I feel like the best 4 years of my life were in college. It's genuinely an opportunity for things to change. I had a girlfriend, I had a built in friend group, I had a future I was working towards. Things that feel alien to me before and after I went. It won't fix everything, but it's genuinely worth a try.
This was my experience as well.
I felt like I was working toward something worthwhile. Also had a girlfriend for a summer. A close friend group, most of whom were my roommates. Lots of fun drinking (a bit too much), playing video games, great talks and laughs. This was all during COVID and I am convinced that it more or less insulated me from all that mess; while some people were having the worst years ever, those were my best. I felt good, I was active, I was productive, I was generally looking forward to things and thought that maybe I'd made it out, maybe I was becoming an adult. I was the responsible party for the apartment lease, our monthly rent and bills went through me, I had to resolve petty squabbles and issues, etc. Turns out that was all the eye of the storm. Now I have graduated back into the storm and it is worse than ever.
Some people have the Artemis 2 experience, where as I, at the expense of being a bit crude here, had the Challenger one. Not quite a failure to launch, but a failure to make it very far after launch. I got about as far as my mom's basement, and I suppose that's the result of my own best efforts.
I will say nothing more of how things have gone for me since college, as it wouldn't do the OP any good.
The only other thing I will say to OP: be very, very thoughtful—
practical and economical—about your choice of major. I understand this might be difficult given your age, as it was for me at that age 10 years ago, but it is a significant financial investment. A degree no longer goes as far nor opens as many doors as some would have you believe, except maybe if you, again, are extremely judicious or impressive in your choice of major. This is not the 1980s anymore (some people act as if it is the 1880s, as if getting a degree lands you in high society of Sirs and Ladies by simply having the piece of paper hanging on your wall).
When once upon a time people may have looked at you, a college grad, as if you had come from somewhere prestigious like Oxford or Cambridge even if you'd gone somewhere far more ordinary, now a degree means little to nothing to most employers*. It doesn't matter if you have a degree in education if it turns out that you hate teaching and that's all you can use it for, nor does it matter if you volunteered and worked during your college years so as to put something on your resume when it does not directly translate to specific work experience asked for, nor does it matter if you graduated with honors and a 3.84 GPA like somebody I know, nor does it matter if they can outsource the position for less and they're just posting the position for kickbacks.
All the same, you might apply to dozens, hundreds of jobs, many humble, many "foot in the door" starting positions, minimum wage positions you know you are overqualified for, and the treatment will be largely the same as if you hadn't gone through the trouble and taken on the immense burden of debt. This all hinges on what you study, so the point is to choose wisely.
My goal is not to discourage, though undoubtedly these words may have that effect. I gain nothing from discouraging you, and neither do you, so what would be the point in that. I am simply being honest about
my own experience, albeit strongly worded, and it is with the intent of being realistic. I highly encourage you give a lot of thought to deciding on an area of study, and consider the least expensive school to do it at. Unless you're going to Princeton or Yale for the social clout, or some very specialized school for an exceptional and niche career, I do not think any employer will give a shit whether you went to a community college or anywhere else, so there's no real use in overpaying.
