That image is from Complete College America's white paper, "The Four Year Myth."

Colleges report graduation rates as so many percent of a first year cohort completing a course of study within six years. Add $140,000 to what you think (and even financially plan for) are your out-of-pocket costs. Now what's the cost of a college education look like?

And, realistically, the numbers cited do not account for inflation (currently +/- 6% annually at colleges nationwide). Nor do those numbers show the opportunity costs of $140,000 over a working lifetime.

In that same white paper Complete College America exhorts colleges to reform their systems so that students do not wander in the limbo of "discovering themselves."

My blunt advice is, "Get a job or join the military. Discover yourself. Then go to college."  Sorry. I said it is blunt.

There are other pathways. Those take time, effort and, in most cases, a little bit of money. Well worth all of that!