The best years? Yea, thats objective.
Mindless drone? How so? You are exercising your mind & determination, and maybe even growing a little charactor or appreciation.
It has nothing to do with starving later. Its pretty apparent that you can earn a livable wage without a college degree of anykind. What percentage of WNY has collegiate experience? What percentage is “starving”? Quality of life is relative, as is the contentment.
As for your edit:
How so?
If you (not YOU persay) would’ve made the effort in grade / high school, you prolly would’ve had a free ride to some school… no?
What about people that take the basic credits @ ECC and then xfer to a “higher end” school after a year or so? I know a kid who spent 2 years worth of nights at ECC in some chemistry path, while working FT w/me. He recently xferred to UB to finish out his specialized course work in a “stronger” cirriculum @ a more recognizable school & switched to PT. He was able to stash enough cash that he can afford it quite easily now.
If You want to be competitive, You do what You have to do.
Your coursework suffered when you worked outside of school, so let me ask who’s fault was that? The school? The employer? The federal government?
Congrats on getting through school Joe. You got a 4 yr @ Canisius (iirc)… and prolly spent a helluva lot more on college then I did, and You gross 2k/yr more then I do - is that Canisius’ fault? or the Feds? Or was it NYS this time?