My parents were very upset that I wasn’t going to college.
I would actually say they were mortified.
After all, I had gotten accepted to the most prestigious school in the state, and had even been awarded a partial scholarship. To them it seemed like I had it made, but I had a different view of the situation. I did the math, and found that even with my partial scholarship I would need to take over over $100,000 in student loans to earn my degree. That’s a whole lot of debt! Instead I took a job offer from my Aunt Connie, who put me on a roofing crew with her husband. Roofing replacement and repair is incredibly hard, intense work, but the pay is good, and I didn’t have to take out loans for it! With the recent downturn in the economy, my parents have finally come to see my point of view and are grateful I chose a career in roofing instead of academia. Student loan debt is crippling the country, and people are getting degrees that are worthless and won’t get them a job. Meanwhile the roofing industry is as strong and robust as ever, and this company has as much work as we can handle. In fact Aunt Connie said that she might put me in charge of my own roofing crew, so we can start taking on more jobs! I think it is a good lesson for young people – sometimes a trade job like roofing, plumbing, or HVAC repair can be more advantageous than a college degree.