By Cheryl Mattox Berry
It’s senior year. All your friends are excited about applying to colleges. Mom and dad are bugging you to narrow your choice of schools. The dates for the next ACT and SAT are fast approaching, but you haven’t registered yet. It’s not that you’re procrastinating. Truth of the matter is, you’re not feeling college right now. How do you break that news to your parents?
Before you tell them, do some soul-searching and determine why you aren’t interested in going to college.
Does the college application process overwhelm you? It can drive you crazy, for sure. Take a deep breath. Start by selecting five schools and looking up the requirements and deadlines for applications and financial aid forms.
Are you sick and tired of studying? If you’ve been going to school since pre-K, you should be tired, but you’ll have the whole summer to rest your brain and gear up for college. It’s a totally different experience from high school. I’d say the best years.
Do you want to work for a while and go to school later? Jobs are hard to come by in this tough economy. You may find a minimum wage job at a fast-food restaurant or grocery store, but will that satisfy you? Once you start earning a little money, you’ll start buying things. Then, you’ll want to work more, to earn more money, to buy more stuff. School may be put off indefinitely once you start enjoying material things.
Would you like to just get a job and get on with your life? With no special skills, you wouldn’t earn a decent living and may be unable to live the life you envision. You’ll find that the employees who get the big promotions and big paychecks have a college degree.
Fact: College isn’t for everyone.
Although your parents may want you to get a college degree, your heart has to be in it 100 percent. Otherwise, college will be a waste of time and money. If you don’t want to go college, what is the back-up plan? How will you gain the skills needed to ensure that you’ll earn enough money to take care of yourself?
To earn a decent wage, you’ll have to know how to do something. However, career training doesn’t have to come from a four-year institution. Some high school graduates are attending community college, where they get an associate’s degree in two years for certain jobs, such as a paralegal, medical assistant, crime scene technician, chef and automotive manager. Vocational schools are another option. They offer training in as little as nine months for some careers. Among the jobs vocational students learn how to do: dental assistant, pharmacy technician, computer system technician and massage therapist.
Do your research before ruling out college. You can’t count on mom and dad to take care of you after high school if you’re not in college. At that point, you’re grown and on your own. It’s tough to find work period these days with or without a college degree, but keep in mind that a degree gives you an edge.
Bottom line: If not a four-year university, find a training program that teaches you how to do something so that you can get paid.
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