College is kind of a catch 22 for parents. Once you have one kid in, it’s hard to get your head around letting the other one go. Not because they’ll be leaving, but because of the cost. I think there should be a law in just how many college loans we parents can take on at one time:

“I hereby decree, only one child per family shall attend college at once. At the time subsequent children graduate from high school, they will take a job to help pay for the education of the child before them until they are out of college, at which time the next child, in order of birth, may enter college and so on and so on.”

I just went on my second college tour with our youngest daughter. The first was over spring break down in Los Angeles. She was impressed with the school and I really thought she had chosen her higher education.

I can’t say I was thrilled at the thought of her moving down to the sunny side of life, nor was I excited to take on another loan from a private college. Still, if the school is right for her, I’m not going to begrudge my youngest daughter a private college education just because her sister chose one. So I began to prepare myself for the inevitable move; at least she still has another year of high school, so I had plenty of time to get used to the idea.

Perhaps you heard the angels singing on high that day she told me she felt the program in California wasn’t exactly what she was looking for and she was open to checking out a few more. For the last year or so I’ve been telling her about Central Washington University – just over the mountain, a mere 1 ½ hours from home (by car, not plane).

Somewhere I heard Central had a great Theater Arts department and they did indeed have a Costume design major. All that dress up (uh, cosplaying), all that practice making costumes for Comicon and Sakura-con conventions has paid off in a big way by giving her a direction for her life’s passion. How many of us can say we already had a passion at 17 years old?

We took a day trip there last week and invited one of her friends along who is interested in the same field. I went prepared – I called the college and not only registered us for a campus tour, but also arranged to meet with an admission advisor and the chair of Theater Arts.

There went that grin again across my daughter’s face. It was the same wide smile she had when she found that Fashion Institute in California at a college event at one of the high schools. But this time, it was exactly what she had been looking for – heavy on the costuming, light on the fashion. The same thing happened when I did an in-depth tour with my oldest daughter at DigiPen and she found her “people;” so it went with my youngest and her friend as we toured the Theater Arts department at Central.

For my daughter it was all about the sewing machines, baskets of fabric, the course in theater makeup, wig classes, not to mention the administrators and students who went out of their way to show her and her friend exactly what they would be doing. One professor actually sat down and demonstrated how to make a wig.

We still have one more college to tour; another private one. However, my vote is for the state college. I’m all about location, location, location (did I say by car not plane?) and the price is nice too.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. You can also read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com or on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.