A lot of you pointed out that we (Americans) enter college too quickly, or choose to go because of societal/family pressure. However, I don’t think anyone mentioned the number one reason why most individuals from low socioeconomic status families choose college over finding a minimum wage job, and that is: It’s and escape.
For people like myself who come from dysfunctional families and broken homes, college is the number one means (next to leaving home at the risk of living a much more dangerous lifestyle) of escaping family issues that are generally overbearing. That, and there’s a huge amount of pressure from larger families to be “the first one” to earn a college degree.

I chose my career path because I really did want to be a filmmaker, but I also really wanted to work in the field of psychology. But when I was rejected from my first and second choice schools, private art school was all that was left. I saved money by not living on campus, but still ended with about 60,000$ in student loans.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know it was a huge mistake. But at the time, I was so overwhelmed with the verbal abuse that I had received from my more for so many years, that I just wanted a few hours of relief, to feel normal. In the end, I know that ironically, college probably saved my life. As much as I hate to admit it, having loan debit doesn’t feel nearly as bad as the pain of being in an abusive/broken household.

Since this article was written, more than three years have gone by, I wonder how far you [Chanelle Schneider] have come and if you feel differently about you degree in retrospect. Whatever time has provided you, I hope that you have been able do some awesome things with your degree or at least find happiness.