Straight out of high school we have two options — go to college or start working. The first involves a large sum of cash upfront. But the latter means earning less over a lifetime.
So how do you do afford college if you come from a family that can’t help you with tuition, books or living expenses?
Well, for this columnist, it’s involved a mountain of student loans that gets taller each semester. But in the absence of an attractive credit score or rich relative co-signer, sometimes getting that money upfront can be impossible. For those students, it’s time to cut expenses and save.
A quick Google search will yield many results on how to cut spending and save money for college. But most of these “save-money-for-college” guides assume that I spend $5 on coffee every day, which I can’t afford even on a good week.
The financial stress endured while in college is going to have its way with you. And for a lot of students, that means letting go of the career they dreamed of on high school graduation day to make room for one that comes with the promise of financial stability.
Money can’t buy happiness, kids. But I’d be lying if I told you that financial stability doesn’t make it easier to appreciate the things that bring you happiness. I’d also be lying if I told you that I’ve never considered getting an accounting degree.
Does sure financial success hold enough weight for us to become grey-faced, number-crunching financial consultants for the next 40 years?
According to newhealthguide.org, the suicide rate among high paying professionals, like accountants or physicians, is double that of the general population. Other professions with mental health side effects are dentistry, law and natural scientists.
That’s not to say there are no happy, thriving and financially stable workers in any of these fields. But it’s important to remember our choice of degree field is going to affect us well after we pay off our student loans.
The American attitude toward college is turning toward that of necessity, but the price tag of college is a luxury.
It’s no secret that college is expensive. In fact, student loan debt, Ramen noodle diets and single-digit bank balances have become the subject of sad jokes between teens and twenty-somethings.
A study published by Pew Research Center in February found that college graduates in their late 20s to early 30s earned about $17,500 more per year than their peers with only a high school education.
While that may seem like enough reason to take whatever means are necessary to afford the almost $9000 average per year for in-state tuition in America, I’ve got some bad news. The price we pay now for that $17,500 extra a year is more than our parents did.
Why do we do it then? Why do we put ourselves through four years of financial instability and stress over four figure loans that turn into five figures by the time we graduate with a degree that won’t help us any more than when our parents paid less for it?
Pew Research executive vice president and co-author of the report Paul Taylor gave us all the reason we could need in an interview with Huffington Post.
“The only thing more expensive than getting a college education is not getting one.”
Jana King is a 19-year-old communication studies junior from Ponchatoula, La. You can reach her on Twitter @jking_TDR.