by Eric Bailey

Created on: October 24, 2009

Higher learning institutions provide their students with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide useful functions that will be sought in the job field and hopefully provide the foundation for a fruitful, fulfilling career. It is a widely known and proven fact that companies seek college graduates ahead of those without equivalent degrees; after all, not only does a bachelor's or other certificate show that an applicant has a proper education, but that they also have the diligence and work ethic to complete years of coursework.

In present-day American culture, it is almost an instinctual assumption that every high-school teenager will immediately enter college when they graduate. For this reason alone, it can come as a shock when your son or daughter suddenly reveals that they do not plan on applying anywhere.

Take a deep breath.

This event, though it certainly does need your attention, is not the end of the world. Nor does it necessarily even mean your offspring will end up in the gutter, or poor, or unsuccessful, or unhappy. However, in order to discover exactly how much concern this revelation should warrant, there are definitely a few critical steps to take, all of which revolve around having an open, firm-but-loving dialogue.

Find The Reason Why

Usually a person does not make such a life-altering decision lightly. Even for a teenager who is still defining their identity and not yet on their final path, there is likely an underlying factor that has affected their decision to tell you that they are not going to college. It is now your task to figure out whether the reasoning is legitimate or bogus.

The most common deterrent from the collegiate experience is simply anxiety. Perhaps the teen is simple overly nervous about having to move away, or trying to fit into a new social scene. Maybe they have cognitively misplaced responsibilities, such as losing sleep over the financial burden or preferring to never try rather than accept the possibility of failure. As soon as you hear the genuine, honest reason behind their refusal, the psychological puzzle should become much easier to address.

Explain The Real World

Often, teenagers still have toddler-life deficiencies in their ability to clearly, rightly discern the difference between fantasy and reality. Constantly fed unrealistic images by multimedia, they can harbor murky understandings of how the real world works.

At this point, it may be valuable to explain to them that, eventually, they

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