Entering high school, some of us already have an idea of where we want to see ourselves. Whether it be working on a career path or being in a certain college or university, we get influenced to how we will paint our future. In my case, the college I am attending now was looked down upon negatively both my middle school and high school years.
When you think of schools around your area, some may look at it as an useless place to receive higher education. Being in a higher level of learning environment meant looking beyond what my backyard had to offer. My college was labeled as the place that students who graduate with a 2.0 GPA attend. While I'm not saying that GPA is what should label a student's intellectual abilities, for many peers, attending the school would be devaluing my long taught education.
After seeing the realities senior year of high school taught me (financial aid nightmares), I began to look towards the option many of my peers made fun of. I looked into attending the Honors College at my what was once known as my community college. Now just being labeled as a normal college, if you were to tell me four years ago that this would be the place I would be attending, I would probably start sobbing and hating myself for not working hard enough.
The truth is, I worked hard enough my senior year. I worked among the obstacles I faced and when it was time to explore this option, I took the risk of being looked down upon.
I sit here now as a sophomore in my neighborhood college as happy as I could ever imagine myself.
I am not in debt, I have not taken out loans, I am getting paid to go to school, I sleep in my own bed in my own room, have my own car, and I am getting one of the highest education in the nation.
To all of those who ridiculed this college, BOOYEAH!
With that being said, let's stop subjecting ourselves to believing that Ivy leagues or 60k a year schools are the best ones in the nation. Let's start looking at what is right for US, for our family. The first two years of college are general ed, and yet, there are people spending thousands of dollars in classes that only get priced that way because it's X University. As I mentioned before, I am getting money back from attending my college. It puts so much less stress on me because my expenses are paid off in a heartbeat. Truth is, you are the only one who can measure your education. Every degree is a degree and whether it is from Stanford or Brooklyn College, each student can have the same potential. Money is what keeps many community college students from leaving the household and being independent, so please don't look down on them.
Let's stop assuming people are being lazy attending their community college and start praising them for the route they are taking. Who knows, you'll maybe find them after two years of college sitting next to you as a transfer student with a 4.0 GPA not drowning in debt, only pure happiness.
