The household mailbox has become the girl teen’s mailbox. For the past few months, the percent of mail for her has dramatically increased while the amount for the household accountant has remained constant. Every day brings new brochures, catalogs and letters from colleges that are eager to have her as a student. While it is possible that she gets an above average amount because she is choosing two colleges, one for January and one for August, I suspect that this monsoon of paperwork is in every high school senior’s mailbox.

In my fantasy world, colleges wouldn’t market only to students. They would have packets of information targeting parents of 17-year-olds. Parents want statistics and policies from school safety and security departments — including Irving locksmith. We want to know what student services have in place to identify and intervene when students are in emotional distress. We want to know that you can be entrusted with valuables.

Academics are the responsibility of our college bound teens. Safety is a different matter altogether. I want more than a text message when the campus is on lockdown. I want a safety net to reduce the need for those lockdowns. You want tens of thousands of my dollars in your school and community? Impress ME.