College

Do you remember the time you first applied for a college?

Fresh out of high school, your hopes and dreams are blooming and you can taste your newly found freedom. You began looking for colleges that would help you find your career path; whether you wanted to be an accountant, a marine biologist, a doctor, a movie director, etc., there was a college out there you wanted to go to. Can you remember how overwhelming that was?

Not only was finding a good college was difficult, but the process of actually filling out the papers, sending your transcripts, the waiting, the anxiety, just the entire experience is exhausting!

I am at the age of 19 years old and I'm currently in the process of applying for an art university. I was so excited to go to this college but at the moment, I'm just very tired. All summer, sending and receiving e-mails, sending and receiving letters, forms, papers, and schedules. Summer is supposed to be that vacay season. Nope. Summer was hell for me. Don't get me wrong, I had some nice days and memories made, but in the back of my mind was the crippling anxiety of how I'm going to pay for all four years of my time there.

It's my life on the line, essentially. If I can't pay for the tuition, let alone the textbooks, how am I going to get further in life?

There are people who make it far in life without a higher education and I am genuinely happy for them, but they aren't me and I wish to have that higher education. Hell, I wish that education would be cheaper!

It would be nice for education to be easily available for everyone, maybe then the dropout rates would lower. If the education itself won't lower in cost, then what about supplies like textbooks?

For one of my very expensive classes, I need to have three textbooks; one's around $15.99, the second one is about $50.00 and the third one is around $240. Why? Why is a single textbook $240?

I am a college student with barely $8.00 on my card and I'm expected to pay $240 for a textbook? I know I can get a grant or a loan to help pay for the supplies I will need, but my tuition alone uses up all of that money! How am I still broke after getting help from my trusty government?! That is so not fair.

Education is valuable, but is it worth being broke or living the rest of your life lying awake at night fearing the debt? To some, yes because education something you can offer and it brings people together. Learning can be such a magical experience and it's a necessity to get somewhere in this society.

It can be the greatest gift of all because you're passing something you know down to the younger generation, contributing to their wellbeing and essentially leading them down a path they could've possibly missed if it weren't for your knowledge. To some people, education isn't worth the money, stress or work because they want money quick and they don't have the patience for it. I don't blame them! If I could ditch school and just become a millionaire for existing, I'd take the opportunity!

But college is an experience everyone should have. Everyone should feel that sense of accomplishment for making it that far in life, for making it into a college and gaining more knowledge without the use of Google. Feeling a sense of accomplishment for getting a good grade in a subject you weren't very good at is a great feeling, you feel that boost of confidence and in your head, you know you can overcome what the world has to give you.

But is education definitively worth the stress and money?

I don't know, that's all up to you.