While many are eager to dive into their lives of the typical four year plan to graduate from a CSU/UC with an impressive degree, I find myself wanting to stray from that future. The kind of future we were told to pursue as children, the kind of future that "guarantees" success and financial stability, and the kind of future you could proudly boast about having while being interrogated by a future mother-in-law.
Once I jokingly told a few people I was going to take a gap year in order to join the CCC (California Conservation Corps) before college to find out more about myself and what I love to do. Despite their insight on my joke, preconceived notions of disapproval were already evident in their faces and words that followed which summarily said failure. When I told people I wanted to become a community college transfer student because of financial issues, that ensued a plethora of comments meticulously calculated to show their distaste in such a decision. Such as how miserable people in JC tended to be, how people never transfer on time, how some people don't even transfer, how it disappointing it will look to others, etc.
I reached an option to attend community college because after financial aid, grants, scholarship I MIGHT get, and loans I MIGHT be unable to pay back, I will still have a large sum of college debt to pay off. I'm not from a well-to-do family, consisting of a single mother with a part-time job who also tries to work from home when possible. Without the help of some wonderful family friends, our house would have been taken away by the bank. I simply cannot afford to jump right into a UC or private. That's the ugly reality.
For our government classes at school, we are visited by a Heald College representative to give us a reality check on the real cost of living on our own. We tally up our living expenses into a monthly sum which came to $1835. It also showed that if we had a part time job of lets say $20/hr. working 40 hrs. a week, we'd be at $2,704 a year. Not enough to even cover two months. Yeah, it was a bit exaggerated to scare us into saving and spending wisely, but it does hold some truth for the few that plan on living alone.
A friend from an AP gov class was talking about the experience she had and basically thought the whole thing was downright stupid. I asked her why and she responded by stating that she'd never be in that situation because her mom is going to pay for everything. She is a smart girl, and she is probably going to have a smart future, but I guess she doesn't realize that not everyone has the luxury of being a daughter to a self-made millionaire.
It just kinda sucks. I'm ready to brave the unknown, but that's exactly what it is, UNKNOWN. Why is everyone trying to tell me how to be successful the right way. Trying to conform to the norm of what everyone else is doing isn't always the only way.
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