With the school year nearing its halfway point it is time for seniors to start planning for life after high school — and about half are planning for college.  

According to a study done by bestcolleges.com 55% of high school graduates have no plans to attend college or are uncertain that they will attend college. Graduates are significantly more likely to consider their mental health and financial stability over going to college. According to a study done by tws.edu only 16% of high school graduates enrolled in a vocational or trade school.   In a random survey of 50 Morton East seniors, 24 said they were planning on going to college. 

“What I want to do is learn a trade and go to trade school for the two years and work for myself instead of going to college and rack up student debt to have a chance of getting a ok paying job,” senior Juan Escobedo said. 

Others plan on chasing their dreams and passions. 

“I wanna go to school for music because I love it and have a passion for it,” senior Patrick Panganiban said. 

College and career center liaison Lyndsay Legel-Carmody offers some advice for those still unsure of what they want to do. 

“My first piece of advice would be to take a breath because I see students everyday come in here and they’re super stressed out ‘I don’t know what I want to do, I don’t know what I want to do’ at 16,17,18 years old how would you know what you want to do,” College and career center liaison Lyndsay Legel-Carmody said. 

“My other piece of advice is just knowing that you can always change your mind. I’ve had different careers throughout my life. Sometimes we see families and our parents have the same career their entire life, that doesn’t have to be the case,” College and career center liaison Lyndsay Legel-Carmody said.