Choosing college is hard
Parents work together with kids to figure out the right kind of education they’re able and willing to support. With the competing pressures, it makes sense to take a step back and explore your options to understand what you really want.
Complex problems are often vague and have many possible solutions. The Meta-Problem Method may lead you far away from the dilemma that started your quest. That’s because the method forces you to clarify what you really want and what you are willing to give up. It enables you to compare objectively the possible pathways and their trade offs. It prevents you locking into solutions mode too early and then doubling down on solving a low-yield problem that does not serve your goals as well as the alternatives. At the end of this process, you will have a better understanding of your priorities and how to achieve them.
Steps in the Meta-Problem Method
Dilemma
The high-level issue you are trying to address
Decide what level of education makes sense.
Goal
The changes you want to make to address the dilemma. There are usually many options.
Supporting goals
- Kids get to pursue their dreams.
- Kids are set up for future success.
Other goals could include minimizing the cost of college, maximizing the money the future-adult can earn, or maximizing flexibility to make choices later.
Problem Space
The set of problems you could chose to solve to advance your goals, plus the constraints that hold you back.
Example problems
- How can kids be set up to pursue their dreams? Maybe the problem to solve is “Are there education options that would make a meaningful difference in their chances at succeeding in their dreams?”
- How can we set kids up for future success? Maybe the problem to solve is “Which education options will improve their odds of feeling successful?”
There are many other potential problems to solve related to choosing the right level of education. Each goal has many possible problems we could link to it. Are there other problems linked to these first two goals? Which options come to mind for the other goals?
High-Yield Problems
Sometimes solving one problem helps make progress towards several goals. In this step, we identify these “two-for-the-price-of-one” problems.
Which options will advance more than one goal?
- Giving kids early experiences of what their dream career really looks like can help maximize their odds since they know what they’re signing up for. However, it may take additional costs and may set them on a path with less flexibility.
- Avoiding student debt as much as possible can set kids up for success and give them more flexibility in their choices later. However, it may limit their ability to pursue certain options that come at a higher cost.
There are many potential solutions that will have varying effects on the set of goals. Which alternatives improve the most important goals? How might the unknown change the right path forward? What other possible solutions are there to address the dilemma?
Problem Selection
Which of the many possible options in the high-yield problem step is the best set to address the dilemma?
- Which solutions make the most sense as a parent?
- Which solutions will best address the dilemma?
- Which solutions will deliver the best outcome for the least amount of time, effort and money?
Implement, Learn and Adapt
Check continuously that you are still solving the best problem, as new information emerges.
Observe and learn as you go. As new information reveals itself, check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem.