Last week’s entry was advertised as the final post. Consider the following an epilogue

The blog, needjobwilltravel.com began in the final year of my undergraduate degree. Instead of following my first instinct of making a collection of short-stories, I thought it may be a good idea to follow in the footsteps of contemporary writers and format the idea as a blog instead. One year and some 38 posts later, I do not regret it.

As I now have finished my degree, I feel no pride. No sense of accomplishment. At what cost did I let myself go?
I enrolled in community college around 05/02/2019
As of 06/07/2021, I was accepted to the University I just graduated from on 05/17/2025.

Monetarily speaking, the cost from 2021-2025 looked like:
$47,000 in student loan debt, $36,200 in rent and $7,200 in utilities.

Costs not so easy to quantify:
3 vehicles
15 jobs
5 living situations
several short term girlfriends
I’ve gained 30 pounds.
Not to mention gallons of booze, and thousands of cigarettes.

I often left class early to show up late for work. I always worked two or more jobs while in school, I didn’t sleep much at all, and I’m “crossing the finish line” out of shape and wondering if the juice was worth the squeeze.
I can’t continue this unhealthy lifestyle.

Graduating college feels like surviving a car crash.
Chassis: mangled. Spirit: crushed. Spine: Compressed.

Was the toll it took on me worth knowing APA format, and having a LinkedIn page? I owe so many people money, I’ve got credit cards and bills in collections, and it seems like I have more problems than when I started.

Part of me thinks I should have stopped after my associates degree. I should have taken the free degree and got out while my credit was still good. But I had something to prove. Neither of my parents finished college. Not many people in my extended family have. I believe I’m one of three.
That’s not a good reason to go to college.

People go to college to learn a skill to enter the workforce, not ride some hard ego trip to prove they’re better than their parents. Unfortunately, I realized that when I only had a year of school left. The mountain of work I had already been standing on, was near the peak- it was too late to turn back. It was also a struggle dealing with aging while in undergrad. I was 22-23 in community college, and I fit in well. I took night classes, there were people of all ages in every class I took. Community College left me unprepared for University, and the entire last three and a half years were a fight.

What was once an earnest attempt at getting a 22 year old’s life on the right track, is now a 28 year olds’ past decision. I sincerely hope in ten years I don’t regret it, but as it stands right now- I kind of do.

I put my life on hold and had to part-time everything. Never fully able to commit living under a veil of excuses caused threaded by the job title of “student” But I had so much on the line.

“College student” for the last five years cleans up the resume.
On paper it looks fine, but my credit score is probably 400 by now. Aside from college loans, I’m an additional $13,000 in personal debt, and I really can’t attribute how much more capable I am at anything to my college experience. It was a constant unforgiving situation where the cart was always before the horse. Nothing offered but fake sympathy, and soft denials. For what?