Is this that "new math"?

Last night in the car, Mark and I were discussing college. He wanted to know how often the college calls your parents when you misbehave or skip class. Then he asked me how much college costs, and I answered, "A lot."

"How much?" he asked again.

"How much do you think is a lot of money?" I asked back.

Mark shrugged. "I dunno. Like, $1200?"

"That is a lot," I agreed. "But college is even more than that, depending on where you go. UCLA is $27,000 a year, if you live in the dorms."

Mark whistled from the back seat. "That IS a lot!"

I nodded. "And that's for a state school," I told him. "If you go to a private school, it can cost up to $50,000 a year."

"OH MY GOD!" he shouted in disbelief.

"Yup," I answered. "A year! If you go for four years, how much would that cost you?"

"Over a million dollars!" he answered immediately.

I glanced at him in the rear view mirror. "Try again," I told him. "Break it down to smaller numbers. What's 4 times 50?"

"Um, 20," he said.

"No, it's not," I said. "Add another zero."

"Oh," he said. "200."

"And now add the three zeroes for the thousands," I prodded. "How much does that add up to?"

"Oh my GOD!" he cried again. "That's like $400,000!"

I almost stopped the car at that point. "No, it's not," I insisted. "It's $200,000!"

I heard a "Hmph," then he said, "Really?"

"Yes!" I said indignantly. "You need to study harder for your math test on Friday!"

"No, I don't," he shot back. "That test is all about fractions, not multiplication."

I just sighed, and drove home. I guess the good news is that based on this conversation, Mark probably won't major in math in college. Which means there's still a chance I'll be able to help him with his college homework when the time comes.

But the bad news is, also based on this conversation, he probably won't get any academic scholarships, either. So I'd better start socking away even more money for his college fund -- because apparently, I'm gonna need somewhere between 400,000 and 1 million dollars.