College has become a scam wherein the current ponytailed Baby Boomer professors, and administrators, con the youth to hand over a sizeable portion of their future life earnings in exchange for nothing more than a promise of access to higher earnings.
I have two kids in college. The pressure from their high school to attend the best college possible was enormous. And parents got bragging rights if their kid got into a good college.
Stop the tape!
Kids at 17 or 18 rarely know what they want to do, or what their gifts are. Rather than spend and potentially waste tens of thousands of dollars, my kids are both taking their general studies at the local community college while living at home. Two years done with the general courses out of the way and they are debt free, own their own car, and have a much better idea of what they want to do when they transfer to a 4-year school to finish their last two years.
Saying your going to community college sounds pretty low-brow to most, but why should I pay $15k to $20k per year for general studies not related to a major that can easily be taken far cheaper and then transfer out to a 4-year school?
I do not want to burden my kids with mountains of school loan debt for the rest of their lives. And, IMO, outside of a hard science degree, college is of very marginal value anymore.
Community college is an excellent option for completing basic college work and possibly discovering what you really want to do. My 5th child will start at our local CC this fall, and the 6th will go next year. I don’t give a freep if it sounds “low-brow”: as my mother says, “Do we know these people? Do we care what they think about us?”
We also went the community college route. Currently three of my kids have good degrees from prestigious or reasonable schools and no debts. Two are high earning software engineers and one is a pt teacher but that was her goal as she is also a homemaker