“As I’ve been looking for other job opportunities, many of them require degrees. It’s insane!”

AJ Arteche, 28, is a full-time manager with Colectivo Coffee Roasters. At 18, he attended college for two semesters before dropping out. Multiple factors contributed to his decision to leave, and he has felt some reluctance to go back. Arteche has recently gained perspective on higher education and created newfound optimism for the future.

Jason McCullum: Can you describe your experience in high school?

AJ Arteche: My parents were very strict, so I was always a good kid who got good grades and never strayed from the traditional path. It was a bit restricting as my whole life was to go to school and do well. However, I did enjoy high school, oddly enough. I had a great group of friends and I stayed involved in band and extracurriculars. I was a bit of a nerd, but it helped make the whole thing fun for me.

I attend college immediately after graduating. I went to the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from August 2013 until May 2014. The expectation in my family was to seek higher education right away, so I did.

How did college differ from high school for you?

It felt so different. Not entirely in a bad way as I met a lot of great people and felt welcomed by the college community. However, when I got away from my parental guidance, I decided that the rules did not apply to me, and I went through a rebellious phase. I skipped class frequently and got in this damaging mindset that I could just take my tests and be fine since I had always gotten good grades in the past. Unfortunately, that is just where I was at that point in my life. I simply was not there mentally.

I never declared a major and took mostly gen-ed classes. I had one honors class which was the only class I consistently attended because I was afraid of getting kicked out.

Did you?

For my spring semester, I got placed on academic probation. In the fall, I decided it was time to drop out; it just was not the right time for me to be there.

You mentioned pressure from your family as a driving force behind going to school. Did your college experience differ from your relatives?

None of my three siblings have pursued higher education thus far. My mom was the only person in my family to graduate college.

My high school friends have been a mixed bag: a lot of them attended college immediately after high school, others waited until more recently to go back, and some chose to not go at all. My partner got her degree right out of high school, also citing pressure from her family.

I feel judged by some for not going to college and getting a degree. People think that if you do not go to school, anything negative that happens to you is your own doing. I feel that judgment a lot from older adults.

A recent Wisconsin Policy Forum study found that many higher-paying jobs are still requiring higher education for new hirers. Do you find that surprising?

It’s not surprising; it’s ridiculous!

As I’ve been looking for other job opportunities, many of them require degrees. It’s insane! A lot of jobs out there pay less than what I currently get paid at Colectivo as a Barista. It feels like so many jobs want you to have a degree even if you will not necessarily be using it. While I can appreciate the value of higher education, I do not understand why you have to have a degree for everything.

Let’s focus more on cost: do you feel that the ongoing issue of the extreme cost of college plays a factor in those who pursue higher education and those who do not?

I had a few friends in high school who enlisted in the military for the benefit of free college or got married to receive better financial aid. I completely understand why my friends made those choices. Money is a hard topic for a lot of people and anything to help make ends meet is fair.

However, what is not fair is that people must put themselves in extreme positions for the sake of financial stability. It is just a reflection of how many people cannot afford a college education these days, even if loans are involved.

Do you have any regrets about not finishing your college education?

I regret not taking it as seriously as I should have. I should have given myself the chance to grow into a different person who was ready for higher education.

I wish that I had either gone into college with a different attitude or waited until I was a bit older. If I had waited to figure out what I wanted to do, then maybe I could have justified the time and money spent. At 18 years old, all I knew was that I was mildly interested in becoming a physician assistant, even though I was not in the right mindset to make and execute a life-altering decision. It was too much for me to focus on.

Do you see a future in pursuing higher education?

Yes, I just submitted my application to go back to school at Milwaukee Area Technical College. I have taken more time to discover a passion for computers and I am looking to pursue MATC’s Computer Simulation Gaming program.

I feel like being passionate about something is a huge part of knowing what you want to succeed in. If you do not know what you love, it is so easy to question “Why am I here?” I struggled with that for a long time, but I have a much better idea now. It’s exciting.