I go to a top 10 university with a degree in electrical engineering. It’s by no means easy and really doesn’t allow for a lot of partying (unless you call being in lab until 4am a party lol). But my school is insanely expensive. I was fortunate enough to get full financial aid and worked my butt off to get so many scholarships in high school that I’ll leave college with more money than I came in. However, I know this is not most people’s realities. Most schools aren’t as financially generous as mine is.

Unless you have a solid plan as to what you want to do for life at 18 already (which some people have, some don’t), going to college for a useless degree is seen as preferable over not going at all and just getting a job. I think this is where the problem lies. It’s the societal view that somehow going to a trade school is for dumb people, that “unskilled labor” is inferior. Sure there are tons of lazy students who just want others to pay their bills for them without putting in the work, but there are also tons of kids who were pressured, or even forced by parents into going to college. I know a handful in my own friend group. Not everyone ends up well after that.