Graduation day is approaching and there’s a lot to get straightened up. What college will you be attending or are you attending college at all?

May 1st is National Decision Day — the day that every high school senior must accept their college decision. In 2020, the percentage of high school seniors who accepted their college decisions was 62.7%, this means that 37.3% didn’t attend college. This year the percentage of students attending college might increase since the distributions of vaccines are increasing. many universities are also choosing to have classes online so students can be in the comforts of their own homes. Many students might pick going to a community college first and then transferring to a 4-year college to save money or better their grades. Anything they do after high school is good since they are growing up and get to make their own decisions of where they want their life to go and where they want to end up in 10 years.

In a poll of 50 Morton East Students, 28  said yes to already accepting their college applications.22 students said no to them going to college or having decided on a college.

“College is on my mind; I’ve received letters from different universities but have decided to go to Morton College since it is a community college that is close to me and affordable.  After I will transfer to a university,” Morton East Senior Dayanara Diaz said.

Not everyone is deciding to go to college, some are on a different path.

“While I do see the benefits that college does introduce, college is not on my mind for the near future, I am leaning towards a trade school to be able to get a great early salary and get a head start against college students, trade school takes less time to complete for almost equal salaries so in the long-run I see trades being the better option and if I do decide to go to college I won’t have to worry about paying for it with loans because I could pay it off with a trade salary, ” Morton East Senior Felipe Vazquez said.

It all comes down to affordability.

“I have decided on going to UIC because it’s a better option for me due to it being close and cheaper, it’s just convenient for me,” Morton East Senior Itzi Espinoza said.