Always people are like “no one forced you to go to college.” Mehhh, I kinda disagree.
I went to a college prep highschool, catholic, military, the whole 9.
Keep in mind also there is a nice community college across the street from out highschool.
During junior year I would start to hear teachers commenting on college dropouts or people who wanted to take a year off. How they “end up across the street.”
One teacher – after saying “hi” to a former student who was visiting and saying hello to his former teachers – regarded us and said:
“you don’t want to end up like him. You’ll see these kinds walking around, deciding to not go to a reputable school, don’t be like them, don’t end up over there at the community college.”
I remember thinking (the dumb unable to make decisions about borrowing large sums of money teenager that I was) that “holy fuck man he’s right!”
Then the following year, with my parents basically begging me to go to college, I got a loan. Looking back I would have just done whatever adults told me was the best regardless of what that was. I guess I just wish some adults gave me more of a choice.