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And they end up working in a filed that has nothing to do with the college degree.
They need room mates to barely afford rent and food and are expected to pay back the money borrowed to fund a 200K degree,
Are kids and parents of this era being scammed by colleges?
Yes, some people do end up working in a field that has nothing to do with the college degree. That isn't a always a problem if they are able to make ends meet. Starting out is tough in quite a few field so often times a roommate is necessary. As far as $200k degrees that is the exception rather than the rule. In some ways college is a scam, but considering that most decent jobs require a degree it's just something you deal with unless you want to go to a trade school or something like that (which is a good alternative). Either way there are few jobs that can be had with just a high school diploma.
A couple of things - the average student loan debt is $27,000. Average student loan debt nears $27,000 - Oct. 18, 2012 and all one has to do is read the explicit financial aid papers to know what the debt is going to be. If there's a surprise, it's due to not reading.
And they end up working in a filed that has nothing to do with the college degree.
I think the problem is that a college degree is watered down these days as to be have greatly reduced usefulness.
There's so many colleges these days that dole out degrees like they're giving out candy on Halloween it's ridiculous. And with internet based degrees these days, it's even worse. I just read something on a forum of a person getting a second bachelors degree in Computer Science completely online in a year while working full time.
And Masters Degrees aren't much better. Most programs accept mostly anybody who applies because the tuition directly funds the graduate program. Even top tier programs are accepting mostly anybody these days.
It's all about $ for colleges these days.
And posters here who say that school reputation should mean nothing don't realize you're further watering down the value of a college education. Some doofus who happens to get a Computer Science degree from a horrible university that lets him complete it entirely online or at nights at breakneck speed, skipping prereqs, is now competing with your kid who spent four years working hard on his CS degree at University of Minnesota, taking all of the required prereqs.
I think they should really do something drastic like raise the minimum graduation GPA to 3.0. Not only would degrees have more meaning, but people wouldn't enroll because they would just know after a semester or two that their work ethic can't cut it. As is, you have people barely doing anything and graduating with degrees.
As unrealistic as that is, Masters Programs could at least make it harder to gain admittance, therefore adding at least a modicum of value to advanced degrees.
The more college degrees lose their weight, the less and less correlation they'll have to obtaining meaningful employment and advancement.
My first son went to a State School for less than 10k a year. My last daughter wanted a private school in the North East and the tuition is 50K a year. Most people cannot afford 50K a year. I need my head examined.
I think college is great to obtain a profession-------lawyer, dentist, physician, engineering, accountant, teacher, etc. Many other obscure degrees are meaningless and can be replaced with OJT.
Perhaps college selects better people, but who knows.
In Europe college is often free or much less expensive and entrance is truly based on academic achievement.
A friend of mine send his kid to college in England and as a foreigner paid 10k Euros which is much less than in the US. If the kid had been an English citizen the tuition would have been 3k Euros.
For all the learning for the sake of learning you must never forget college is a business. Simply the purpose of college has changed from "major in whatever you want and you will find work" to "you must major in X,Y,Z for your best chance at success". Why the change-ask the employer that. I often question and doubt the value of a college degree but for the moment I believe that college is not a waste assuming you major in a " in demand" field.
Also one must realize that in all likelihood you will have to start out at the retail the fast food. The entry level office job, the white collar job is not always there- everybody wants that, not everyone is going to get it. Now hopefully that retail , the fast food will be temporary and you will use that experience along with your degree to leverage to something better.
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They just can't find work to pay back the loans.
I talked to a woman and she said she went to college to become a lawyer.
Now she has a loan debt of $165,000 and can't get a job with any law firm
because they have cut back on the size of ther firms.
She now teaches school for around $35,000 - $36,000
which makes it hard to pay the money back.
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It will get worse when most jobs are performed by machines and computers. This has been happening since the 1930s. The work week will have to be reduced to 20 hours and the pay will have to go up.
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