Why I Don't Regret Not Going to College

I remember as a child being told by my parents that the only way I'd ever get a good job is to go to college.

"Don't be like us," my mother warned. "Neither your father nor I went to college. We'd be better off if we had gone."

Perhaps for them that statement was true. My parents raised three children on a below-poverty level income. We went without many of the luxuries that our society considers necessities: a microwave, a VCR, cable television, going out to eat or to the movies. I remember one time my mom asking to borrow $50 from me so she could buy groceries for the week.

Eventually, they both took turns going to trade schools: my mom to become a dental assistant, my dad to become an airplane mechanic. Life improved dramatically once they both finished their programs, but by then, I had already grown up and moved out of the house.

Despite my mother's warnings and my dad's chagrin, I did not go to college. Okay, I tried a semester at the community college and hated it, so I never went back. Ironically, both my older sister and younger sister went on to pursue masters and doctorates. Both are still in school. I figured I just wasn't college material.

So I went to work instead. I started with the typical string of jobs: waitress, retail, bank teller. Things were going fine while I was a bank teller. I wasn't rolling in the dough, but I was eking out a living, and the bank had a defined career path I could pursue. But then I got fired and for a while, things went downhill.

I started working for a temporary agency, filling in for secretaries and office managers out on vacation or maternity leave. The work was diversified, sometimes interesting, and sometimes very dull. I made it a point to learn something new at each job. Previous to working for the temp agency, I didn't have much exposure to computers. After a few office gigs under my belt, I was showing Word shortcuts to the other admins and I felt very comfortable navigating different computer programs.