Talk about your own education pathway. What education pathway did you choose after high school? How did you continue to learn throughout your life? What did you like most and least about the education pathway(s) you chose? What might you have done differently if you were making this decision in today's world?

What assumptions do you hold about some of the education pathways? How might you go about learning more to see if your assumptions are true? Exploring this with your child helps to model critical thinking skills!

What beliefs or values does your family hold about education? Discuss how this may impact your child as he or she makes choices about which education pathway is the best fit.

Talk with your child about his or her learning style and how it relates to making decisions about their education pathway. Share what type of teaching and learning style you have observed your child to be most successful at over the years.

Help your child explore the careers he or she is most interested in. Making good education pathway decisions can often depend on the career one eventually wants to pursue. However, don't expect or push your child to make a final decision on a career choice. Rather, help them identify one or two career areas that would be a good fit for their interests, skills, and abilities so that you can research together what education pathways are the best fit for their career area(s) of interest.

Don't be afraid to talk about money. Your child needs to know sooner rather than later if the family is able to make a financial contribution to their education. Beyond any family contribution, help your child explore other sources of financial aid and scholarships. Help them compare the cost and return on investment for education pathways using tools like Money Path (which is available for free to any school in Wisconsin).

In addition to cost and career majors/programs, there are many factors that go into making a decision about education pathways. Some factors to discuss might be:

• Does your child want to live at home or move away? If he or she is considering moving away, do they want to live in-state or out-of-state?

• Does your child thrive in a large educational setting with lot of options and activities (and is independent enough to navigate) or would they prefer a smaller educational setting that make it easier to create relationships with students and instructors?

• Does your child plan on playing sports or participating in activities as a part of their education pathway?

Remember, this decision may be your child's choice. But, they need YOUR help and guidance!