By Cathy Warschaw
 Many of us have been told that a college degree is necessary in order to land a satisfying career that has a good salary. However, while experts agree that most careers do require postsecondary training or education, statistics show that only a small percentage of jobs will demand a bachelor's or professional degree. If you are undecided about whether or not attending a four-year college is right for you, what is a reasonable alternative?
A great option to a four-year college is a vocational training program. Vocational training programs offer specialized instruction to help students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a specific job. In addition, these programs often have small class sizes -- which allow for one-on-one communication with the instructor -- and are completed in a much shorter timeframe. Many training programs are also offered on the Internet, enabling you to study from the comfort of your own home and on your own schedule.
There are also an unlimited number of careers that can be had through vocational training. A great job such as working
the front desk of a dental office is easily achieved through vocational training. Additionally, vocational training prepares students for immediate employment by focusing only on the material that matters; while a four-year college expects students to take a variety of courses that usually have nothing to do with their interests and end up costing them a lot of wasted time and dollars.
On the front and back end, vocational training is much lower in costs than college tuition. Today, the average price of a four-year college is somewhere around $15,000 per year; while a vocational training institution averages 60-80% less. And the costs don't end at graduation either. Many college students end up paying back hefty loans that they had to use in order to pay for school - before they even land a job!
In short, it is important to understand now what your choices are for postsecondary education. A great part of graduating high school and becoming a responsible adult is learning to make the decisions that are right for you. So mosey on up to the counter and take a good look at all the options available on the menu before you decide to order what everyone else recommends.
Written by Cathy Warschaw, Director of the Warschaw Learning Institute. Offering dental front office training, cds and eBooks. Register for our newsletter at http://www.WarschawLearningInstitute.com
Aging, Elder Care, and Senior Retirement Centers
By Luise Volta
 There was a time, not that long ago, when a senior citizen could plan on living with an adult child as the years took their relentless toll. Now senior retirement centers are popping up seemingly everywhere.
It's a good idea to take a look at why these changes are taking place and how each of us can best fit into this new pattern of elder care.
The most glaring difference today is the prevalence of working women. Even a few decades ago, a full-time homemaker often had the time and energy to care for an aging parent in her own residence. Many homes boasted a "mother-in-law" apartment in the basement, over the garage of somewhere else on the premises. In many economic, social and religious groups it was a matter of pride to "care for one's own". In addition, there were few really appealing options beyond that ethic.
The reason there are so many senior retirement centers today is not just the lack of wives at home to take on the responsibility of geriatric care, there is also a preference surfacing in the seniors themselves. No matter how welcoming the environment is, a private home usually doesn't offer the stimulation and peer relationships that the new senior retirement centers are providing. Many seniors frankly want to choose their own support-oriented residence.
If incomes are high enough, savings are adequate or HUD and Medicaid benefits are available, it can be a win/win situation. Full calendars and new friendships can replace the isolation that living in another person's home can produce. Even the most loving adult child is usually busy with the demands of a full life of his/her own. What can ensue is mutual independence.
Not all senior retirement centers are supportive. Careful investigation needs to be done to find a match. However, the rewards that come from putting some serious time and effort into the search can be great.
As this cultural change develops, a surprising factor is surfacing. At one time, the dread of making such arrangements kept seniors from moving on until it was absolutely necessary. What we are starting to observe is a trend involving seniors moving into these new facilities earlier out of choice. Enthusiasm is replacing fear and years of active, support-oriented living can be the unexpected bonus.
Those who doubt the wisdom of selling their homes and moving into a senior retirement center are visiting friends who have made just such a choice. They often find that the pros outweigh the cons. As the new centers appear, competition is emerging and the units, amenities and perks become increasingly attractive. It's getting to be a "don't knock it if you haven't tried it" situation with positive results.
Luise Volta's life has included careers in nursing, teaching pre-school, interior design, Real Estate sales, insurance adjusting, and dairy herd testing. Visit for Aging Wisely.
When Seniors Remarry Late in Life What is Different and What Pitfalls Could Be Avoided
By Luise Volta
 A lot has been written about romance but there isn't much available data about senior romance. It's actually in a class by itself and needs special treatment.
First of all, the normal hurdles that younger couples have to work their way through are seldom of concern. Careers are over for most seniors. Children are raised and have left home. Home buying and other major acquisitions were made in the distant past. Well, then, it sounds like all should be quiet on the romantic front, doesn't it?
That's not necessarily so. Seniors who have reached an advanced age, say past seventy, have often established some very strong opinions. One person put it to me this way..."There are a lot of ways to go to the mailbox." It isn't something that is often noticed on the surface. Habits become solidified and attitudes, opinions and reactions become pretty firmly entrenched without much fanfare. Long, comfortable marriages seem to support the "I Did It My Way" that Frank Sinatra once sang about.
Seniors who find themselves alone, usually because of the loss of a partner, don't have current skills at dating and selecting a mate. How could they? And what worked in their late teens or early twenties is usually way beyond obsolete. Unfortunately, most "don't know that they don't know" and assumptions are usually rampant.
Dating often becomes a stiff affair involving a meal out with friends or alone and maybe a movie. More often than not, a marriage is contracted with no baseline of reality to hold it together. Each partner knows how things should be, which is how they always were in the past, right? Wrong! Issues of all kinds arise when no serious consideration is given to varying points of view.
The land of assumptions is the direct opposite of deep, investigative conversations. What should be seriously addressed are attitudes about sexual behavior, the handling of finances, the division of labor in the home and yard and how various adult children are going to be involved. And that's just for starters.
Even when this is done, deep honesty may be by-passed. Telling it how it would be "lov-er-ly"...not how it is can be an easy trap to fall into when trying to win someone over. Often adult children react to a late in life marriage of a cherished parent differently than the hopeful parent thought they would. In other words, they may be hard to second guess.
One senior couple I know quite well sailed into marital bliss with the wife being promised "nooners" by a husband who was sure she would be the cure for his sexual impotence. He also guaranteed that his grown kids would love anyone he loved and that turned out to be a bust. They hadn't talked about finances because neither of them was comfortable with the subject, so another hurdle loomed. A decade later they are doing very well but it looked, from my vantage point at least, like it was a long, uphill climb.
What seems to work is to take it slow and easy, and see what evolves. Neither partner can be a replacement for the one who is gone. New attitudes may have to be considered and new patterns created. When seniors marry it is not usually a rerun of an early-in-life romance where the pieces just fall in place automatically. It is new and different and needs to be treated with great respect. Seniors are wiser, we can all hope, but not as durable in most cases. The resilience of youth has usually come and gone.
Anyone wanting to remarry late in life might be wise to talk with other senior newly-weds, their own grown kids, a beloved minister and/or even a counselor. Why not stack the deck favorably?
Luise Volta's life has included careers in nursing, teaching pre-school, interior design, Real Estate sales, insurance adjusting, and dairy herd testing. Visit for Nutrition and Health.
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