Money Troubles

College is/was a hard time for a lot of people in the United States, mostly because of issues with money. Tuition is skyrocketing and people are getting themselves lost in debt because of student loans. In the last three years, the average tuition cost has gone up over $3,000 for four-year public universities. Because of this, student debt in the U.S. has reached $1.3 trillion. Just in case you didn't catch that, I said $1.3 trillion. Student loans are really crappy to deal with, and they have the ability to ruin your future (and even your parents').
The average amount of money per student that is owed from pulling student loans is $29,400. So if the average interest rate on a federal undergraduate loan is 4.29% (which it is, I looked it up) and the average student pays $30K, they would have to pay $411 every month in order to pay back my loan in 10 years. At the job I'm working right now I'd have to work an absolute minimum of 20 hours a week in order to make that money. Plus going to school full time, paying for rent and food, and money for gas if you live out of state and drive home on breaks? That's crazy. No wonder college students are so stressed out all the time.
Sometimes people pull loans for everything they have to pay for; their car, house, school, etc. So they're trying to pay back multiple loans at the same time. Doing this can seriously hurt you in the long run if you're not careful. Missing payments can negatively effect your credit score. Data from from LIMRA, an association that provides research and consulting to insurers, shows that a $30,000 debt can cut as much as $325,000 from your 401(k) balance by the time you retire.
A lot of students rely on their parents to help them pay for college (which is fine, I do too). When I turned 16 and got a job, I started putting half of my paychecks into a savings account to go toward college. My parents put my brother through college and now are taking care of me and then my sister in about 4 years. They also pushed me to start applying for scholarships when I was a junior in high school to help them have an easier time paying for college. I think students should put more effort into applying for scholarships. It only takes a little time, and most of them are free. You might have to write a paper, but that won't kill you. I think scholarships is one of the easiest ways to help make college more affordable. I once wrote a simple 500 word paper about myself and won a national contest, getting a $22,000 subsidized government loan. A loan is a loan, but a subsidized one is awesome because I don't have to pay interest as long as I pay it back within 5 years after I graduate. Colleges even try to give department scholarships as long as they have the money for it. Alumni donors give money to the colleges a lot of times to help students pay for college too. Make sure you keep up with scholarships that your department is giving out, because that is a good way to get extra money too.
Four year universities are great if that's what you need to go through to get the career you want, but there is nothing wrong with technical or community colleges. They're cheaper, shorter terms, and a lot of the time they can get you the same things a four year university can. I did three semesters of 8-week classes online at Highland Community College for almost half the price per credit hour at K-State. I stayed living in my parents' house so I wouldn't have to pay for rent, I didn't pay dumb campus fees, and almost all of my textbooks were offered for free online. I did all of my General Education classes (got the stupid K-State 8 out of the way) and finished my extra elective credits before even going to K-State. The greatest part is that all of my credits transferred to K-State and NONE of them effected my GPA (I got a couple C's. Whoops).
So anyway, the moral of this story is that you need to do what is best for you. You don't have to go to some big fancy and expensive college because people expect you to. It's perfectly acceptable to go to a community college for two years, it doesn't mean you're not as smart as people who go to a four year university. You can graduate with an associates or you can transfer and move on toward your bachelor's degree. I'll just say that whatever works for you, go for it.