BUT WHAT CAN ONE DO WITH AN ART DEGREE? The Chicago Tribune's Janet Kidd Stewart revisits that age-old question. As with anything else involving economics, there are tradeoffs.

Walking the fine line between supporting your children and helping them understand financial realities about college is all about the reflective thinking that Hilliard describes, said Jon Gallo, a Los Angeles attorney and co-author of "The Financially Intelligent Parent: 8 Steps to Raising Successful, Generous, Responsible Children" (Penguin, $12.95).

"Especially if kids are responsible for their loans, they have to be aware that they are entering adulthood with an enormous financial obligation," Gallo said. "Kids not only have to figure out their calling, but also whether they are going to be able to pay off their loans. There's no question that the economic cost of college is in many cases distorting kids' selection of majors."

The problem with this, of course, is that it can lead to successful but depressed lawyers and investment bankers, Gallo said.

At the same time, pursuing a passion in a field that doesn't correspond to an immediate career path can be fraught with economic peril.

Is there a research topic here ... what compensating differentials must the law firms offer to attract people who have a calling as creative artists? Let's stipulate that loans make students more likely to choose fields that will permit them to repay their loans. Is that a distortion, or is the outcome closer to allocatively efficient than one in which low tuition, grants, and other subsidies are available irrespective of major?