Gift registries for college kids are becoming a big business. But rather than buying your kid accessories for a dorm or apartment, I think you should be focusing on helping them decide what level of debt is reasonable for education.

With these gift registries, students get to list the particular sheet set, towels, accessories, TVs, they want. And then they basically do a begathon among friends and relatives!

I remember when my daughter went off to school as a freshman. At her dorm, there were overflowing dumpsters and next to them were more than 3 dozen boxes from the flat-screen TVs the kids brought.

But it's funny how things change. When I went to college, I went with a single suitcase. That was it. It was a very different era.

Today, at a lot of campuses, you have fancy, private developments for students with posh gyms, party rooms, and private bathrooms for each resident. Not that we should go back to the 10x14 dorm rooms of my youth with cinder block walls, bunk beds, and shared bathrooms down the hall!

But the expectations are different today and the costs are different too. Student loan debt can follow you through a lifetime. I was just talking to somebody who was looking for a second job because of $40,000 in student loan debt. And that's considered a middle-of-the-road kind of debt level with student loans!

Thinking through how to do college is so key. Parents, your duty is not to pay unless you can afford it. Rather, it is to help your teen be realistic about what is a reasonable expense and to not turn their nose up at a community college or a commuter college.