As for focusing is college and going in general: I sort of messed around my first year because I just wasnt ready. I was certainly intelligent enough, just mentally wasnt prepared for a solid career path and the coursework (I didnt really know much about the world even though I had lived abroad– I just had no clue what I was really interested in). I dont think I will push my kids to go right out of HS. Take some time, make your money work for you and go when you are good and ready to focus 100% on what it is you hope to achieve. As for the loans…re-read the last line. Its a ton of money to owe back whether its 10k or 100K. Make sure its for the right reasons and the right concentration. Although I dont regret my major (it was awesomely fulfilling), I do wish I had made my money work more for me by majoring in something that would prepare me more for business. (I was a sociology major…and loved every second and it was CHALLENGING because I made it so!) ANd thats my last point– you get out of college/your major/life what you put into it. Give 100% and you will reap the benefits no matter what you do!

Also, mossy’s suggestion of taking longer has value, but once i did graduate, my salary went far above what i could earn as a student, and it really just made more sense to get it done. do what works for you

My three pieces of advice:
1. Consider studying abroad or enrolling directly in a foreign university. I transferred from a small liberal arts college to a foreign university 2 years into my degree and saved almost $40,000.

2. Double or even triple major. That way, you’ll have more options should you decide to change career paths or go back to grad school, and you’ll get more bang for your buck.

3. Don’t beat yourself up for racking up college loans, transferring, or even switching majors. It’s all part of the learning process and regret won’t change any past decisions.

Going to class is obviously the most important thing about college, but there are other things to remember that can not only save you time and money, but will make you more prepared to enter the job market once you graduate.

I had a decent GPA (graduated iwth honors, and a perfect 4.0 in my concentration, in fact) but also worked in career-related jobs from my sophomore year onwards. I found that the work experience was most helpful, and encourage every college student to get an internship each semester for the last 2 years of school if not more. Mine were all paid, which took some work to find, but many are unpaid. You can also work as little or as much as you want. I needed the $ so I worked MWF and took classes T Th… some of my friends only worked 4-5 hours a week, and it still looked the same on a resume so do what suits you!

I took out all the student loans that I could (more than I needed) and spent the excess on two amazing long trips overseas.

I didn’t have a job at all in term time, and only twice had a summer job – neither of these were in any way related to my career.

I spent a lot of money relative to my budget on alcohol. An awful lot. And I didn’t join a single on campus organisation.

Despite doing all these things, I had an amazing time, ended up with a great job that I love, and would do them all again in a heartbeat.

I think that not being educated on how to properly manage credit cards can lead to a lot of problems for college students, especially those who have relied on their parents for so much. I think making a budget and financial goals is a good helper to stay out of debt during college when most people are learning relatively little.

I’ve never been a spender, though, and I knew that having the burden of debt wouldn’t sit easy with me – plus I have no credit card debt. Some people can take out loans to subsidize their lifestyles – but often, the kind of people who do that aren’t prepared to pay them off in a timely fashion.

It helps that I still subsist on oatmeal and whatever food we have at work, too. :)

I also took out credit cards, and little by little those grew to levels where I actually NEEDED the additional loan money just to pay my regular school bills AND the monthly payments on my credit.

Hindsight is 20/20, they say. I’m a college advisor now, and I regularly counsel students to take out as little as they possibly can in loans, to work as many jobs as they can to keep their sanity, and to live frugally NOW so they won’t be saddled with debt later (like my $50K hanging over my head). Maybe I’ll just direct my students to this blog post instead and save myself some breath!

I did the same thing, but to compound the issue, I discovered a wall in the registrar office that had credit card applications hanging on it. I applied for three cards, got all three and ran them up, living on that debt and the student loans. I wrote an article titled 7 Things for High School Graduates and New College Students to Consider in an attempt to warn high school graduates and college students to avoid such things.