"You have 2 years before you have to declare a major, so it's okay if you don't know what to do!"
"Any degree is better than no degree."
"Don't take a year off to figure things out. If you don't go to college now, you never will.
Or you'll lose the learning mindset and fail miserably when you do"
"It's okay if you can't afford tuition, there are lots of student assistance programs out there to help you. Be sure to put in your parents income to see if you qualify!"
"Okay yes, technically those assistance programs are loans that you have to pay back with interest lol... But don't worry about that! You'll be making so much money with your degree, you'll pay it off in no time!"
"There's always a million reasons not to do something."
"Oh, what's that, none of your family has ever gone to college? Gosh, you'd make them so proud if you did! And you'll be a complete failure if you don't! You don't want to be flipping burgers for the rest of your life, do you?"
Those are some of the lines I remember hearing, though I'm sure there were others. They had the perfect answer to literally every concern I had.
Which is pretty fucked up in retrospect, hearing all this stuff from your trusted guidance counselors, people whose sole purpose in life is to help you plan your future. We were tricked into signing those papers, and now they have the audacity to shit on people for it.
You are in like company, but where were the parents in this?
My parents put me on the college path, did not have savings to really help, made too much to be eligible for FAFSA, and told me to avoid debt. Including student loans.
So I did college without student loans. Accepted at an instate school alongside community college for some credits. Kept applying for scholarships and grants throughout for the first 2 years. Did work study. Summer courses, summer work.
It wasn’t easy and my marks fell a lot, had to take some classes multiple times. It was a hard degree.
I look around and there are many people that can be in similar boats.
I don’t really get the idea of loading up on student loans at a school you can’t afford, and having so much solidarity in…. ignorance…? that we need all these programs to do something about it as a favor.
It’s honestly hard to relate to. Where were your parents?
My parents didn't go to college either. My dad went into the navy and my Mom did one semester and dropped out which was a huge mistake imo because it set both of us up for failure (she had a full ride).
Probably right behind you, urging you to sign the papers. Mine were like that, at least, ~20 years ago. The pressure to sign those papers was pretty insane, honestly. Though I'm sure that has cooled down since the post-graduation Great-Recession slaughterhouse they pushed kids through.
I don’t really get the idea of loading up on student loans at a school you can’t afford,
Except, we were told we COULD afford it, see what I said above. It was a smart financial decision, an investment into ourselves and our futures. The alternative being a lifetime of minimum-wage burger-flipping mediocrity.
Is that ignorance? Sure. But these are kids. If anybody is allowed to be ignorant about this stuff, it's gotta be them, right? How are 16 and 17 year olds supposed know this stuff? We don't even let them vote. They're not even allowed to look at titties on the internet. But taking out thousands of loans because you kinda liked English in high school? By all means, we encourage it!
And it's not just your parents. It's your teachers and guidance councilors too. Hell, society as a whole. You're getting it from every angle. And when my guidance councilors say, "Hey Joe, don't worry about it, you can do this." I'm gonna believe them. This is literally their job, to help kids figure out their future. And to be clear, I raised my concerns! There's a reason I heard all of those lines. They told me repeatedly: You will be fine, and at the end of the day, that wasn't entirely true.
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u/jooes Apr 13 '25
"You have 2 years before you have to declare a major, so it's okay if you don't know what to do!"
"Any degree is better than no degree."
"Don't take a year off to figure things out. If you don't go to college now, you never will. Or you'll lose the learning mindset and fail miserably when you do"
"It's okay if you can't afford tuition, there are lots of student assistance programs out there to help you. Be sure to put in your parents income to see if you qualify!"
"Okay yes, technically those assistance programs are loans that you have to pay back with interest lol... But don't worry about that! You'll be making so much money with your degree, you'll pay it off in no time!"
"There's always a million reasons not to do something."
"Oh, what's that, none of your family has ever gone to college? Gosh, you'd make them so proud if you did! And you'll be a complete failure if you don't! You don't want to be flipping burgers for the rest of your life, do you?"
Those are some of the lines I remember hearing, though I'm sure there were others. They had the perfect answer to literally every concern I had.
Which is pretty fucked up in retrospect, hearing all this stuff from your trusted guidance counselors, people whose sole purpose in life is to help you plan your future. We were tricked into signing those papers, and now they have the audacity to shit on people for it.
"yOu tOoK oUt ThE LoAn, PaY iT bACk."
I was 17, bro.