It’s that time of year again for high school seniors. College and scholarship applications are due, and students are trying to find a cure for the senioritis that just won’t let them get out of bed in the morning. 

All seniors are getting ready for their next step in life. I’ve decided that my next step is to continue my educational career at Indiana University. I’m very excited for this next chapter of my life, but as we’ve gotten closer to the end of the school year, I’ve started to realize that going off to college is one of the strangest, yet most beneficial things we do as a society. 

When someone is attending college, they typically pay thousands of dollars each year for their education. On top of that, they send themselves into a very new situation. They end up sharing a dorm room for the entire year with someone they may have met on Facebook three months ago, or possibly never even talked to at all. 

We spend our entire lives in the routine of going to school, and then coming back home to our family. But in college, all of that is thrown out the window. 

A student will sit through a couple classes a day and return to their new home full of other students their age with no parents in sight. We are sent off to a whole new world of a college campus, which is often miles away from home, to learn how to live independently. 

Alongside the brand new living situation, students are typically left without one of the most important things in today’s world: a car. Nowadays, it is rare to go somewhere and not drive or get a ride from a friend. But on campus, students walk to every class. 

Now, even with all of the new experiences incoming freshmen get thrown into, going to college is still one of the most beneficial decisions someone can make. The people that college students share a dorm floor with often become some of their best friends. 

New college students are also forced to grow up. They are all living on their own for possibly the first time in their lives. Going to college gives students a great opportunity to learn how to live independently, which is something that would be very hard to learn if everyone stayed at home their entire lives. 

A college education also provides many benefits when it comes to the job market. Someone with a four-year college degree makes, on average, over $26,000 more annually than someone with a high school diploma, according to Northeastern University. 

The future monetary benefits of a higher education is typically the reason students pay all this money to go off to college. Not only is a college degree a good way to find a high paying career, but those who attend often gain many different social skills and learn to live independently.

Going off to college is definitely one of the weirdest things we do in this world, but it also provides college students with countless benefits along the way.