With school coming to an end rapidly, many seniors are struggling to decide what college they want to go to or even what they want to pursue in the future. It doesn’t help that almost everyone in their lives is asking “what do you want to do after high school?” when most of them just don’t know. Rather than pushing and pressuring these students to make BIG decisions that could affect their future, just give them time to think about it. Now nobody is saying that we shouldn’t go to college, we should just not put so much pressure on these kids. There’s so many things to consider when going to college which includes, the debt, deciding if that’s what you truly want to pursue, which college to go to and so many other things.
According to the Education Data Initiative, 22.3% of students drop out of college within the first year. This just shows how students are feeling pressured into picking what they want to do, before they can’t. What we could do for these students is recommending a gap year for those who may be needing time. These choices have big impacts on your life that will affect your future so they should be taken seriously.
Not only all of this, but the cost. The cost to get into college is so incredibly high even without going to an out-of-state school. According to the Education Data Initiative, the cost of attending college has doubled in the 21st century; the average cost is $38,270 per year. According to the best colleges 33% of students can neither confirm or deny that they are optimistic about their future. One of the biggest things students are worried about is whether or not they can afford to live in the college they choose and keep a stable job. Keeping a job while going to school five days a week is stressful and hard to manage.
Most students just need more time to think. To help, we should be having more conversations about college while they are young so that they have more time to think about it. These kids are making decisions for their entire future and it should be given much more thought. Try to be attentive to them and don’t put so much pressure on them.