Welcome! We’re talking with Grant Baldwin, who is a speaker, author and entrepreneur and his expertise is in helping students choose a major or career path. We hope to benefit from his insights on helping high school and college students take the next step in their own life plan.

Later, I’ll be outlining the 5 Main Tax Breaks families can take advantage of when it comes to college. The money you can save through these breaks can then help you pay more toward col-lege.

Follow up on this information with a tax expert to see how your family’s situation can possibly reap the benefits of some or all of these tax advantages.

“So, what do you want to do with the rest of your life?”

This is a question most parents ask and possibly dread the answer from their student, but it’s what Grant Baldwin specializes in.

For the past eight years, he’s visited high schools and colleges across the country presenting to students and points out that up until college, students have been told what to do and how to do it. So when graduation approaches the decision to think for themselves about their goals and plans, it can be difficult to take that next step. His website also offers resources, a podcast and blog aimed at helping students get the information they need to make the right decision in picking majors, schools and careers.

Things up to this point have been taken care of, so planning for their future brings on a host of responsibilities that are new to them. While it’s exciting to realize your life is in your hands, the weight of being the person to make it happen can seem abrupt and catch students off guard.

Parents: No helicopters allowed

Parents are wired to care and protect their children, but handing them some responsibility early and often can equip them for taking care of themselves when the time comes to head to college and away from home.

Call it tough love, but Grant says that even missing a deadline with college may not be the worst thing if it teaches kids that it’s really up to them (not mom and dad) to take care of business. Students need to own their college experience, by themselves.

Parents mean well, but “helicoptering” in to answer questions and fill out forms for them can end up hobbling their student from learning responsibility.

This doesn’t mean that parents can’t be a part of the process, however. Help them understand the process of applications, deadlines and the like, but realize that this is ultimately your child’s to do.

My junior is undecided: Is it time to panic?

It’s OK to be undecided – it’s currently the #1 college major, according to Grant.

Whether your student has no clue, or seems to be interested in EVERYthing, Grant says its the pressure to know what specific major they want, and what career they want that is common. The myth is thinking that they must stay in a profession after college, when the reality is that most people change careers over their lifetime.

So often being undecided is another way of students saying they don’t want to get it wrong, when realistically, they can change their mind along the way as they go through school because it’s normal. In fact, Grant counsels students that the more specific they get in a niche major, the more likely it’s going to limit that student.

Study wide v. narrow, in other words, to allow yourself the freedom to choose after graduation.

Isn’t ‘undecided’ a red flag to wait on college?

Grant feels it’s better not to go to to college if you are completely undecided or pick a ma-jor you don’t truly feel is a fit. After four years, you’re left with $50,000 in debt and no better idea of what you want to do.

College can also be a way for students to avoid other alternatives like the military or entering the workforce to buy time and not make a decision.