

It’s impossible to work your way through college nowadays (now with national data) - rhiever
http://www.randalolson.com/2014/03/29/its-impossible-to-work-your-way-through-college-nowadays-revisited-with-national-data/

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fnordfnordfnord
That was my experience. That chart gives a little comfort. I dropped out for
the third and final time in 2006. It was a task that I was not well prepared
for (I was prepared for what I expected it to cost). In retrospect I can see
things that I might have done better (can't everyone?); but a number of those
things amount to 'ignore the advice of [parent, grandparent, other well-
meaning people, etc]' or disregard culturally imprinted ideas x, y, and z. In
that light, I won't second-guess my early-twenties self for his lack of
wisdom. I don't regret my college experience. I am glad that I don't owe a
large student loan debt for a failed degree attempt, but if I had taken a
small amount to help me complete my last year, that might have been worth it.
So maybe just the one regret.

~~~
bane
I also worked through college, and it sucked. I managed to make it through,
but there were any number of times that I almost didn't. I did have a few
loans at the end, but I went to <local state school> and they were well under
<$20k and where paid off within just a couple years with the new salary I
could command.

>but a number of those things amount to 'ignore the advice of [parent,
grandparent, other well-meaning people, etc]' or disregard culturally
imprinted ideas x, y, and z.

I'm glad that you bring this up. There's a tremendous number of people and
sources that want to give you advice about how to do it, but they're
frequently wrong and it's _very_ hard for a 20-something just out of high
school to go against those voices. Furthermore, the 20-something probably
doesn't know the answers either given their experience.

It's a shame you didn't make it through, but it's never too late and if you go
to local state school a class per semester, it isn't _that_ time consuming or
expensive.

The only advice I can give you is that it's better to achieve the achievable
and not live with that regret.

