After six years of college, I'm half way done

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This depresses me greatly. I am 22 (well will be soon), living at home, going to college full time, and at this rate I will continue to live like this for 3-6 more years. I wont get my life started until I am in my late 20's, the prime of my life spent attending classes and accumulating debt (to pay for it). Then for what, to finally start enjoying life when most of my best years were already spent getting there. This isn't enough for me, I need more fullfilment out of this day to day tedious hell then the thought that in several years it might end.

I feel your pain. Well kind of. I took a gap year after hs and started college last year. I originally enrolled in 16 credits--roughly the amount to graduate in 4 years. That's not happening. 9 credits is about perfect..even though I'm unemployed and have been for a year. I'm either going to end up dropping out once I've accumulated the knowledge I feel I need to make some money..or I'll be spending 6 7 years getting a bachelors degree. Really not interested in the latter. And I get what you're saying about the debt. I hesitate to say this but college isn't s**t anymore. Public university is dumbed down so everyone can go, even those of whom a college education is not necessary. Some folks are better at manual labor-they enjoy it, and can make good money doing it...but especially in the United States you're indoctrinated to believe you have to attend uni to get anywhere beyond making burgers. Not true. And the result is people attend school for 4-8 years for the bachelors degree and come out with more debt than their yearly salary. f**k that. Probably didn't help you much, I'm sorry. Guess you got me going about my own dilemma.

Things could be worse. You could be a semi-literate musician on the dole and still living with your parents.

I could never handle more than 9 credits. And it took me 10 years to complete my 4 year degree. I dropped out in my third year, and when my parents found out they cut me off financially. So I tried to take a student loan, and dropped out again. That's when the student loan department cut me off.

Trying to get a job without a degree was nigh impossible in the local economy of central Florida, and I bounced from waiting tables to customer-service to retail jobs, and back to waiting tables, all of which I hated. Then I went back to school and paid for it myself.

The moral of all of this is that I can SAY I have a degree. And I don't owe anybody any money. ANd I am proud of that, and happy with myself.

I would strongly suggest pursuing a degree in a field which is highly marketable. Computers, for instance. Or engineering. You (like I) probably don't have the social networking skills to make it in a highly competitive field like an academic science. I tried to pursue my passion, anthropology. I work in insurance now. Go figure.

You know what? People do things at their own pace, and that's not just some corny saying, it's absolutely true. I'm a college student as well, and I talk to a lot of people at my university, and oddly, it's the rare one that actually graduates with a bachelor's in four years. Not only that, but it's extremely common to see people in their late twenties, thirties, or even forties.

You've gotten this far already in a major that promises you good career opportunities. You're only 22, well within the average age range of college students, and if it takes you another couple of years, that's also not so bad.

But just out of curiosity, if you've been going to school for six years, even at taking a half course-load, how do you figure it will take you another five or six years?

because in those 4 years, only about 5 classes actually counted towards my major, and those were electives.This is the first semester I've really taken any classes in my major. The last four years were pre-req classes

Been there done that. Hang in there. Depending on what you would like to do you won't get stuck in a position where you arn't able to climb as is my husband. He is very intelligent, has experience in business and only about 2 years worth of credits. If he had his degree he would be able to look for more openings in his company. But with a house and family it isn't easy to finish even with online programs. sigh.