Lets talk about college...

[superpunk]

Don't shit up this thread with your personal political vendettas.

+1 to that

 

[Jon88]

Go to community college, pay like 15% the cost of a university's semester, figure out what you want do career wise, and then transfer. You'll still owe money, but won't be in the mountain of debt that you would if you jumped straight into a big school.

Or if you lack the stamina for any type of advanced learning after high school, get apprenticed.

I wish I had learned of the latter a long time ago. I could be retiring comfortably at 55 or so. Now I have to wait till I'm in my 60s.

What did you get an apprentice in?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

The electrical trade. I've been in it for 2 years now. Where have you been?

 

[2233boys]

You have to have a college degree, or at least trade school degree now. High School diploma isn't going no cut it.

I also think resume and cover letter writing skills have gone way down. You have to sell yourself to get an interview. Then you have to be able to sell yourself in the interview room. Lost art.

 

[Jon88]

The electrical trade. I've been in it for 2 years now. Where have you been?

I forgot. I remember insurance, navy, male stripper...after that it's fuzzy.

 

[junk]

This. This. This.

Education is nice, but you must have a marketable skill.

It's highly possible much of our current unemployment is structural in nature -- i.e. there are jobs, but few people have the skills or the willingness to do them. Consequently, an influx of immigrants could provide a boon to the economy. I made the opposite argument to Junk a few weeks ago, but I keeping going back and forth on the issue.

Yeah, I'm not sure either. Definitely a place for skilled tech workers.

Did you read the Heritage report? Some eye opening stuff in there. I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but the hard tax numbers were interesting.

 

[junk]

Lots of good points made in this thread.

A college degree is still worthwhile provided it is the right degree and you are smart about where you go to get it. I don't think a four year in business is worth the time to go get. Education, unfortunately, probably isn't worth the investment either. Engineering, computer science, nursing, healthcare.....all probably worthwhile.

A degree is also very dependent upon what you put into it. Something like accounting, for example. It can be a useful degree if the person getting is smart and ambitious.

And I do kind of agree with sp on the baby boomer generation. That situation is going to get worse before it gets better. The government spends more on SS and Medicare than anything else.

 

[Theebs]

Accounting is considered a "hard degree" though, you are prepared to do a job because of the tests you have to pass.

Unlike say a business degree, marketing or finance where all you really did was pass tests for a number of years and have to be trained to do a job still. Those are "soft degrees".

A two year degree in nursing I imagine earns you more money than an MBA in buisness.

 

[Midswat]

One thing I'm definitely going to coach my kids on is learning a marketable skill or trade. They'll work part time jobs in high school or during summers, but not in a fast food restaurant. Instead, I'll contact local plumbers, carpenters, electricians, etc... and see if I can get them on as helpers.

That way, if they do go to school and get a business degree, they'll have that experience to fall back on.

 

[Bluenoser]

I was pressured into University by my parents when I came out of high school. After my first year I dropped out took a year off and went to Community College, took carpentry and haven't looked back. I'm 500 hrs away from writing my red seal and I enjoy what I do. I have friends that graduated University but the only ones working were the ones that became teachers, the rest are working at random jobs.

 

[Midswat]

Jesus was a carpenter.

Will you, like him, die for our sins?

 

[Bluenoser]

:suicide

 

[windward]

Earned a BA in history in 2007. Worked through college and was able to pay for most of my schooling and will be debt free by end of the year. I have a decent paying job for a single guy. If I get an MBA, I would qualify for some of the better paying jobs in my company ( six figures) so I am considering that.

 

[iceberg]

in our own lifetime the world has changes around us.

or maybe got more of the same.

college was built to deliver information in the way it was successful at the time. sitting in a classroom listening to a school marm give you the basics doesn't do it anymore.

it's great to know the past. it's great to get rounded. prep schools, colleges and tech schools all run under the basic premise.

but nothing changes the fact *we* need to understand our environment around us and how to best get through it.

college isn't worth the $ today. sorry.

 

[windward]

in our own lifetime the world has changes around us.

or maybe got more of the same.

college was built to deliver information in the way it was successful at the time. sitting in a classroom listening to a school marm give you the basics doesn't do it anymore.

it's great to know the past. it's great to get rounded. prep schools, colleges and tech schools all run under the basic premise.

but nothing changes the fact *we* need to understand our environment around us and how to best get through it.

college isn't worth the $ today. sorry.

yeah, I was able to work part time and pay off my tuition at the University of Hawaii. I paid 1,600 a semester in 2004 as a resident. Now, only 9 years later, it is $4,800. I'd have to finance it and end up $50k in debt or so for the same degree.

 

[2233boys]

Try getting a decent job without at least some sort of training be it at college or a trade school now days. It almost seems that You need a masters to get jobs that you could get with a Bachelor degrees 20 years ago. Education is key, finding a way to pay for it is the tricky part.

 

[windward]

Another point to be considered: What happens when all these students today start defaulting on their loans? It seems we've created quite the bubble here.

 

[MetalHead]

Another point to be considered: What happens when all these students today start defaulting on their loans? It seems we've created quite the bubble here.

Oh they won't.
There is a reason student loans are not covered under any chapter of bankruptcy.
Uncle Sam will get their money.

 

[junk]

in our own lifetime the world has changes around us.

or maybe got more of the same.

college was built to deliver information in the way it was successful at the time. sitting in a classroom listening to a school marm give you the basics doesn't do it anymore.

it's great to know the past. it's great to get rounded. prep schools, colleges and tech schools all run under the basic premise.

but nothing changes the fact *we* need to understand our environment around us and how to best get through it.

college isn't worth the $ today. sorry.

It is if you pick the right degree and put the time and effort into it. Not all college course work is sitting around listening to a school marm. Most of the tech and science fields involve a ton of lab work which is essentially real world training.

And, if you put the time into extra curricular activities, you get a lot more real world experience. When I was graduating from college, 90% of the applicable experience I was able to discuss with potential employers came from the time I spent outside of class on projects available to me on campus. When I go back to interview, I immediately look for people with similar experiences.

I'd rather hire someone with a 3.2 GPA that can give me real projects he/she worked on during college than someone with a 4.0 who didn't do anything other than go to class.

 

[jeebus]

If college is worth it depends on your goals, if you go with a plan and use college as a way to achieve that plan then it is almost always worth it no matter the outcome. If you think you just go to college and everything will magically turn out great in your life, then yea, you would have been better off actually applying yourself somewhere outside academia.