Photos by Elissa Nadworny/NPR

Throughout the last academic year, we’ve followed a group of students who graduated from high school a few years ago in Montgomery County, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. We spent the last year talking with them about their choice of public, private or community college. Was the cost worth it? What is the value of higher education?

It turns out they’re all satisfied customers. And among the most important subjects they report learning a lot about was themselves. Reconciling their plans and dreams with real life.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit NPR.