Is it realistic to expect people to go to College straight after high school? From my observations, 17 and 18-year-olds students don’t tend to care as much about college as older, more mature, students. That’s not to say that an 18-year-old can’t be mature enough to attend college, or that a 21-year-old won’t be too immature, but overall I think my opinion stands true.

So what do I mean by “mature” about college? Well, I’m 21 years old and I am going into my 2nd year of college. I started late, mainly due to my immigration into the United States last year. But starting late has made me take college very seriously. I’m already behind I cannot afford to make mistakes.

The 18-year-old freshmen I share many of my classes with however frankly do not care.

The tuition at my college is around 12/15k a semester, it’s not the cheapest college. Despite this I see many young adults wasting their time. Dropping out of classes either due to lack of interest, poor performance, or pathetically because they miss too many classes. All of these reasons can be linked to not taking college seriously enough.

I’m behind the understanding that at my college, since the price tag is quite high compared with many other nearby institutions, that the freshmen who enrol here are from relatively well-off families. That being said, it makes sense that many of those freshmen are used to a relaxed, easy and comfortable ride through high school and really do not know what to expect from college.

These particular freshmen enter college and do poorly, mainly due to a huge lack of effort. The US education system isn’t exactly exemplarily at preparing students. The defining factor between these freshmen and other students who do poorly is that they lack the discipline required to focus on their work. They approach college tests and assignments as they did in high school. Failing a class in high school carries much lower penalties than in college, which often include a huge waste of money spent on tuition. I know many freshmen who have failed the majority of their classes in freshmen year because they simply “don’t care”. The sad thing is many of the times these students could do well, but just don’t. They treat it as the next year of high school rather than the next level of education.

So what’s my solution for this difficult time? A lot of 18-year-olds are still kids and lack the responsibility and discipline to carry themselves through college, so I say add something in between.

I know this has been proposed, and it’s actually done in many countries. Military service, mandatory community service, even working in a grocery store for a year. These all build important character traits. Reliability, responsibility, discipline.

When I entered college I just spent two years prior working retail. It was a nightmare, but I had no choice. It helped me learn a lot of responsibility. No more your parents looking after you. I had to wake up early in the morning, make my own way to work, accomplish my own work tasks. All of this had to be done independently and it gave me a sense of responsibility. The one thing in the back of my mind the entire time I worked there, was that I did not want to do this, I want to get out of here.

Some people may join the military or work a minimal education job before going to college and enjoy it, that’s great. You just saved a whole lot of money and time on tuition. Other people will be motivated to move on with their careers, get a degree and make something of themselves.

Delaying college at least a year could be very beneficial and will eliminate a lot of wasted time and money.

If you’re a parent who is just so desperate to make your child go to college, don’t forget, very rarely is it the 18-year old’s money that’s being spent on tuition, it’s the parents. How many teenagers have any consideration for their parent’s money? Not too many. They won’t feel the loss if they fail.

Having another year in between high school and college also gives people time to think. And working in a highly stressful environment, such as retail, a restaurant and in the military helps you figure out what you definitely don’t want to do. You’re capable of a college degree, you don’t want to work minimum, or close to minimum wage all your life.

Evaluate your situation and see if delaying college one more year would help you become more successful in the long term.