Paying $44k a year to not go to any of your classes was indeed a big mistake.
I could tell you another story about how I decided to take on a stupid amount of debt for school, but -- in the face of a lifetime of certain poverty -- the people I grew to know and the projects I actively pursued and worked hard on led me to a fulfilling life and a job that I love that covers my loans with ease.
There is a point in this post somewhere: asking 18 year olds to decide whether or not taking on crushing debt to attend classes they aren't sure they want to take (or even which ones they should take) is not a great thing to bet our economy and our children on. I don't really have an answer for communicating to someone just leaving home that the amount of money they're paying isn't worth it, though. Several people said it to me, but it was so abstract to me it was easy not to care.
In any case, anecdotes can give us guidance in our own lives (and crucially, they can provide us hope as we walk into an interview or open a late payment notice from sallie mae), but they're a pretty poor decision basis if we're aiming toward a societal optimum here.
I could tell you another story about how I decided to take on a stupid amount of debt for school, but -- in the face of a lifetime of certain poverty -- the people I grew to know and the projects I actively pursued and worked hard on led me to a fulfilling life and a job that I love that covers my loans with ease.
There is a point in this post somewhere: asking 18 year olds to decide whether or not taking on crushing debt to attend classes they aren't sure they want to take (or even which ones they should take) is not a great thing to bet our economy and our children on. I don't really have an answer for communicating to someone just leaving home that the amount of money they're paying isn't worth it, though. Several people said it to me, but it was so abstract to me it was easy not to care.
In any case, anecdotes can give us guidance in our own lives (and crucially, they can provide us hope as we walk into an interview or open a late payment notice from sallie mae), but they're a pretty poor decision basis if we're aiming toward a societal optimum here.