysis indicates that roughly 81 percent of students majoring in general human services are Pell Grant recipients, leading to median earnings of $44,000. Conversely, highly lucrative fields like pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences see only 38 percent Pell representation, despite yielding average earnings well over $100,000. By choosing majors that have high labor market value, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can drastically alter their earning trajectories, regardless of the relative prestige of the institution they attend.

### The Liberal Arts Catch-Up Effect

When evaluating return on investment purely through the lens of early-career earnings, traditional liberal arts colleges (LACs) often appear to dramatically underperform compared to massive state universities or pre-professional tech institutes. Graduates of liberal arts colleges generally earn less in their immediate post-graduate years, in large part because they are statistically more likely to enter socially valuable but initially lower-paying fields such as primary education, the arts, academia, and nonprofit policy work.

However, comprehensive labor market tracking conducted by the Burning Glass Institute reveals a fascinating "lifecycle dynamic" that alters the calculus for liberal arts graduates. While they lag in their twenties, LAC alumni exhibit substantial earnings acceleration over time. By their fifteenth year in the workforce, liberal arts graduates frequently gain as much as 15 percentile points in earnings rankings, narrowing or entirely closing the wealth gap with peers from other institutional types. This catch-up effect is driven by several factors: the foundational, generalist communication and critical thinking skills fostered by liberal arts curricula allow these graduates to pivot into higher-paying leadership and management sectors later in their careers. Furthermore, partly owing to higher average family wealth and strong faculty mentorship, liberal arts graduates pursue advanced graduate and professional degrees at significantly higher rates, leading to delayed but ultimately steeper earnings trajectories.

### Institutional Value-Added Metrics

Rather than looking at raw earnings—which are heavily biased toward elite universities that admit already wealthy, highly connected students—some analysts recommend evaluating colleges based on their "value-added." A value-added model attempts to isolate the specific economic contribution of the college instruction itself, adjusting for the demographic characteristics, test scores, and family income of the students at the time of admission. 

When evaluated through this lens, many colleges with relatively modest reputations and unrestrictive admission standards emerge as engines of massive economic advancement. Institutions that focus intensely on training for high-paying technical careers—such as the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, or maritime academies focusing on nautical engineering—consistently produce alumni whose economic success far outpaces what their initial high school demographics would have predicted. 

## Weighing Alternatives to Traditional College

The intense focus on deciding between four-year college acceptances sometimes obscures the fact that the traditional, front-loaded tuition model is no longer the sole pathway to a lucrative, professional career. The modern workforce is rapidly transforming, and alternative postsecondary options are gaining traction among both students and employers.

### The Rise of the Apprenticeship Degree

One of the most promising innovations in higher education is the emergence of the "apprenticeship degree" or earn-and-learn pathway. Traditional higher education asks students to assume massive financial debt, exit the labor force to study, and hope that the resulting credential will secure employment down the line. The apprenticeship model reverses this sequence. 

Institutions pioneering this model, such as REACH University, partner with employers in high-need sectors like K-12 education and healthcare to hire individuals first. These students earn a steady wage while simultaneously receiving accredited academic credit for the on-the-job training and mentorship they receive in the workplace, supplemented by related academic instruction. Proponents refer to the "ABCs" of this model: Affordability without student debt, Based fully in the workplace, and Credit for learning that leads to a recognized bachelor's degree. This pathway is particularly appealing for adult learners and those who cannot afford to abandon a paycheck for four years of traditional campus life.

### Employer Confidence in Higher Education

Despite the rise of alternatives and persistent public discourse suggesting that college degrees are losing their value, data indicates that the corporate sector remains highly reliant on traditional higher education. A national survey of over one thousand employers conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) revealed a stark disconnect between public skepticism and hiring realities. 

According to the data, 70 percent of employers maintain strong confidence in higher education, and 85 percent believe that colleges and universities are preparing students well for the modern workforce. However, employers are increasingly demanding that degrees be supplemented with applied learning. More than 75 percent of hiring managers indicated they are far more likely to consider candidates who have completed structured internships, community projects, or digital microcredentials alongside their traditional coursework. Therefore, when deciding between colleges, students should heavily prioritize institutions that integrate career services, co-op programs, and required internships directly into the undergraduate curriculum.

## Constructing a Weighted Decision Matrix

When a student has gathered all the financial data, campus impressions, and career outcome statistics, the sheer volume of variables can lead to analysis paralysis. Human psychology struggles to balance competing, multi-dimensional factors in our heads. To break this deadlock and formalize the choice, the most effective tool is a Weighted Decision Matrix.

