3 non-academic reasons why college is important

Post-high school graduation can be a time of great stress. It brings questions like “How will I make money? What career should I choose for myself? What do I do with my life now?” These are all hard questions that need to be answered. But you can also flip those questions into a brighter light and ask yourself “Where will my life take me now? How do I get to begin contributing to society?” Whichever side you’re on, most people agree a great place to start answering these questions is by going to college.

Did you know that almost 19 million people registered for college in 2023? Educationdata.org shows us that while there has been a trend down among people attending college, post-secondary institutions still seem to hold a place in society. So what does that mean for you?.

In this article, we will discuss three non-academic reasons why college is important. There will also be a discussion about how to decide if college is right for you. By the end of this, my hope is that you become more contemplative about whether or not to attend college and that you’re aware of some of the benefits college can bring to your life.

1. Building new community

You’re forced to interact with people different from your cultural background

College is potentially the most accessible point in a person’s life to meet new people from many backgrounds different from their own. Sure, you can go on a trip, live with house-mates or even move to a place with a different cultural background, but one aspect that makes college shine is that you are forced to be with people from all walks of life.

Every single day you will interact with people different from you. Each class, school activity, club, internship, and social event contains people from all over the country (and likely the world depending on where you go). Because of this, college can be a wonderful opportunity to begin developing relationships with people who have different experiences from you.

Making new friends

The central part of developing a new community is making new friends. You can absolutely make friends outside of college, but a principal aspect of the college experience is to meet people you wouldn’t have otherwise. Think of all people who attended college in your life. When discussing their college experience, those people likely share how the relationships they developed are among the strongest in their lives today. So many friendships, marriages, annual camping trips, and weekly or daily phone calls happen because post-secondary institutions brought those different people together.

Community is the foundational aspect of what it means to be human. So why have so many people built awesome relationships in college? Because they have to do it alone. The difference between finding friends in primary or secondary school and post-secondary education comes down to who is putting in the effort. At younger ages, we are given relationships, whether that be our parents, neighbors, or fellow students. Those relationships are then fostered in a “bubble” where there is not much choice in who we are interacting with. The beauty of college is that we don’t know anyone or hardly anyone and are forced to put in the work to connect with people.

2. New experiences

We’ve covered relationship, but what do you do with these new people you’ve now met? You try things that they have done or neither of you have done before. Most colleges have a thriving student life where students who attend can go to mixers, hang out at the local coffee shop, and a million other things.

The best experiences, however, are the ones you and your friends come up with together. Maybe the night starts out as a formal dance, but you will remember what you did after the dance far greater. These are things like blasting music while you and your friends drive around town at 3 a.m. Or you stay up late studying with a friend for a big test and end up playing Mario Kart all night and then cram until the test happens. While the second might not be wise, these are the types of activities that occur often in college and what really make the time and money worth it.

3. Develop a post-graduate plan

Especially for those students who recently graduated high school, finding your purpose can be so brutal in today’s society. We are fed a constant message that we need to have life together, make lots of money, and have everything figured out by the time we’re 30.

First of all, none of that is true. We don’t need any of that stuff, especially at 18. I don’t really know what my next year is going to look like, let alone where I’ll be at 65. A great part of college is that it can set you on the right course.

A lot of people enter and exit college not knowing what they want to do. I think something that gives college an edge when it comes to time spent after high school is that while you might not know exactly where you want to go or what you want to do, you will think differently about life by the end of your college years. We grow so much in those three to five years, not just mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, but physically as well.

Our early 20s are possibly the most pivotal years of our lives in terms of setting our lifetime course, and learning more about yourself in a semi-protected yet vulnerable place can be exactly what you need to grow into the young man or woman you’re meant to be.

Conclusion

I think college can be absolutely essential for people that can afford it. College is a beautiful time to grow as a person, learn more about oneself, make new long-lasting relationships, and come out with so many memories. College is a beautiful time for you to grow as a person and learn more about who God has made you to be.

While there are hard things about college, I think most people that attend will come out of it better than when they entered.