If you're the parent of a high school senior or -- for that matter -- a first-, second- or third-year college student, it's already too late to worry about how you're going to pay for their college education.

As most of us learn the hard way, that's something you need to start worrying about the day the child is born. And even then it's an uphill battle every step of the way.

I'm speaking from personal experience, of course. And I know there are lots of folks out there who also have struggled with the cost of a college education.

It's miserable under the best of circumstances.

And most of us never get to see the best of circumstances -- that would be winning the lottery or being born with a silver spoon in our mouths. No such luck.

This is the time of the year, for example, when parents are expected to complete their FAFSA -- Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The deadline quickly approaches.

And coming when it does -- at the same time many of us are scrambling to finish up our income tax returns -- only adds to the frustration.

But this year, there's another fly in the ointment -- the loan pool from which all college aid money pours forth has shrunk to the size of a bird bath.

That means a process that's aggravating enough when there seems to be plenty of money to go around is now mind-blowing because there's not nearly enough money for every student who wants to go to college.

The student loan agencies are hanging on by their fingertips,

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thanks to an unstable economy and investors' unwillingness to purchase loans on the bond market. So the PHEAA (Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency) and others have stopped issuing student loans.

Subsidized student loans have taken a sabbatical. Money for college education is going to be more difficult than ever to come by.

It's a risk and reward thing, and these days the risk outweighs the potential reward for lenders.

Sure there's going to be some money out there, but students and parents are going to be competing for those dollars more aggressively than ever.

It's the sort of situation that alarms parents. Students don't have a clue, because they usually aren't too involved in the financial aid process. It's the parents' job to come up with the money for college.

So there will be more than a few anxious moments, and some parents may be forced to tell their children they won't be able to attend college this fall or next because the money isn't there to pay for it.

That's bad news.

At the same time, though, I'd suggest it might not be the worst thing in the world if colleges and universities had to accept 70 percent enrollment for a couple of years and college-bound students worked a year or two between high school and college.

Because I suspect once state and federal governments stop subsidizing college educations or reduce the flow of dollars, colleges and universities are going to find a way to cut costs enough that families can
afford to send their children to college without breaking the bank.

Supply and demand is a wonderful thing, especially when there's less demand than supply. That's when prices come tumbling down.

That even applies to the cost of a college education.

Columns by Larry A. Hicks, Dispatch columnist, run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. E-mail: lhicks@yorkdispatch.com.