I'm almost 23 and I just started college recently, from 18 to 22 I was pioneering/bethel and I severely regret it. In fact, I was thinking of this very topic today at work (which is, surprise! janitorial work). What does the WTS really expect pioneers to support themselves by? Without a community college/university background, you're stuck with cleaning, construction, or McDonald's/Wal-mart type jobs. What if you don't want those jobs or don't like cleaning/construction? And in the case of construction, its only seasonal work you'll have, so you need to find anther job in the off-season or live on what you made during the summer.
What if you don't want to be making minimum wage for the rest of your life? Is this what they expect, or do the GB figure because "they are putting Jehovah first" they'll be making $20+/hour cleaning toilets? It just doesn't make sense. They only way you can get a good job without an education is through networking, which is highly unlikely with witnesses.
Anyway, I severely regret slacking off in my last year of high school and really wish I went to college right after graduation rather than wasting four years of my life pioneering. I am sick of cleaning and doing construction, I want an office job doing something I enjoy. Yep, people won't talk to me/won't talk to me as much anymore now that I am going to post-secondary schooling while they are stucking cleaning toilets/construction work in their 40's+, but I'm not wasting my life doing that shitty work.