First, so as not to unduly embarrass my children, I will refer to them by their stage names: Dick and Jane. Except in this story, Jane is older (by five years) than Dick, and there is no Sally. Spot is being played by Feathertail (her real name) and would never tolerate a cat (particularly one called “Puff” in her midst). So much for reading primer analogies.

Oops. My husband just ordered me to assign different (and less embarrassingly dorky) pseudonyms for our children. So they will be henceforth known as Drake and Jana. I do believe those are suitably "yuppie puppy-ish" for our purposes.

In the five years between college searches, some things have changed and some things have remained pretty much the same. College tuition is way too high. Unfortunately, that hasn’t changed. Just needed to state the obvious and get it out of the way.

In general, state schools are cheaper (especially if you happen to be a resident), but not always for non-residents. Canadian schools are still a relative bargain. Most private colleges are not. Kids apply to far too many schools (and this seems to have gotten worse in the past five years.)

When Jana applied to college, the norm was six to eight colleges; now it’s more like 12 to 15 (or more.) High school juniors still take the PSAT (that one hasn’t changed since I was in high school), the SAT, and, in our area of the country, the ACT. However, more kids take serious prep classes, and many more than I recall from five years ago study with an SAT (or ACT) tutor. That is where I’ll draw the line. A tutor? Seriously? Never mind.

As recently as September, all I had to do to induce a grimace in Drake was to gently and subtly broach the “C” word. He would snarl something to the effect of “Are you out of your mind?” (Although, I have to say, he said it more politely than that, but you get the idea.) Here it is March of his Junior year, and overnight he has turned into “Drake College,” (Not to be confused with Drake University) comparing schools, rankings, academics, and distance from home (farther is better than nearby), and wondering what he’s going to get on his SAT.

We'll see you tomorrow for Part Two.