This website has already discussed numerous ways that individuals can pay off their student loans. The blog has also including some considerations students should assess when choosing which schools to select. However, the website has not yet tackled how to decide if attending college is right for you.
In our modern economy, it is usually assumed that everyone graduating high school should attend college. Indeed, a college degree is typically seen as a necessary credential to pursue any type of career.
However, there have been many stories on the internet about individuals forsaking college in favor of attending trade schools and pursing jobs that do not require a college degree. In fact, the growing student debt crisis in this country demonstrates that attending college can jeopardize your financial health. Due to the grave financial consequences of borrowing student debt, you might be better off not attending college at all.
Although I took the plunge and borrowed massive amounts of student debt myself, individuals have emailed me over the past several months to ask if I thought that attending trade schools or pursuing non-traditional careers was more favorable than attending college in certain circumstances. Although I do not have too much experience with this issue, I think there are certain things you should assess when deciding if college is right for you.
First, it should go without saying that you should attend college if you will not pay any money to earn your undergraduate degree. Some people are fortunate enough to have parents helping them with educational expenses, and others may obtain scholarships or need-based financial aid to cover the cost of college. Some people might view college as a waste of time, and might want to skip higher education if they have their heart set on a career that does not require a college education. However, college is such a rewarding experience, and it does not make sense to forgo college if you will not experience any financial consequences from obtaining an undergraduate degree.
Furthermore, if you want to forgo attending college, you need to be extremely sure about what you would like to do with your career. If you know you want to be an auto mechanic, a tradesman, or enter a number of other profitable fields, then college might not be right for you. However, if you can see yourself working in a field that might be eliminated by automation, or could become obsolete with improved technology, then it might make sense to attend college so that you have something to fall back on.
Additionally, if you are considering whether college is right for you, you need to carefully assess if you want to forgo the social experiences of being an undergraduate student. College is not just rewarding because of the information that you learn. Perhaps the most important aspect of being an undergraduate is the social experience of meeting new people, experimenting, and having more responsibility than you might have had while you were growing up. Some people are just naturally more mature, and are ready to enter the “real world” without attending college. However, many people benefit from having the chance to find themselves while attending college, and this opportunity should be considered when assessing if college is right for you.
In addition, there is typically an unfair stigma attached to individuals who did not attend college, and everyone thinking of skipping higher education should carefully consider this. Some people might believe that individuals did not attend college because they lacked the discipline necessary to earn a degree, and even though this viewpoint is extremely flawed, it could impact how people perceive you. Others might think that people who do not attend college lack the academic proficiency to earn a degree. Of course, these beliefs are completely wrong, but prospective students must carefully consider if they want to be subject to this bias if they choose not to attend college.
Moreover, not having a college degree can impact parts of your life that are not related to your career. Being a college graduate is sometimes a factor for many public service roles, and not having a college degree could impact your ability to obtain civic positions. In addition, not attending college could affect your social relationships, since many people have common experiences that are involved with obtaining an undergraduate degree. It is important to recognize that forgoing college could not just impact you vocationally, but in other ways as well.
Even if you choose not to attend college after graduating from high school, you should consider obtaining an associate’s or bachelor’s degree over the course of time. As previously mentioned on this website, you can save a ton of money by obtaining a degree while working full-time, and many community colleges and other institutions have programs through which part-time students can obtain degrees at a very reasonable cost. Many colleges have programs through which students can earn their degrees on nights and weekends, and it is definitely possible to earn a degree while working a full-time job. Although obtaining a degree through a part-time program will cost you money and time, having a degree will act as a hedge in case you ever want to make a career change.
In the end, college is not for everyone. One thing that having crushing student debt has taught me is that one should carefully consider whether they want to earn a degree and deal with the financial consequences that may result. In any case, if you are asking yourself if college is right for you, you should carefully consider a variety of factors when assessing if you should earn a college degree.