Calculating the cost of a college education

Just last week my firstborn daughter
(clad in tasseled cap and gown)
proudly clutched her college sheepskin
in a small Midwestern town.

I could see her back in preschool
as she walked across the stage.
But then when she turned and smiled,
my young princess came of age.

In my head I started adding
just how much her B.A. cost.
But those exponential numbers
avalanched and I got lost.

There is more than just tuition.
You’ve got books and room and board.
Then there’s clothes and spring vacation
(and insurance for the Ford).

That diploma’s worth a fortune.
So it makes sense (don’t you think)
that my daughter’s name be printed
with pure gold and not black ink?

Yes, I mined the bank but never found
the hidden Mother Lode.
It’s the price a father pays while
traveling down the Parent Road.

You spend all that you’ve been saving
to invest in your kids’ lives
and then pray they finish their degree
in four years not in five.

Still and all I can’t help wonder
now that Kristin’s finally through,
having majored in psychology
what can she really do?

Did I hear someone say grad school?
Are you kidding? Don’t you know?
I have other bills that beckon
and have two more girls to go.