36% of young adults say their college debt wasn't worth it

[2L8]

I'm a young adult myself, but my path is a bit different than others. I attended community college after high school, took a gap year for work, then decided to enroll at TESU. My boyfriend also graduated from community college with me, but took a more traditional path afterwards by enrolling in a 4-year public university. I'd like to think that we both have equally strong work ethics, considering we both hold corporate jobs within our fields, but there are notable differences:

• I am one of the less financially-savvy TESU students, so I have paid a few thousand dollars to TESU. That being said, he still pays a couple thousand dollars more to his college than me.
  
• We are graduating at the same time, but I took a gap year
  
• He has been given way more networking opportunities than I have with career fairs, organizations, etc...however, I have the time to do this myself by sitting in on two graduate-level courses this semester
  
• He had to cut down his work hours to 25 hours/week, whereas I still work a full 40 hours
  

Neither of us really regret the decisions we made in terms of our academics. He is further into his career than I am (both CS majors, he is a software engineer while I am a software tester) but as much as we complain about it in our daily lives, we're both pretty well off.

(begin rant)
On the other hand, I've known people who graduated but spent the entire time neglecting their studies for partying and drinking--not saying those activities are inherently bad. Staying social keeps you sane! But when you lose focus on your academics, it feels even worse once you're tens of thousands of dollars in debt and you can't get a decently paying job. After working in corporate for a few months, the disconnect between the academic and corporate worlds are drastically different. I blame a broken educational system for not teaching students how to prioritize well.
(end rant)

All in all, I really think balance, discipline and staying proactive is key to success. Employers are raising the minimum requirements and a Bachelors is almost a necessity in many fields, and college tuition is only increasing. If you take the opportunities that college provides you, it'll definitely be worthwhile.

  I took a gap year as well. I honestly believe the community college is the way to go? Most of my former friends weren't really interested in college but oh " I went to MIT or I went to USC" ,they considered CC , a dummies retreat. CCs are willing to help you IF you put in the work. I attended a seminar and found out there are many different pathways to success. In all honesty I believe that paying for a 4 year intuition is , personally just paying for networking ,then again I'm getting the same thing here at a CC , screw the stigma of community college lol.

 But as for academics , I agree balance is needed. I'm still a student but if you really wanted it you'd find a way to get it.