For every $1,000 spent on a three-hour collegiate course, someone profits from a college student’s eagerness to obtain knowledge and willingness to pay out-the-ass for something they could’ve learned online for free. Why? 

Thirty-five percent of college students drop out during their first year. The average college student is $5,000 in debt after their first year. 

Sixty-five percent of college students who enroll in a four-year college will graduate, but it will take them an average of six years to do so while totaling over $25,000 of debt in the process.

Forty percent of college graduates go on to a career in a field that has nothing to do with their major.

Forty-two percent of recent college graduates are unemployed, which doesn’t take-in account underemployment or restaurant servers; enjoy free rent and reconnecting with your parents, have fun bringing your last-call hunnie back to their house.

The only post-graduate “jobs” my intelligent and creative friends have obtained is through the government-ran Americorp. They’re college coaches and it’s their job to go into impoverished, rural towns and recruit children who aren’t smart enough, aren’t mature enough and aren’t financially well-off to go to college because “it’s the only way they‘ll be successful.”

College is glorified in movies, TV shows, and in high schools by teachers and college coaches. High schools take pride in how well their curriculum prepares students for college. “You’re not going to be successful in this world unless you get a college degree.”

“You’re going to be far behind others who have a college degree.”

It’s getting to the point in our society where we have to step back and realize college is for profit, and a big part of our economy. Those are the reasons why it’s shoved down our throats and like babies trapped in a highchair being fed by a train-shaped spoon, we take it without much thought at all. 

Much like our country’s military and prison systems, our secondary education system is being warped, molded and abused, by and for the almighty dollar.

When are we going to look at attending college on an individual basis? When are we going look at the cons of attending college? Does the 50-year-old majoring in English Lit need to be in college? Would someone who needs $100,000 of loaned money to obtain a degree be better off skipping college altogether?

In a state school like WKU, tuition only will run you around $40,000 to obtain 120 credits but, because your advisor messed up or you changed your mind about your major more than your favorite beer, you’ll need more than 120 credits to graduate.  

Is a piece of paper and a handshake worth the financial slavery most are coerced into without any thought at all? 

Forty thousand dollars to learn how cells divide, how to divide fractions and how Julius Caesar should’ve hired bodyguards because he and the senate sure as hell were divided?

Attending college should no longer be a thoughtless, unanimous issue, but one that is discussed and divided. 

Nick Weller

Stanford senior

This commentary doesn’t necessarily represent the views of the Herald or the university.