The end of the fall semester is rapidly approaching and students on campus have been busy scrambling to drop classes, make D’s become B’s, finalize class schedules for the spring, arrange Thanksgiving travel plans, and mend relationships before the holidays arrive. We’re stressed. There is so much to do in what seems like a very short amount of time and I’m going to voice what I’m sure a majority of us all have been feeling ourselves. College is a scam. I do not know if it is the brisk weather or the unnecessary fact that it gets dark outside at five p.m. that is taking a negative toll on me, but lately, my bitter self has been coming accustomed to the horrible self-realization that the higher education system is an entire scam and us, students, are its pawns. Let me tell you why.
First, advisors actually know nothing. These people are supposed to be getting paid to help me make a game plan to graduate on time and ensure my bright future but it seems like every time we meet, I am leaving a class short, in tears, and drained of all my motivation. Second, it is ridiculous that we have to take classes that have NOTHING to do with our majors before we are able to take courses that we came here to learn about. For example, should a person who is studying to be a business major be forced to take a swimming class to fulfill physical education requirements? Let me rephrase in different words (and read this slowly because I do want readers to truly comprehend this). Why should a person who is studying theatre have to take a physics class? Sure, I failed a couple of math classes in my time, but it does not take a genius to know that that does not correlate in any way, shape, or form. Not only are a majority of undergraduate prerequisites that students are required to take pointless to what we are actually trying to study, but they are a waste of time, energy, and money.
This leads me to my third and most significant point (excuse me while I pause to laugh humorlessly out loud). To whoever decided the cost of tuition, I want to personally ask you if you sleep soundly at night knowing that you are pushing young people into a hole of debt and despair that we will spend the rest of our lives trying to claw our way out of. In addition to the thousands we pay just to take the classes, we pay for the trash meal plans. We pay to park on the campus where the classes are held. We pay for the books that I can promise you, we will open only one or two times. We pay to live on the campus. We pay fees to register to take the classes. Some of us have jobs and some of us can’t get jobs because people (I’m talking to you Best Buy!) do not want to hire us when they find out we are students, simply because we are students. So, that’s it. Relatives, do not ask us how school is going, what our grades are looking like, if we finally have a boyfriend yet, or why there are tears in our eyes at Thanksgiving dinner. Because here is your answer. We are trying to slowly figure out all of the above while making sense of a system that is slowly stripping us of our money and state of mind, but is supposed to be our pathway to success. College is a scam and I want it known that if I do not get a great job, nice house, and attractive husband out of all of this, I’m suing.