Dear people who think going to college is a requirement,

I would first off like to address the fact that I am currently a freshman in college. Yes, this was a choice of mine, and yes, I plan on following through with it. However, that's not exactly the case for everyone else. College isn't a requirement for life. I don't know if any of you have actually played the physical board game called Life, but going to college is optional in the game and a good majority of people who choose not to go to college in the game, tend to win.

Now, let me address the relevance of this metaphor. You see, the moment we start to consider our options after primary school, society likes to drill the idea of college into our heads. The notation that not going to college is a bad thing. I mean, I don't want to go around putting labels on the idea of not going to college as a good or a bad, but the final conclusion of how it turns out is specific to each individual person. Sure most professions that have a higher salary require a degree to be considered for the position, but some only look at the work experience you possess. I believe that due to society's image of not going to college, we tend to think that the only jobs available to those people are jobs like McDonald's employees and Food Lion cashiers. But this is a very snobby and biased perspective we have developed as a whole. Not only are there much better and higher paying jobs available to people without degrees to their names, but even to the people who do work at McDonald's or Food Lion, it's a mean of income for their families and that's more than some people have.

When I did more research into what jobs were available to people without degrees I was honestly a little shocked by some of the results I found. Jobs like Nuclear Medicine Technologists and Dental Assistants don't require the possession of degree to obtain the job. These are jobs that have a median salary between $42,000 and $72,000 a year. So lets put this into some perspective. Seven out of ten seniors who graduate college come out of school with about $28,950 of debt. Now the interest that is applied to the graduates' debt is about 4.8% and some student loans only apply the interest after the student graduates, but some loans automatically start the interest immediately when the student starts college. This means a graduate student can have upwards of about $6,000 worth of interest added to their total debt. Now I don't know about some of you, but that's not really the ideal plan or lifestyle for anyone. There are always the anomaly cases, like myself, where a student acquires very little to zero debt when they leave college. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case for everyone. Now, let me add another curve ball into play that might just make your mind go "hmmm, I never really thought of that." So while all these students are acquiring these large amounts of debt, you might think to yourself, "Well, at least they're graduating with a degree and can pay it off after they find a job." Let me just say that is unbelievably wrong, for the most part. First off, the unemployment rate for college graduates is 7.2%. That means that around 44 million college graduates are without jobs, which also means they're probably unable to also pay off their student loans. On top of that, a large portion of professions that require a degree only have a yearly salary of average $45,000. Some of these professions include Music Composer, Health Educator, Teachers, Graphic Designers, and Social Workers. You might read all of this information I just laid down and think that's a pretty good salary to have. But in comparison to a person who makes about the same amount of money per year or even and additional $30,000 per year and also doesn't hold any debt to their name, plus started working the moment they graduated high school, versuses students who spend between four to six years in college and have large sums of debt, kind of really comes out better in the end.

I don't want people to read this and think that I'm putting down people who earn a degree and spend about four to six years in college. Personally, I believe that people should attend college and earn a degree. Unfortunately, that's just not an option for everyone and that's okay. As humans, it is our natural instinct to adapt to a situation. Some people try college and just find out that it's not for them. So they drop out and join the work force and start accumulating an income. Then, on the other hand, there are the people who graduate after a few years with a degree and then start working using their degree. In the end, the ultimate goal is to be able to provide for oneself and one's family. On top of that, there's also the philosophy that people should work at a job where they're happy. It's unfortunate that money is such a large consideration when applying for jobs and deciding whether or not to go to college. But that's just how society functions and it is a very difficult thing to consider when making life choices. Sometimes you just wish that life was like the board game. You just take about 30 seconds to a minute to decide whether or not you attend college and then continue on with the game. Long story short, we as people are in no place to judge others for not choosing to earn a college degree. Sometimes people who don't end up better than people who do, and vice versa. So don't continue to let society hold this idea that not going to college is bad, because sometimes those people come out ahead.

Sincerely,

The Daughter Whose Father Dropped Out Of College