I went to college right after high school because my parents wanted me to go... I did not want to go. Two and a half years later, I left college and enlisted in the military. When I left the military, I went back to college because I did not like enlisted life. Officers had a good life, but enlisted did not. That sent me back to college.
Throughout my career, I realized that a college degree got me the job, but my job performance was not contingent upon my college degree but upon me achieving outcomes. Unfortunately, in order to be in a position to achieve outcomes, I had to have a college degree - for white collar jobs.
At the end of my career (45 years later), I realized that I could have had a successful career without a college degree. And without COLLEGE DEBT. A college degree was not the only place where good jobs could be found.
The technical trades which can be learned at a trade school or a community college at substantial less money involved provide skills that allow for a successful life... the tradeoff is that it can be hard on your body.
Managing a restaurant, a retail store, a hotel/motel, or even a resort offers all sorts of advantages for a successful career PROVIDING you are willing to pay your dues for 5-10 years.
My dad had a college degree, and his job was white collar, sitting behind a desk, supervising other administrative people. He was traveling 6 months out of the year, he worked 12–15-hour days, brought work home on the weekends, and later in life, he had to attend evening activities 3-5 nights a week.
The mental and physical toll on his body was high.
When I went to college in the 1960s, tuition which included meals, dorm room and books was $2,500 each year or $10,000 for four years. One could cut save $2000 each year by living off campus. The actual tuition was $500/semester.
The average price for college is $35,000 each year. If that money is borrowed, then college graduates will be working for 10-20 years just to pay off their college debt.
Most people work in order to have some sort of retirement account plus social security plus savings when they retire, even though they don't really think about retirement until they are in their 60s.
If you save $2.50/day and at the end of the month put that money into a mutual fund and leave it there for 40 years continually adding each month... at the end of 40 years, you will have $500,000. If you start at 20, you will have this money at 60. If you and your spouse do this, you will have one million dollars.
Pressure to have a white-collar job will no longer be that great on you.
Even if you have a college degree in order to get the large salaries, you will need to move up north. You will almost never get a good return on your college investment if you remain in the south to work. The money just isn't there... in general, but it is possible after 20-30 years if you want to wait that long.
There are so many people now that are going after a college degree that there are simply not enough jobs for college graduates and many graduates are working as waiters and waitresses while they hunt for jobs.
REMEMBER: It's your life not your parent's life...
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