...I am 18, well, almost 19. I chose community college for 2 years while I save up for the university I plan to attend. Yeah, people tend to judge when you don'

...I am 18, well, almost 19. I chose community college for 2 years while I save up for the university I plan to attend. Yeah, people tend to judge when you don't choose a "real" college at first. It seems unambitious to everyone in my family except my grandfather (coincidentally he's the financial guru who got me into investing), but knowing I won't be in debt when I graduate is more than worth it. I completely agree that there is a lot of pressure to go straight into the most prestigious college you can. Between for-profit college TV ads pressing the importance of a degree, school counselors telling you to "aim high" and constant expectations of everyone around you it's much easier, socially at least, to go straight for the expensive university. It's nothing new, though; as Henry Ford put it, "Luring people into debt is an industry." Looks like that industry is still going strong. I didn't mean to come across as arrogant with my first comment. It's certainly hard to go against the current, and I think the main problem is schools and parents not encouraging an affordable college, at least for the first few years, as a viable option. People just tend to be blinded by hype and expectations, not wanting to disappoint the family name. There's certainly a lot of that attitude where I went to school.