College can, and should be, one of those defining epochs of your life — a time where you transition from adolescence into adulthood, acquire the skills and qualifications that catapult you into the working world, and meet all kinds of people from all kinds of places.

College is a time for self-discovery and perhaps more than that, a time for self-creation and reinvention. All of this means that the way time is spent at college matters quite significantly.

When you first get to college, everyone is in the same boat. Most people don’t know each other, or only have a few friends from high school. This is great because it encourages everyone to get out there and start chatting to other people. The only downside is that for some of us, making friends takes a little longer.

If you have reached the end of your first semester and you still aren’t sure whether you have made any good friends yet, please don’t panic. For the most part, the people we meet in the first couple of weeks won’t be lifelong buddies but they might just introduce us to the ones who will be.

Going to college is a massive step to take, and the educational side of your degree may not be the only worry you have. You may be thinking: am I going to make friends with everybody else in the class? Am I really smart enough? (The answer to that one is yes). Can I really afford to do this? Well, we’re going to help you to make the answer to this one a resounding ‘yes’ too, so listen up if you want some financial tips to help you with the cost of college tuition.

We know that education is important for our children, but what do they think?

Do they bounce out of bed every day desperate to go to school, or do they drag their feet out of the door with reluctance to start another day of school?

Do they hand their homework in on time, or have you been getting letters from your child's teacher recently letting you know the opposite?

Some children place value on their education, and some don't. It's a fact of life, and you will have fallen into one of those categories when you are at school. But whatever the case, you can make a difference. There are things you can do to keep your child on track with their education.

We have high expectations of our teens. They have high expectations of themselves. By the time they’re ready to leave high school they’ve already been put through the wringer emotionally, psychologically and physically as they navigate the precipices and pitfalls of academia alongside the changes in their body and brain chemistry that come with the onset of adulthood. They’ve already heard the wrong words all too often. They’ve had their fill of “Again”, “Could be better”, “Try harder”, “Not good enough”, “Like that, but more!”. With all the ambition and discipline in the world, even the most rugged constitution can crumble under the pressure of expectation. Sometimes the words our teens need to hear are not those of tough love or enthusiastic encouragement but “It’s okay”...

Not everyone gets a college degree. In fact, research shows that in the US only about one-third of people have taken this path. However, that does not means the others are unskilled or unemployed, as there are alternatives to degrees that suit some people much better. If your teen isn’t the academic type and they don’t want to attend college, you really do not have to despair! Here are 4 great alternatives to a college degree.

As a responsible and loving parent, you naturally want to see your child succeed. You may have dreams of seeing them graduate college with an excellent degree, enter into a profession that they love, make an impact in their professional and personal lives, have a family and enjoy an enriching and worthwhile existence. When your little bundle of joy is first welcomed home, you see nothing but an idyllic future ahead of them. The reality is altogether something quite different. In the twenty first century, social media, mental health, and other more negative forces can have a detrimental effect on our children’s ability to succeed. However, as a responsible and loving parent, there are three simple things that you can do to help your little darling reach their full potential.

Ask any child what they’d like to be when they grow up, and they’ll tell you that they want to do something that is in service of others. Yes, most of the jobs they choose - firefighter or doctor - are often obvious choices, but there’s a definite theme running throughout: kids want to help people.