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The bottom line, tho, if - AFTER DEBT - college grads make almost 900K more over a 40 year period after graduation.
Good article is that it challenges each individual to ask themselves "what do I want to learn - what and who do I want to be?" before committing to debt, etc.
This is good. I'm in favor of a gap year for a lot of students to figure things out about their lives and what they want to do with their lives. I work in the skilled trades, trust me there is good and bad with every industry. Even though I make more than the average master degree holder in the US (2015 Georgetown study), I realized I'm not the general rule, I'm the outlier in this situation. Although I am now going to college after working in the trades for about 10 years.
People have to come to the decision of what will be best for them and build on their passion and interests. It isn't going to be a one size fits all approach to life that will bring you happiness and success.
This survey makes no sense to me. There is no explanation on how the return on investment was calculated. My return on investment shows as a million dollars. I believe my lifetime gross earnings were about $2 million. How can they determine what they would have been without a college degree?
One fallacy here is that people who do graduate college are probably more ambitious and goal driven than those who don't. But people who are ambitious and goal driven do well in all sorts of fields where a degree is not needed, especially if they work for themselves, or are in trades.
I'd like to know how these statistics were compiled. I just can't take them at face value. For example, how can they know by college what people's lifetime earnings were? I never mentioned my college on my income tax. How many people were actually sampled? Did only people who did well in life respond?
My inclination is that these statistics are based on faulty assumptions and invalid methods.
It depends on what you major in. There are a lot of worthless degrees for sale.
Medicine, law, accounting, and engineering are still worthwhile for most people. On the other hand, the sciences, history, languages, sociology, etc. are not worthwhile unless you are exceptionally talented.
There are multiple ways of reckoning worth. There is the excitement of doing the thing you love, the satisfaction of doing worthwhile work, the pleasure of wealth, the lack of debt.
I think going into massive debt for education is a terrible way to begin working life. It is even worse if you don’t come out qualified and equipped for a lucrative career.
This my opinion: people should think twice about getting degrees in lower paying fields, especially if they have to take out large loans to get the degree.
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My son went to one of our military academies. He received a degree in economics. Now going to graduate school for his MBA. No college debt and set himself up for the future. However I have a ton of respect for the trades. When your ac stops working, if you have a leak in your pipes or your electric no longer works there is no more important person in the world than that person that can fix it!
This is good. I'm in favor of a gap year for a lot of students to figure things out about their lives and what they want to do with their lives. I work in the skilled trades, trust me there is good and bad with every industry. Even though I make more than the average master degree holder in the US (2015 Georgetown study), I realized I'm not the general rule, I'm the outlier in this situation. Although I am now going to college after working in the trades for about 10 years.
People have to come to the decision of what will be best for them and build on their passion and interests. It isn't going to be a one size fits all approach to life that will bring you happiness and success.
Skilled trade + AS in business with accounting....
Skilled trade + AS in business with accounting....
Nice that’s awesome. I’m in the skilled trades HVAC and plumbing. I’m in school for computer science. I think it is great to have a trade to fall back on.
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