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The value of a college education in the classical sense is about the acquisition of knowledge.
It was never supposed to be looked at as a return on an investment.
It's about undertaking a course of study, gaining a broader sense of the spectrum, developing critical thinking skills, holding a foot in a world where you share a common ground among educated adults around the globe.
You go to college for a higher education.
That said.
Without further empirical evidence I disagree with the posturing that a college degree is the equivalent of a high school diploma in today's world. It demeans the value of the blood, sweet, tears, all nighters, and the fight it takes some to pursue and obtain a university degree. Not everyone is so lucky. Some will never go for it. Some it takes a decade or more to achieve.
The value of a college education in the classical sense is about the acquisition of knowledge.
It was never supposed to be looked at as a return on an investment.
It's about undertaking a course of study, gaining a broader sense of the spectrum, developing critical thinking skills, holding a foot in a world where you share a common ground among educated adults around the globe.
You go to college for a higher education.
That said.
Without further empirical evidence I disagree with the posturing that a college degree is the equivalent of a high school diploma in today's world. It demeans the value of the blood, sweet, tears, all nighters, and the fight it takes some to pursue and obtain a university degree. Not everyone is so lucky. Some will never go for it. Some it takes a decade or more to achieve.
That's the problem. Some people, particularly from the working class look for a college degree as an automatic path out of poverty. It isn't and it was never intended to be. How a person is able to apply their knowledge to make a better life for themselves depends on many different factors (talent, luck, one's social skills, family, personality, etc.)
We should have compassion for them though as they were instilled those beliefs from the parents who came from a different generation were upward mobility through education was the reality. They do have a point in that it's not the same world today as it was back then and the realities have changed when it's looked at as a monetary investment. It's a more recent adjustment in strategy with the invention of 'schools for profit' coupled with the recovery in the job market since the recent recession. The suggestion of going to school for a trade is good one for what most of them are seeking, but only if they're satisfied at being capped and knowing where the ceiling is.
Last edited by Merrily Gather; 10-29-2014 at 08:26 PM..
That's the problem. Some people, particularly from the working class look for a college degree as an automatic path out of poverty. It isn't and it was never intended to be. How a person is able to apply their knowledge to make a better life for themselves depends on many different factors (talent, luck, one's social skills, family, personality, etc.)
Totally agree + networking. The people I know who obtained a liberal arts or non-science degree and able to get great jobs were those who 1) figured out what they wanted to do with their degree, 2) network, network, network.
People will say "forget college and go into the trades." The trades aren't for everyone, just like an arts college degree isn't for everyone. Being a tradesman is an excellent and usually well paying career, but the work is physically demanding with often poor biomechanics. As a physical therapist, I notice that many electricians and plumbers are much more prone to injury. Plus, trade school is not that cheap either at around $30k. If you want a dirt cheap education with a well-paying job then radiology technologist or air traffic controller is a much better choice..$90-$100k only requiring an associate's degree.
College is invaluable, but the key is you need to know what you want to do with and develop critical networking skills in conjunction. The days are long gone when you can get a decent paying job without some kind of higher education.
Btw, being born into a wealthy family ALWAYS increases your opportunities, for rather very obvious reasons.
Of course, there are a fair number of poor people who do raise up to the top, due to either being extremely talented or lucky. Bill Clinton didn't come from generations in Washington. Neither did Hillary or Barack. But they had good educations from great universities, they had social skills, and the intelligence to make something on what they had in knew.
Different people will and should study whatever they want to, as it is up to them to decide what path in life that they chose to go. Speak for yourself, in your extremely very limited worldview and knowledge base.
It's apparent you must have been one of those arts majors cause you're getting defensive on my opinion in which case it's just an opinion, I come from a different generation then you most likely and if someone is going to spend 20,000 a year for 4-6 years of college, you are talking 80-120k in investment.
If you were to finance that you need a job where you could afford to pay that back. Paying 80,000 for a degree in British Art History is s very stupid thing to do.
