seems unlikely, the empire was founded in 1776 and expanded non stop for 200 years and only began to decline in the last 50 or so seems to me it is impossible for this to be the cause because then the decline would have started at the latest in the mid 19th century.
I think if u can swing it u should go for it. I mean the median income for someone with a 4 year degree is 25k higher than highschool so if u go 40k or 50k into debt it pays for itself pretty quick. Also as my grandfather always says “the shovel is heavier than the pen”.
Also i find it interesting that good scholarships are hard to find in ur area, in florida we have brightfutures which if u meet the requirements u get it, no matter how many people apply and it pretty easy to meet the retirements specially for the 70% one but even the one that pays 100% its not that crazy, do other states not have stuff like that? people always talk shit about florida but i have found it to be a pretty good place to live… but to be fair to the florida haters brightfutures is actually insidious as fuck because its funded by the profit from the powerball lottery aka the poverty tax and most scholarships go to labor aristocracy/middle class kids.
They like it, they actually (and im not fucking with u here) think it looks nice, someone else already mentioned why they like it but when it comes down to it they just like grass. Which imma be honest i think is fine, problem is they force people who dont like it to also have grass and double problem they are completely unreasonable about their love for grass just no moderation at all they put it everywhere in unreasonable quantities.