Editorial October 10, 1994 ISSUE

Deciding what's possible

Barbara M. Vining

Have you decided that your possibilities are limited? People often do. And they experience limitation as a direct result of that decision.

A student, for example, may decide that he can't get the education he desires because his personal financial resources are limited. Following that decision, he may close himself off from exploring the avenues through which he could develop his most promising talents, and settle in for a life of frustration. But I once heard a panel of financial officers from major colleges and universities emphasize the point that choosing what institutions of learning are within your reach on the basis of cost is an invalid approach. Financing, they stressed, can be found if you are willing to persist in pursuing a vast number of possibilities. They strongly recommended that a student should first consider the kind of education that seems best to support his development, find the schools most able to provide it, apply for admission, and then—after being accepted and deciding to attend a particular institution—look for ways to finance that education. In essence, they were saying, "Decide that it's possible. Then pursue it."

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