Also known as a Pugh Matrix—named after its inventor, engineering professor Stuart Pugh—this analytical tool forces decision-makers to break a complex, highly subjective choice down into quantifiable, objective criteria. By assigning numerical values to priorities, families can visualize which institution structurally aligns best with their specific goals, bypassing the emotional biases that often cloud judgment.

### How to Build and Execute the Matrix

The creation of a Weighted Decision Matrix is straightforward and can be easily built in a spreadsheet application or sketched on paper. The process requires honest reflection and ruthless prioritization.

The first phase involves explicitly defining the universe of criteria. A student should list the five to eight factors that genuinely matter to their specific situation. These criteria might include the Net Price, the strength of the intended academic major, distance from home, access to undergraduate research, the quality of career advising, and the perceived campus culture. 

Once the criteria are defined, the user must assign a relative weight to each factor to reflect its importance, ensuring the total sum of the weights equals 100 percent. This step is critical because not all factors are equal. If a family is highly debt-averse, Net Affordability might command a massive 40 percent weight, while the quality of the dining hall food might receive only a 5 percent weight. Conversely, a student whose tuition is fully covered by a 529 savings plan might assign a much higher weight to location and specific internship pipelines.

Next, the student evaluates each college acceptance against these specific criteria, assigning a raw score on a standard scale (typically 1 to 5, where 1 represents a poor fit and 5 represents excellence). Finally, the mathematics take over. For each cell in the grid, the raw score is multiplied by the designated weight. These weighted scores are then summed up for each college to produce a final, objective tally.

### Example of a Weighted Decision Matrix

| Evaluation Criteria | Assigned Weight | University X Raw Score (1-5) | University X Weighted Score | University Y Raw Score (1-5) | University Y Weighted Score |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Net Affordability / Low Debt** | 40% (0.40) | 2 | 0.80 | 5 | 2.00 |
| **Academic Strength in Major** | 25% (0.25) | 5 | 1.25 | 3 | 0.75 |
| **Career Outcomes & Internships** | 15% (0.15) | 4 | 0.60 | 3 | 0.45 |
| **Undergraduate Research Access**| 10% (0.10) | 4 | 0.40 | 4 | 0.40 |
| **Campus Culture & Location** | 10% (0.10) | 5 | 0.50 | 2 | 0.20 |
| **TOTAL OBJECTIVE SCORE** | **100%** | -- | **3.55** | -- | **3.80** |

In this illustrative scenario, University X clearly boasts superior academic prestige, better career pipelines, and a highly desirable campus culture. In a vacuum, it feels like the better school. However, because the family explicitly decided that graduating without debt (Net Affordability) was their overriding, 40-percent priority, the mathematics reveal that University Y is structurally the superior choice for their actual life goals. 

### The Behavioral "Gut Check"

While the matrix provides an objective mathematical answer, it also serves a secondary psychological purpose. If a student completes the spreadsheet, calculates the totals, and discovers that University Y has "won," yet feels an immediate, sinking sense of profound disappointment, that negative emotional reaction is highly valuable data. It indicates that the student's assigned weights did not accurately reflect their true internal priorities. If this occurs, the student should re-evaluate their weighting criteria to understand why they are implicitly fighting the math.

If a student remains genuinely paralyzed between two institutions that score nearly identically on the matrix, behavioral economists sometimes recommend employing the coin-flip test as a final sanity check. A student assigns heads to one institution and tails to the other, and flips the coin into the air. The value of this exercise is not in allowing random chance to dictate a major life path; rather, the value lies in closely monitoring the student's visceral, emotional reaction while the coin is in the air. In that brief moment of suspension, the brain almost always realizes which outcome it is secretly hoping will land face up.

## Bottom line

Navigating the transition from high school to higher education requires balancing the emotional appeal of an idyllic campus life with the stark, unforgiving realities of financial debt and labor market outcomes. While the prestige of an elite institution offers undeniable networking advantages in highly competitive, gate-kept industries, extensive economic data proves that completing a degree on time, minimizing your loan burden, and selecting a high-growth field of study have a far greater impact on lifelong economic stability. Ultimately, a college acceptance is not a magic ticket to a guaranteed life; it is a complex tool, and students must utilize rigorous frameworks to select the institution that best serves the specific future they intend to build.

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39. [Employer Confidence in Higher Education](https://www.national.edu/2025/12/11/employer-confidence-higher-education-survey/)
40. [High School, College, Trades, Jobs, Earnings](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-10-15/high-school-college-trades-jobs-earnings)
41. [College is a Great Choice But No Longer the Only One](https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcperna/2026/01/13/college-is-a-great-choice-but-its-no-longer-the-only-one/)