I am a freshman at Norfolk State University and I commute every week day to class. I originally wanted to attend Tidewater Community College (I would have had friends there) then transfer over for my last two years to Norfolk State or skip college and go to apprentice school. Well my parents wanted me to go to Norfolk State, they felt if I went to TCC I would not have finished my degree. They also did not like the idea of apprentice school. My first semester at college my grades were good 4 A’s and 1 B, now I’m starting my second semester I feel like my life is wasting away sitting through classes I could care less about. I also feel lost because I do not have a major. I really want to drop out, but I do not know what else I would do. All I hear at school is college students earn more over the years, college is essential in todays society to get jobs, it is supposed to help us be critical thinker and teacher us to work with others. Just sacrifice for four year and it will be easy sailing. A part of me does not believe that when I am taking on student debt with no guarantee of a job after college. NSU is an HBCU and coming from a private school it is a different atmosphere some times when I walk from building to building I just get sad and feel like I am going through the same motions of going to class do homework then sleep and do it all over again. People have suggested I take coursework that interest me, but my advisory told me certain classes were mandatory and I really couldn’t change them. I tried to get one day off I couldn’t do that either. I know I can do the coursework if I give it my all, but I don’t think I can go through three more years of feeling trapped and defeated everyday. I’ve talked with professors and they’ve said try to find my passion and to relax. My current major is Interdisciplinary Studies my school told me if I didn’t pick a major I would lose financial aide.
You mentioned apprentice school - what would you have done? The college degree/lifetime earnings correlation is not absolute - there are a multitude of factors that change the value of a degree for an individual. If you were motivated about a certain trade, say, carpentry or plumbing, you could very well make more money than a lot of college grads (even those with advanced degrees.)
I’m personally very debt averse and I don’t think you should be accumulating debt when you are uncertain what you’re actually in college for. You should do some serious reflecting on your situation and at the very least consider taking a gap semester so you can explore/research some options both inside and outside academia.
To answer a few of your questions:
Because of the push for higher education colleges degrees are the new high school degrees. In other words it is very hard to get a job beyond waitress or bartender without a college degree.
CC is a trap many students never end up escaping. But since you have a destination in mind I do not believe that is an issue for you.
I really don’t think it is worth taking on debt for a public school education when CC would be almost the exact something as a fraction of the cost.
Trade school is cool and it’ll get you a job BUT the long-term career prospects aren’t great. Would you be happy doing the exact same job for 40 years?
A lot of your success IRL will depend on your personality and your mentality.
Personally I’d advise dropping and going to CC then transferring back (or even to a better school).