> Also, community colleges are a great resource. I think my lackluster grades in High School were actually a blessing in disguise. I attended Rockland Communit

> Also, community colleges are a great resource. I think my lackluster grades in High School were actually a blessing in disguise. I attended Rockland Community College (as no one would accept me anywhere else) and received an A.A.S. in Cyber Security with a very high GPA. Due to my performance at my CC I received a great academic scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology. I graduated RIT with just more than $15k in loans. I'm glad it went the way it did. But, coming out of HS the stigma of CC was palpable, and it shouldn't be - the education at my CC was surprisingly good. Many of my peers who graduated with me at RIT, and those who graduated with me in HS but went straight to private well renowned schools, are in 10x more debt than me. Luckily I'm the oldest off all my cousins, and will be drilling this into them when they start looking at schools.