The plain truth is that kid could go off to the Air Force for four years...get trained as a mechanic...pick up an associates degree that was almost completely paid via AF tuition assistance...get a certificate or two...owe nothing upon exiting the military, and be ten years ahead of any kid about to finish college.
At least for anthropology and archeology and, to some extent, social work, most people pursuing those degrees understand that graduate school is pretty much required to be taken seriously in the discipline.
They also overlook that teaching and social work are almost certain to be government jobs usually with exemplary job security and benefits packages.
Students and parents are catching on that not every degree is worth having. These degrees, and several others, should be among the first to go online and free or very cheap. Both the students and the university now have a compelling interest to bring the cost down, because both now know the current model is unsustainable.
The degrees are not worth the cost if what you want is just money.
People attain degrees for all sorts of reasons, and money is not necessarily the primary reason.
There’s a guy I work with. His wife just finished a Bachelor degree in IT. We live in a rural area, and I could probably count on both hands how many IT jobs there are around here(I have one of them lol). After having no luck finding a job, and being unwilling to move, she has decided to go BACK to school for a Master’s degree so she can be a teacher. Our rural backwoods area, and surrounding counties make up the bottom of the state in teacher salary. The girl is going to go through all of that hard work and expense to get a MS degree for a job that doesn’t even pay $25k per year.
.....STUPID (....and she’s going to be TEACHING children)
(Importantly, China is already doing this.)
What is going to happen nationwide, is that some state legislator will demand a simple list from the state universities.
One column will be a listing of majors offered by that university. The other column will be the number of graduates with that major, who are employed in that field of work within six months after graduation.
Or within a year after graduation, given the economy.
The legislator’s argument will be a simple one.
The state subsidizes a university education with the idea that graduates will be able to get a *better* job with a given degree than they would *without* a degree, and thus it will not just benefit them, but the whole state.
However, at the bottom of this list will be those graduates who *never, ever* get a job based on their major. A big zero. So why is the state subsidizing those students wasting their college education and ending up deeply in debt?
Granted, if students are able and willing to pay the entire cost of a college major in “Historical lesbian basket weavers of eastern sub-Saharan Africa”, good for them. But they should not expect a thin dime from the state supporting them in this utterly worthless endeavor.
I spent a few thousand bucks at a trade school. I’m set to be making more than a 4 year degree costs (according to the story) in the next year. I’ll be high 5 figures this year.
College is highly over price and over rated for many things.
Only five? Really???
As I recall, I DID consider this when I attended college, well over 30 years ago. I would have liked to be an astronomer - but you are “nobody” in that field until you get a PhD and have some years of academic work and peer respect - and until then, you will be making cheese sandwiches on an iron in a studio apartment, alone.
I didn’t have a rich and/or foolish family that would fund this dream.
I suspect that “easy money” has distorted the free market beyond all recognition in this area. I am also generally disgusted with young people unwilling to pay their dues or get their hands dirty (literally).
It’s true, that money isn’t everything - but tens of millions of people go to work every day basically hating their jobs, so that they can go home to the family and hobbies that they fund end enjoy with the fruits of this labor. Not everybody gets their “dream job”. They never did. They never will.
This probably gets enough press every year in the annual review of “best jobs” — but I’ll put in a plug for being an actuary as a career. I have been an actuary for 30 years and it’s still a field where your progression is based on passing exams and where demand exceeds supply.
If you are good at math and like solving problems then there is no need for any graduate coursework. With an exam passed internships are readily available and well paid.
No graduate coursework is required and virtually all employers give time off to study for exams. It’s not easy — you have to take about ten exams and each exam has about a 40% pass rate — and that’s among a pretty smart group of test takers. But if you are willing to work hard it’s doable without any graduate school.
I would encourage any parent of a mathematically gifted child to look into this field. Feel free to email me if you want more information, or go the Society of Actuaris website.
When I got out of high school, I chose the military over college and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Those four years in the Marine Corps gave me the life experience, discipline and work ethic that so many college students lack. As a result, I have never been out of work in the 30 years that have passed since I got out of the Marines. It seems that all I have to do in an job interview is mention that I was a Marine and the next question is usually when can I start.
This is because hiring managers worth their salt know those with a military background make excellent hires as they will tend to be hard-working, motivated, responsible, and will be leadership material. In fact, most of my post-Marine Corps career has been in management.
Now I don't look down on higher education. In fact, I have taken an enormous amount of college courses (at night) while my employer either paid for them or subsidized them. Therefore, I have never had college debt of any kind yet have been making a six-figure salary for the better part of the past 20 years.
Now for those who are independently wealthy or have trust funds or wealthy parents, go for that liberal arts degree. Some of my favorite college courses were in literature or social studies. But if you need to make a living and don't have a scholarship, trust fund or wealthy parents to send you to college, don't go into debt - join the military instead.