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Is a College Education Still Worth the Cost?
Townhall.com ^ | May 31, 2015 | Bruce Bialosky

Posted on 05/31/2015 7:47:51 AM PDT by Kaslin

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To: TexasFreeper2009
Spot on. Degree in the sciences, business, even education is solid - earnings over time show the ROI (return on investment).

What has changed is an increase in "specialty degree programs" -AND- many students do not have the discernment to consider the future earnings, how they would apply the degree, etc when choosing a program.

21 posted on 05/31/2015 9:28:56 AM PDT by HonkyTonkMan
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To: Kaslin

Soon the bureaucracy will decide your property taxes must pay for college (like k-12) for everyone...IF WE DON’T GET A HANDLE ON THIS! People need to stop voting “for the children”...it’s a scam.


22 posted on 05/31/2015 9:42:19 AM PDT by goodnesswins (hey..Wussie Americans....ISIS is coming. Are you ready?)
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To: Kaslin

What about the bottle of hand sanitizer in the picture?!


23 posted on 05/31/2015 9:46:13 AM PDT by chalkfarmer
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To: CriticalJ; Kaslin

Top 5 Countries Where You Can Study for Free in 2015
http://www.scholars4dev.com/4031/list-of-european-countries-with-tuition-freelow-tuition-universities-colleges/

The 10 Best Colleges With Free Tuition in 2015
http://www.thebestcolleges.org/10-best-colleges-with-free-tuition/

List of low tuition universities in Canada for International students with fees ranging from $5000 to $10000
http://www.study-domain.com/list-of-low-tuition-universities-in-canada-for-international-students-with-fees-ranging-from-5000-to-10000/


24 posted on 05/31/2015 10:13:43 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: Kaslin

Student loans are another burden on the middle class. Low income students will qualify for need based scholarships, while middle class families have to rely on merit based scholarships or loans to afford to send their children to college.


25 posted on 05/31/2015 10:22:28 AM PDT by Stonewall1
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To: Kaslin
I left College back in 1985 with an unfinished Bachelors degree. That was at a time that entry level jobs in Information Technology paid pretty well even if one hadn't yet finished their College Degree.

I was very fortunate that I was able to get as far as I did in my career w/o completing my degree.

Then one day in April of 2003, I lost my high paying gig reporting directly to the CIO at a globally known Advertising Agency and found myself competing against folks that had college degrees but a fraction of the work & management experience that I had.

Guess who landed those jobs? NOT ME.

I was fortunate enough six months after losing my job to land a fairly well paying position in a large, global bank who had a very generous tuition reimbursement program. I waited until I completed my first year there to get acclimated to the place, establish good working relationships, etc.. and then took advantage of their tuition reimbursement program. I have to add that my immediate manager (the CTO of the bank) was exceedingly supportive and not only signed off on the tuition reimbursement, gave me the flexibility to work from home or in the office during days around mid-terms or semester finals.

I finished my Undergrad degree in Computer Science in 18 months then went on for my Masters Degree.

The bank (ABN AMRO) exited North America selling of all assets in mid-2007. I was in a position at that time to see about 6 months ahead of time that the bank was being positioned to sell. Not wanting to go through the carnage that was to follow, I contacted three recruiters in the Chicago IT market that I trusted.

I had multiple interviews and was able to pick what I viewed as the best offer at that time, and have been with my current employer since.

Does it pay to have a Bachelors or Masters Degree?

An emphatic YES! from me. The difference in pay before and after I'd completed my Bachelors was night and day. I saw an immediate $30k increase in annual salary when I accepted the offer from my current employer.

So IMO, yes it pays to have a college degree. I will say the difference in pay/benefits for having a Bachelors vs. Masters that I've seen isn't anywhere near as vast as no college degree to having a Bachelors degree.

That's just my experience though.

26 posted on 05/31/2015 10:24:00 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Kaslin
American higher education has become a Soviet-style "value-subtracted" industry outside the natural sciences. The chief effect of Soviet industry was to turn good raw materials into useless crap. Most American higher education subtracts from the skill set and work ethic of entering freshmen.

The country would be much better off if the total funding for higher education was cut in half.

27 posted on 05/31/2015 10:26:13 AM PDT by Thud
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To: Kaslin

I never see these ROI studies factoring in the effect of taxes, which will dramatically reduce the high school/college earnings differential.

If you come out of college owing $100,000 you will need to earn about $191,000 to pay it off assuming a 10 year repayment period and a 4% interest rate (assuming you will pay with after-tax dollars that have been subject to SS, Medicare, 5% state taxes and a 25% fed tax rate).

The $1,000,000 in lifetime earnings is reduced to $625,000 after taxes and when the $191,000 college loan repayment is subtracted, you are left with $430,000, 43% the amount touted in these studies.


28 posted on 05/31/2015 11:27:45 AM PDT by PTBAA
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To: Kaslin

Depends. If it is the typical indoctrination to leftism, NO!


29 posted on 05/31/2015 12:10:05 PM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & Ifwater the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: Maceman

Re:”Perhaps it is different for science, technology, math and engineering (STEM). But by and large, modern colleges are pretty much reduced to Orwellian moron factories. “

They got on the PC wagon later than the liberal arts.

Today colleges have offices of diversity for STEM.


30 posted on 05/31/2015 4:06:40 PM PDT by khelus
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To: usconservative

These days larger organizations and govt entities, imho, must check off “college degree” before hiring..experience notwithstanding...smaller orgs have more flexibility


31 posted on 05/31/2015 4:53:32 PM PDT by goodnesswins (hey..Wussie Americans....ISIS is coming. Are you ready?)
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To: Kaslin

I think with the world wide web available college must be a breeze. I can do research right from my computer. No wasted hours going to a library doing research.


32 posted on 05/31/2015 5:00:00 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: shalom aleichem
If you attend college to make money or get a job, it is probably not worth it.

BS you cannot be a professional engineer without out a college degree.

33 posted on 05/31/2015 5:03:06 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va

engineering is tech school - see above (money, job)


34 posted on 05/31/2015 5:26:18 PM PDT by shalom aleichem
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To: shalom aleichem

I received my BS in engineering from a university not a tech school.


35 posted on 05/31/2015 5:29:54 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Kaslin

Depends on the school and the program.

Ivy league, no.

GLBTQ studies, no.

Liberal arts, no.

Business, Engineering, Medicine, Law, hard sciences, at Christian or non-ivy private schools, yes.

School Teachers should be drawn from retirees or sabbaticals from the above listed professions.

NOT from Liberal Args school graduates.


36 posted on 06/01/2015 4:08:50 AM PDT by Westbrook (Children do not divide your love, they multiply it)
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To: goodnesswins
These days larger organizations and govt entities, imho, must check off “college degree” before hiring..experience notwithstanding...smaller orgs have more flexibility

Absolutely right. I spent a few years working at a large Executive Search firm that catered to C-Level and Board Member folks (Heidrick & Struggles) and they were called "filters" at that time, early to mid 1990's.

It's still largely true today that to get into any decent entry-level job at one of the fortune 500 or fortune 1000 companies a 4 year college degree is a MUST, and a Graduate degree is highly preferred.

I'm starting to look outside of my employer for a new position outside the Financial Services industry and am very much running into "Masters Degree in ....." preferred.

Reading through the role descriptions you can pretty easily tell when "Preferred" means "you better have one or don't bother applying."

37 posted on 06/01/2015 6:30:55 PM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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