Is paying extra for education at a private institution worth it?

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

... I'd summarize it as the smarter people make more $$.

... The difference was there were some very smart high school graduates that started their own business. I propose if they went to college, then could have landed up as a corporate slave and made far less $$'s.

Many ways to skin the Salary Cat. and still PLENTY of skilled worker jobs that pay $80k+ (and require no college). Many are over $100k with OT, some are over $200k with OT (usually gov jobs that pay 3x time for OT). I have 3 neighbors that make $250k+ at Skilled workerman jobs, none would have considered college, as they were making good wages at age 18-20. (as was I WHILE I was in Engineering school). There is a huge shortage of skilled workers in USA.

I vote Private with aid as equivalent cost but more probable improved EDU (depending on school / major / student / staff (often changes and REALLY affects deliverable)). I have done degrees at both Private and public (compliments of employer).

Many public U programs are excellent as well. But in general... please consider a non US EDU for best education content, and a USA edu only for connections / merits. (might as well do both !)

It is often up to the student, BUT personal networks are increasingly important to landing / keeping and excelling at a great job..

Have fun in school, as the worker bee stuff gets old. On the salary thing... DO NOT consider your employment to be WEALTH gaining. It is how you apply your SMARTS in the economy / particular interests / skillset. WAGE income is a pretty small part of my wealth, and certainly would not be retirement savings !

The 'New economy' is gonna HAMMER wage income with taxes. Find some other way to make a buck. School can help with that, and also harm (delay / hinder your 'freedom project'.)

[jobaba]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I hear what you are saying. IMHO, the strongest correlation to making more $$'s is getting as close to the money stream as possible. If you can influence money, then you will make more. Think sales, business owner, Wall Street, etc. Next, higher margin products allow for more money to be paid out. Hence medical devices, software, healthcare, etc yield more $$"s than skinny margin industries.

Without college, you have to be street smart and you can make a lot of $$.

I don't want to make filthy $. If I did, then I wouldn't have gone into engineering.

It'd just be nice if people got rewarded with a little more pay and job security for their education. It's expensive, it's difficult, and it's delaying your opportunity costs.

If you went through the effort of getting a doctorate, you are <1% of the US population that made that sacrifice. You should be rewarded for it.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by jobaba

I don't want to make filthy $. If I did, then I wouldn't have gone into engineering.

It'd just be nice if people got rewarded with a little more pay and job security for their education. It's expensive, it's difficult, and it's delaying your opportunity costs.

If you went through the effort of getting a doctorate, you are <1% of the US population that made that sacrifice. You should be rewarded for it.

Is the industry that you are designing for make a higher margin product? If not, there will always be a lot of pressure on wages.

Back in the mid 80's I worked at Honeywell. They had and E-1 to E5 pay scale. E1's started in the mid 30's, E2-low 40's, E3-50's, E4-60's, and E5 were in the 70's. They then had "engineering fellows" that always had their PHD's and didn't want the management path. Three levels of "Fellow's" could top out at $120K. Now that was in the mid 80's. I'm assuming outsourcing has put on a lot of wage pressure because they can email schematics to India or China. The global market has applied pressure to several job categories.

I left engineering to go into semiconductor sales back in the mid 90's. Most people selling semiconductors had HS degrees or general business degrees. A typical wage after commission was $60K. Technical sales people made more because they could get design wins easier. Back then, margins were 25%. When I left, I made in the low 90's calling on engineers and buyers. Application engineering which were brand specific and rode with the general sales people made $90-$140K a year. Again, this was in the mid 90's.

When I left, I sold about $10M at 25% margin. So $2.5M profit for the house and I got a very small amount of the profit or $92K. Then I left that industry to start my own business selling technical products. At peak, a bad month was $25K profit after overhead. A good month was $60K or profit. I'm still in that industry but the competition skyrocketed so my wages are down a good deal. Back then, I was one of the few marketing on the internet through usernet groups. The key lesson I learned was the more I controlled the money stream, the more I made. The higher the margin, the more I got paid. If I owned the business (and with zero employees) I made all of the profits. So I didn't expand and controlled my overhead to near-zero. That was a bad move because I could not multiply myself but I still did pretty well. I didn't need an hour of college to accomplish the exact same income but it did give me the confidence to call on technical people.

So if I wanted to stay in engineering, I'd want a skill set that I could design as a contractor. A typical engineering contract rate is $70-$90 an hour. Now you get ALL the money. Yes, there is risk but the reward is well worth worrying where your next gig will be. I'm looking at hiring someone to design a consumer product. They all want around $100K and it will take them around 4-5 months to design. They keep all of the money. If I was in your shoes, I'd figure out a way to get closer to the money! Corporate America isn't about sharing profits unless they have to. You don't have to have a millions to start a business. You need a skill and be able to sell yourself. With your education and (obvious) brain power, you could make triple by dodging the company who is profiting on your skills. Can you tell I am not a fan for working for someone else?