Not to mention the danger these student loan debts are creating. When buying a home for 80.000 or more you need work history, credit history, verifiable income. However the U.S. Government will keep handing out loans to students along with private lenders in these same amounts or more without verifying credit histories or incomes.
The next bubble to burst is the student loan bubble and as a tax payer I'm tired of getting stuck with the bill cause little Johnny thought it was a good idea to spend 200k for a degree in music composition.
You seem to live in a bubble where reality doesn't concern you. To keep our conversation civil the cost of college and the amount of loans needed to pay for these degrees is out of control. The further you finance yourself into debt the harder it is to get out of it and I can gurantee that spending 200k on a degree just to get a starting salary of maybe 65-80k a year makes no financial sense.
Why would anyone spend more then 2 times their annual income on something with a declining value
It's apparent you must have been one of those arts majors cause you're getting defensive on my opinion in which case it's just an opinion, I come from a different generation then you most likely and if someone is going to spend 20,000 a year for 4-6 years of college, you are talking 80-120k in investment.
If you were to finance that you need a job where you could afford to pay that back. Paying 80,000 for a degree in British Art History is s very stupid thing to do.
Not to mention the danger these student loan debts are creating. When buying a home for 80.000 or more you need work history, credit history, verifiable income. However the U.S. Government will keep handing out loans to students along with private lenders in these same amounts or more without verifying credit histories or incomes.
The next bubble to burst is the student loan bubble and as a tax payer I'm tired of getting stuck with the bill cause little Johnny thought it was a good idea to spend 200k for a degree in music composition.
You seem to live in a bubble where reality doesn't concern you. To keep our conversation civil the cost of college and the amount of loans needed to pay for these degrees is out of control. The further you finance yourself into debt the harder it is to get out of it and I can gurantee that spending 200k on a degree just to get a starting salary of maybe 65-80k a year makes no financial sense.
Why would anyone spend more then 2 times their annual income on something with a declining value
Actually, you got the figures wrong. I went to a top university, so over 200k was spent on my undergraduate degree for starters.
I get you came from a poor working class background with little or no education. Arts degrees are ill defined, meaning that there is no one path to success or not when someone has an arts degree. Some people will be very successful with arts degrees and there will be those that won't.
What you're looking for college to do is basically to be a cheap certification that gets you a good working class job. That was never the purpose of college and isn't today.
But being from another generation isn't really the issue ,as clearly people from other generations paid for the educations of their children at very expensive universities.
I bring in over 100k, I'm not poor, not rich either, Ive been blessed to be able to earn a decent living and during my time in college I had to work to pay for it, unlike some people who's mom and dad probably spent 200k on their education. The GI Bill did help with some of it as well.
Neither you or I can agree on this topic but keep in mind that the student loan bubble is very real and could cause another financial hardship for the United States.
You sound like you come from the entitlement generation, perhaps a millenial, I would not expect you to understand half of what I'm saying.
The big problem with nyc is that NYC has very competitive job market and having too much competition is not good for the individual trying to get his or her big break. If an employer looks at two resumes where both candidates had no work experience and only a college education. 1 candidate went to Vassar while the other went to city college both majoring in business administration. Who do you think the employer going to hire? I do hope the college bubble pop soon though. The price of college is outrageous.
The big problem with nyc is that NYC has very competitive job market and having too much competition is not good for the individual trying to get his or her big break. If an employer looks at two resumes where both candidates had no work experience and only a college education. 1 candidate went to Vassar while the other went to city college both majoring in business administration. Who do you think the employer going to hire? I do hope the college bubble pop soon though. The price of college is outrageous.
You're very right about that. The only way yo fix that is to change the perception of the city's colleges. Increasing standards would be a start, but I'm not sure if failing close to half the students would be a politically viable solution. CUNY's also offered merit based free tuition until 1970, but once again that's not politically viable nowadays. I hope the education bubble pops as well. Until then I'll keep trying to figure out ways to save for the college fund.
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