Going to college is an opportunity. Some East seniors plan to go, and others have different plans. I decided that I would find out exactly what those plans were broken down into numbers. Asking around, I have come to some conclusions. Around ⅔ of all seniors plan to go to college, and the other ⅓ do not. Now, how many of these seniors actually go? And what are some aspects you should consider about your own future?

The class of 2019 is the most recent class we have data for. Some 2019 graduates planned to attend college at an earlier point but then decided not to. Others had no intentions of continuing on to college but ended up doing so. Out of the 240 seniors of the class of 2019, 28.75% went to a community college or two-year college, 47.9% went to a four-year college, 3.78% indicated plans to join the military, 4.2% were undecided, and 13.45% planned to join a workforce or a job training program. According to this information, almost half of the class of 2019 went to a four-year college following graduation. Will this year’s seniors’ decisions match up with last years? I asked some seniors for their opinions on college and their futures. I received a variety of answers.

In our school, there are some students and faculty who see college as unnecessary or even overrated. Barry Rich, an English teacher here at GEHS states, “The more I teach highschoolers the more I see that college may be overrated. Students get in debt, and sometimes don’t end up doing something with that knowledge.” As a teacher, Rich sees things about college that we can’t as students. Just because you go to college does not mean you will apply your hard work to a job. This is true, some people go to college only to find out that’s not what they want to do.

East senior Phoenix Greer, puts it this way: “If you can be successful without putting yourself through four more years of stress then do it.” 

On the contrary, there are some students who think of college as very useful and worth it. Senior Kinley Bowyer says, “Knowledge gets you places, being stupid doesn’t.” Bowyer prefers to see the benefits of college and how knowing things can get you to where you want to be.

Keegan Fitzgerald, also a senior, believes there are many jobs that don’t require college. According to Fitzgerald, “Do what makes you happy, and if that”s going into work then do it. Life might be horrible if you don’t.”

These are all things to consider when deciding if you’re going to attend college or not. Make sure you know what you want before making a big decision.