FAFSA, financial aid, grants, and student loans—all are terms that are awfully familiar to an average high school student. But what exactly do they have to do with their lives in high school? Easy, these terms are helping to shape the future of students across America. It has been taught for years that once a student graduates’ high school, the only correct choice is to go to college next fall. But as time goes on, that does not seem to be the case.

For as long as I can remember, all of the adults in my life have always told me that the key to getting a good job and being successful goes a little something like this: get good grades, do not slack off, and go to a good college. For years, that was all I had ever known. Nothing clicked in my little head that there were options other than just going straight to college. In society, children have been pressured into believing that without a college degree, there is no way they will be successful later in life.

Sometimes, a parent and a child both need to realize that college life just is not for everyone. This does not mean that the child is not “good enough” or “fit” for college, but they may be able to find their true calling without a college degree. After all, jobs that do not require a degree help to make our societies function. If everyone had the same exact dream and aspiration of attending college, who would be in our communities doing the jobs that help to keep our everyday lives running smoothly?

Financially, not all families can send their children off to college. Luckily in our community, students who would like to begin a career right out of high school can do so by attending the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center. Students will attend CCCTC for half of the day and regular high school half of the day, allowing them to both learn a trade that can help jumpstart their career fresh out of high school as well as allowing them to study their core classes like their peers.

In the end, students today have always had an immense amount of pressure on their shoulders revolving around attending college and creating a life for themselves. However, there are other options rather than aiming for a career that requires said person to obtain a degree from a university. Everyday jobs will always be necessary today; they will never go away, no matter how much we evolve. In addition, our community offers the CCCTC in order to help high school students learn a trade in order to help them become successful later in life. All in all, the amount of pressure that is put on students to attend college is not exactly necessary.