Students often hear a great many comparisons between high school and colleges. It is probably wise to take most stories you hear with a grain of salt. The college experience differs from school to school and from student to student. Two students at the same college can have radically different experiences and come away with vastly different generalizations about the college experience.

Still, there are a few things which can be said about the relationship between college and high school. On the surface college and high school appear very similar. You go to classes. Teachers stand in front of you and lecture. You take tests. Eventually, after you've taken enough classes, you earn a degree.

Sometimes it seems the main difference is that high schools tend to be housed in a few buildings and colleges tend to be scattered in many different buildings all over a campus.

However, college can be a fundamentally different experience than high school, and the reason for that is a simple one -- you pay for the privilege of attending college.

Because you are paying for college, the underlying assumption of the institution is that you want to be there. If you don't want to be there, you can leave.

There is no legal requirement that you be in college. The college is under no obligation to educate you if you are not interested. You get a lot of freedom when you come to college. With that freedom comes the burden of responsibility.

In college, the responsibility for your education shifts almost completely to you.

In high school, at least until you reach the age where you can legally drop out, the school is guided by state laws which require that they educate you, whether you want to be educated or not. Many of the rules and regulations of high school life are shaped by the fact that the school must educate a wide range of students--many of whom would just as soon not be there.

Currently, only about 25% of all high school graduates go on to earn a college degree. By going on to college you have already become part of a self-selected group of people who wish to further their education badly enough to pay for the privilege.

College life is shaped by this fact. The college isn't going to hound you, unless it's about paying your bill. No one is going to be on your back to make sure you are on the right degree track. Often, no one is going to be checking to see if you are going to class.

It isn't that college officials and professors don't care. They do. But they are busy people, and they aren't likely to take the time to chase down students who aren't acting responsibly.

On the other hand, most colleges go out of their way to provide help for students who request it. But you have to ask for help. It's your education. It's your responsibility to get it.

You are given a lot of rope in college. You can use it to rope yourself a good career, or you can use it to hang yourself.