What High School Students Need to Know

The most important thing new high school grads need to know is what they want to do for a living.  If they have reflected on what they are good at and enjoy doing and know where their motivated abilities are needed, they will protect themselves from making costly mistakes. To confirm their interests they should take an occupational interest test to see what their options might be.

High School Students who have worked in part-time and summer jobs have already learned a lot about what it is like to work and pay their own expenses. The will need a reliable used car and auto insurance.

High School graduates who don’t know what they want to do for a living need to enroll in a community college for their first 2 years and then go to a 4 year State college for their last 2 years. The 60 hours they get at the community college will cost them $8,100.00. The next 60 hours they get at the 4 year State college will cost them $19,500. If they live at home and commute to school, they will save a fortune.

A 3 hour community college course now costs $405.00. The cost per credit hour at a 2 year Community College is $135.00 per credit hour.

A 3 hour course at a 4 year State College is $975.00. The cost per credit hour at a 4 year State College is $325 per credit hour.

I graduated from Christian Brothers College Military HS in 1961 and I graduated from St. Louis University in 1965. My tuition cost was $900 per semester and I finished in 3.5 years. I took 20 hours per semester. The cost of my 7 semesters was $6300. I completed 140 hours of course work and 20 hours were in graduate seminars.

I worked 3 nights a week as a musician from age 14 to age 18 and paid all of my prep school tuition and car expenses.

I worked 6 nights a week as a musician from age 18 to age 21 and easily paid all of my tuition and car expenses and had no student loans.

I took my first salaried job in 1965 and reduced my musician work back to 3 nights a week. I got married at age 21 and bought a house at age 23. I entered Personnel in 1967 and became a Personnel Director in 1972 at Washington University in St. Louis Mo. I had identified what I wanted to do when I was 10 years old.

At the time, entry into Personnel required a BS degree in Psychology and familiarity with theories top consultants were using. I graduated with a major in Psychology and minors in English, Philosophy and Theology. I also took a lot of physical science and math.

I did a lot of writing with lots of essay questions on tests and learned to retain what I read. I learned the difference between solid, true information and unproven false information and unlikely theories. I developed common sense and good judgment.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader