College choices get harder with downturn

This from the Austin American-Statesman, photo by Bret Gerbe:

Families having to put aside Ivy League dreams.

For years, Mike and Kelly D'Addeo planned to use their trove of Intel Corp. stock options to send their son Tony to a top college.

Tony would be a good candidate for any school: He's a straight-A senior at Bowie High School and captain of the football team, with near-perfect SAT scores. He's not interested in playing college football; instead, Tony talks about majoring in computer science or engineering. "I'd like to have my own business someday," he said.

But the plunging stock market has made their stock options worthless and crushed the D'Addeos' Ivy League dreams.

"I feel bad that my son has the potential to go to a top-tier school — he's worked hard; he's earned it — and we are not able to provide that for him," said Mike D'Addeo, an engineer at Intel's Austin operations.

Across the country, other families are confronting the same harsh reality as they watch the stock market and credit crisis erode careful plans to pay for college educations.

Almost every method of paying for college has been affected. The sinking stock market has shrunk investment funds. A soft real estate market means families will have a harder time tapping the equity in their homes. And private student loans have become harder to find. ...