Four years at an elite private university today costs about $175,000. Think about that number for a moment. Now, think about how you spent your college years. Congratulations -- that's already more consideration than most parents give to the question of college.

College has never been for everyone. Even today, when a sheepskin is touted as a requirement for success in the 21st-century economy, the lack of a college diploma won't necessarily keep your child from climbing to the top in a number of fields.

Most obvious are the fine arts and creative fields such as fashion and cooking, where an apprenticeship or trade school may provide better entree than a bachelor's degree. One good friend's son, a lukewarm scholar obsessed with cooking since seeing Clemenza make sauce for the Corleone family soldiers, wisely chose to attend New York's French Culinary Institute right after high school rather than waste his time and his family's money on college.

And what about the media business? Both Barry Diller and David Geffen dropped out of college, the latter famously working his way up from the mail room. Ted Turner didn't drop out... he was thrown out of Brown.

Is your son interested in high tech? He may not need an M.I.T. degree. The list of high-tech heroes who've succeeded without diplomas reads like a hall of fame: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison.

Does your daughter want to work on Wall Street? She doesn't have to attend Wharton. Neither David Komansky, former chairman of Merrill Lynch, nor Joseph Grano, former chairman of UBS Paine Webber, graduated college. And both the Chicago and New York Stock Exchanges were headed by individuals without degrees.

Maybe your child has shown an entrepreneurial spark since first selling Girl Scout cookies in third grade. Why not use whatever money you've saved for her education to help launch a business instead? She'll never have more energy, and seed capital may provide a greater return on investment than tuition. Another friend, ironically enough a high school principal, encouraged his carpentry–loving son to use his college fund to launch a home construction business. Riding the real estate boom, he has grown from home-improvement contractor to builder of multimillion-dollar mansions.

If your child doesn't seem as driven and focused as these individuals, that's even more reason not to spend almost $200,000 on his finding himself. There will never be a better time in your child's life to travel, volunteer or just think about life than right after high school. This is the time to backpack through Europe, learn French by waiting tables in Paris or read the Great Books while doing roofing in Oregon.

Once he enters the real world, he'll be on the fast track to turning those real-life adventures into escapist fantasies. Don't you wish you pursued a dream back then? And, if you did, wasn't it a formative event in your life? Help your child pay for that kind of peak experience now, and he or she will get more from it than aimless matriculation. Plus, you'll spend far less. Rather than aping his friends and reflexively heading off to the nearby State University, an apathetic young man I know took an outdoor leadership course on an ice-climbing expedition to Patagonia. He returned with confidence and direction he’d previously lacked.

What about encouraging your child to serve her country or community while trying to figure out her future? The armed forces train personnel in everything from writing code to grooming dogs, not just fighting wars. Volunteer programs like the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and VISTA are open to people without college degrees. Local opportunities for volunteerism abound.

When your daughter comes back from her time in Berlin committed to becoming an architect, and your son returns from Wyoming set on a career as a vet, there's a way they can get those prestigious degrees for lots less money, compensating for whatever you and they spent on their walkabouts.

Two years at a good junior college will cost about $20,000. Committed, successful JUCO graduates often have no trouble gaining admission to an elite school. My youngest sister–in–law, after two years studying at Suffolk County Community College and working at Dunkin' Donuts, transferred into New York University to study comparative religion and earned her honors degree for far less money than had she gone to N.Y.U. right out of high school. Taking the JUCO route could cut the total four-year education bill from $175,000 down to $100,000 for the same diploma.

By taking time off for an adventure and then attending a junior college, your son or daughter will spend less and have a life-altering experience to boot. With a better idea of his or her vocation, as well as some notion of what it's like to work, your suddenly mature child will probably spend more of his or her college time studying than you did. Of course, that may not be saying much...

Special Note:

Cornell University 2005-2006 costs for endowed colleges:
Tuition and student activity fee - $31,467
Housing in a standard double room - $6,080
Traditional dining plan - $4,220
Average books and supplies - $680
Average personal expenses — $1,380
Total annual costs - $43,827. Total four year costs, assuming no increases - $175,308

SUNY Morrisville State College 2005-2006 costs:
Tuition - $3,200
Room and board - $6,030
Fees, books, misc. - $1,100
Annual total - $10,320. Two year total - $20,640.

Mark Levine is the acclaimed co-author of bestselling books including "Second Acts: Creating the Life You Really Want, Building the Career You Truly Desire" and "It's All In Your Head: Thinking Your Way to Happiness"