Did anyone else here wait to go to college? If so, why? I waited to start until I was 24. There were two reasons for this. The first one is financial. Before you turn 18 the gov't considers you a dependent student. This means they count your parents' or nearest living relative's income against you when deciding on your aid package, even if you are living on your own. But after you turn 24 they can't do that anymore. My parents are wealthy, but because of their jealousy over my intelligence, they refused to help pay for school. I wasn't going to work full-time and go to school at the same time, because everyone I know who did that dropped out of school. So I had to wait to go until the fed gov't declared me independent from their money. The second one was choice. I simply wanted to wait.
I really CAN'T wait because as it is, even starting school at 18, I'm not going to finish until I'm 27 or 28 and I want to start a career and a family by the time I'm 30. My parents have been unemployed for the past 2 years and it's not looking like they're going to find jobs any time soon, so I'm hoping to get a lot of money on financial aide because the cheapest college I'm looking at is still 30K a year, not counting books. Luckily, my grandfather is paying for all my college expenses- even grad school and law school, however my mom claims that if I don't come home every summer and follow her rules that she will get my funding cut, so I might end up a few hundred thousand dollars in debt. *sigh* It's worth it to me though...
I sort of waited to go to college. I finished high-school when I was 18 and didn't feel "ready" at that point in time. You know when the time is right, it kind of just hits you. I always said I'd just go to college to party---how wrong I was. I worked for 2 years, and found myself getting nowhere in life, barely making enough to get by. I ended up applying the first day the applications came online, got accepted to all the schools I applied to, and am now persuing a worthwhile education this September. My course is only 12 months long, so I'm quite the happy guy, I'll come out with about $10,000 CAD of debt..which I'll be able to pay off in about 2 years if I work my ass off (which I plan to). I CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE!! lol.
Here in Germany it is quite usual for people to wait one or even two years. Some to community services, the guys usually go to military or the required comunity service substitute, Others have to wait because they were not accepted for what they wanted ( alot of things require very high averages, and if you didn't get it, you can wait, do an apprenticeship in the field, or internships, then they'll take you later) I started a year later. I was finishing my ceramics apprenticeship, which I started parallel to school, and creating a portfolio for the art academy.
I started college when I was eighteen and now I am in my last year and a half. I will be 22 when I graduate and then I'll go to grad school. I can't imagine waiting to go to college. I have learned so much and met so many cool people that I wouldn't have met had I waited a few years. But I have to say, if it doesn't feel right to you to go straight to college, don't go. Go when you feel it is time for you, not when someone else says it is. Peace, Amy
I went to college right after high school for a semester. I went out of state on a scholarship and had to keep a 3.0 Not that hard right? Well I had too many late nights and got a 2.9 So I lost my scholarship and around the same time my dad lost his job so I had no source of finances to stay out there. I came home and will be getting back to school here in fall, hopefully. I'm 20 and only have a semester under my belt. I've been living paycheck to paycheck and it is a bitch! I love school and have found that once you are out it is really hard to get back in. Money is a big problem and now I have to work and go to school full time to support myself. Yuck! Honestly I feel kind of odd still not being in school. I have friends my age who started early and are already graduating. Makes me feel a little behind... but so it goes.
