How to Have Your Kid Go to College — But Not Go Broke

High school students are now back to classes, resuming the quest for a college education and the good life beyond. But it seems too many of them are mortgaging their futures to get there. At $1.4 trillion, student loans now represent the second largest pile of total household debt—topped only by mortgages. For parents hoping to provide their children with more bountiful lives than their own, that should be a warning.

College is still a good income-boosting strategy.