I dropped out of college after two years, in part because I personally knew two people with a Bachelor's degree in hand who delivered newspapers for a living, b

I dropped out of college after two years, in part because I personally knew two people with a Bachelor's degree in hand who delivered newspapers for a living, both of whom had pretty pathetic lives. At age 18, my boyfriend delivered newspapers. I was very familiar with the terrible hours and pay. I felt extremely clear that I could deliver newspapers without a degree and my life would be vastly better if I did so without first being saddled with a mountain of debt. We sell people on the idea that college is The Ticket to a serious career with good pay. It isn't that cut and dried. We really need to stop promoting that idea. I later returned to school when I had a better idea of what I wanted to do with my life. One of my positive experiences was with community college in California. The in state rates are surprisingly low. I wrapped up my AA and this inspired my husband to start going to college. As a military member, he got 75% of his tuition covered. His out of pocket tuition expenses were substantially less than the cost of textbooks. The community college system in California is one of its little known strengths. Many four year colleges have agreements in place with community colleges that make it easy to do your first two years cheaply and then transfer to a prestigious four year program. California Virtual Campus is also an amazing resource.