Coping with College, Cajun style

When my oldest son was born, my wife and I looked at the squirming, beautiful baby boy and knew that we wanted the best of everything for him.  Did I see “T-ball Dad” in my future?  You bet.  But my vision went beyond little league.  I wanted him to be successful in all of life’s endeavors, including his education. 

College can be daunting, even when you’re looking at it with eighteen years to prepare.  When Rene was five months old, we purchased a Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program, a tool for funding the tuition portion of education expenses.  By the time he was five, we’d paid the last of our monthly payments, and his tuition was covered.  In those five years (actually eighteen months after he was born), we had our second son, Kaleb, another beautiful baby boy.  Like Rene, we wanted Kaleb to have everything life had to offer, but our funds were more limited, and we decided that we’d covered one education; hopefully one of the boys would obtain a scholarship.  We didn’t purchase a second PACT program, but prayed for the best.  (More about PACT—if the child for whom the program was purchased obtains a scholarship, you can pass the tuition to another sibling.) 

Last year, Rene began college and was awarded a scholarship covering a portion of expenses, but we learned that college was even more expensive than we anticipated.  Thankfully, we had PACT to cover tuition and were able to use the academic scholarship for room and board.  One son down, one to go.  The problem?  We used our only PACT, and we have another son beginning college next year.  Does that mean pressure?  Sure. 

How we cope—we save what we can toward Kaleb’s education and spend our time making memories.  Our boys love football and camping.  Therefore, for each home football game at Rene’s university, we travel to a campground five miles from campus and cook a big pot of jambalaya.  Free food has a magical allure to hungry college guys and is a terrific way to meet Rene’s new friends.  Plus, Kaleb gets to visit with his older brother and gain his own excitement toward going to college next year.  Is this a traditional way of coping?  Probably not.  But does it work?  Definitely.  Family time via a campground, jambalaya and football.  Coping with college, Cajun style.