Live life your way

The most asked question I get is, “What do you want to do in life?” and I still do not know. I am about to graduate this December and my only plans after college is moving home to save money in order to buy a van. I plan on remodeling the inside of a van in order to live out of it and travel the United States. I get questioned all the time about my major, what I want to do after college, where I want to work, and if I even plan on using my major. The answer is always, “I don’t know.”

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Going into college, I was not a fan of school. I felt like I had to go to college to make it in life, pressure from parents to make something of myself and I felt like it was the only way that I would be able to afford to live. In reality, this is not true. I could live my dream life in my van traveling across the country without my degree. I could have already been experiencing life has I wish these last four years.

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During junior year of highschool, it is common now that guidance counselors discuss college, the SATS, and everything else you need to know about the “real world.” By the end of that year or the beginning of senior year, most students know exactly where they plan on spending the next four years of their life at. College.

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There is so much pressure in society to get a degree because if you don’t, you'll end up working a minimum paying job, not being able to support yourself. Forget about having a family or any type of life, because you won’t be able to afford it without at least four years of college under your belt.

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It seems like society is shifting for the worse now. Instead of four years to get your bachelor's degree, people are pushing masters and doctorates.

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FIrst off, how does society expect the average person to afford all of the schooling needed to get a job? We are forced to go to University to get degrees to find better jobs in order to pay back loans and never be able to live anyways. So why not live in freedom without the debt?

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Higher education is not for everyone. Not everyone needs it to succeed in their life. Success is based off of what the individual wants to be in life, where they want to go, what they want to see and how they want to live their life. Higher education should be an option for everyone, but not always the answer.