The choice to attend a community college after graduating high school is the smartest choice a student can make.

Financially speaking, choosing a community college over a four-year school is a no brainer.

It just makes sense for a student to complete their general education at a community college where the fees are smaller and the curriculum is relatively the same.

Not to mention the fact that while at a community college students are able to begin and even complete work on their associate’s degree in their chosen major.

Students who attend community college are also able to explore their interests and disinterests at a relatively small cost.

I myself have switched my major from film to journalism during the middle of my academic career here at Los Medanos College.

What was once of interest and a hobby now no longer holds any joy for me while I find journalism an exciting and challenging field of work. This is true for a lot of the students that go here and it’s fine that they don’t know exactly what direction they want to go in because they have a while to figure it out.

If I had attended a four-year school right off the bat and switched my major I would have felt my time and money were wasted.

I believe that my time at Los Medanos has also taught me valuable life lessons that my high school peers who attended a four-year school may not necessarily understand.

I scroll through the newsfeed of my Facebook, reading their statuses, and I become privy to their naivety when it comes to real world issues.

While some are close to completing their Bachelor’s degree, most have never held a job before, are being held down by student loans and rely on their parents as a source of income.

As a now fully functioning adult, I find this behavior simply unacceptable.

For instance, I know of a 24-year-old woman still completing her Bachelor’s degree at California State University Northridge who has been boasting all over Facebook about the possibility of becoming an Resident Assistant in her dorms.

In the midst of her boasting, she also included the fact that this was her first job interview: ever.

Meanwhile, here at LMC, I have encountered students who hold down a part-time job, pay rent, attend school and are fiscally responsible for other important aspects.

Not only have myself and others attending a community college gained an excellent education at a much lower price, we have learned life lessons through dealing with friends, instructors or people we don’t like.

They have taught us the importance and experience of becoming an adult, which some are still struggling with.