He is to get room and board but must pay his own plane fare. But if I went to college, I'd never be able to do this again. Many jobs will pay handsomely for something a teen-ager already knows, from fooling around on a computer or car to mowing the lawn. Teen-agers have a chance to grow up and support themselves. A temporary gig could become a lifelong career.
Some people have a different path.
I thought he was joking. I had a bright future awaiting me at the University of Chicago that fall. Obviously my father doubted my intellect. The military could send me to the Defense Language Institute in California. I could learn a foreign language.