Posted on 01/13/2020 3:59:56 AM PST by Erik Latranyi
Is college worth it? As the cost of American higher education soars, inequality widens, and wages stagnate, millions of Millennials and Gen Zers have asked themselves that question. The answer, at least from economists, has remained a resounding yes. One study found that college graduates earn nearly twice as much as their peers without a college degree.
But what if those earnings are no longer translating into financial security and long-term prosperity? A new study by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests that might be the case. College still boosts graduates’ earnings, but it does little for their wealth.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Excellent points.
Many factors are involved. One big factor is that there are so many kids going to college who should never have been there in the first place. They end up with worthless degrees that lead nowhere. Most of those students would have been much better off learning a trade or going directly into the workforce.
In the past, those students would never have factored into the college side of the equation because they wouldn’t have gone. So not only are they dragging down the statistics for college students in terms of relatively lower salaries, but they have compounded the issue with their massive debt, which will be difficult to repay with those low salaries.
Students and parents have been conned. The con was the “promise” that a college degree was some sort of magic wand that granted big bucks. It’s not. And people are finding out the hard way.
Analogy: Becoming a movie star is the path to big bucks. True for some. But if you don’t have the right assets (looks/talent for acting, brains for college, DRIVE & hard work for both), the chance of a path to big bucks is unlikely.
It's already being done, some doing it well, some not so well.
Western Governors University, headquartered in SLC, Utah, but with students all over the country and some abroad, and connected state university systems in several other states, would be my highest recommendation of a successful model.
Did I say EVERY degree? No.
I'll just ignore your next comment.
People, you sound so very ignorant to be painting with such a broad and shallow brush.
I have degrees in Spanish and Computer Science. The former is worth something to me personally, but guess which one put bread and everything else on the table?
Most people on this tread ARE painting with a wide brush. They sound like hicks.
I was thinking that during my engineering courses, I spent an awful lot of time in the school’s machine shop and test lab. This certainly can’t be mimicked online. The labs and practical exercises are the most beneficial part of the course.
Sorry, but human to human interaction is over-rated for education.
Basic coursework and understanding is enough. Learning the “human” side comes from real life....something professors cannot teach because the vast majority have no connection to the real work use of the degree they teach.
There are other labs: Physics, chemistry, biology, electronics, and so on.
I majored an computer science, yet I haunted the machine shops as well. Back when I earned my degree computers didn't fit on a person's desk. That enormous lab was also irreplaceable.
So many folks posting here clearly did not study science or engineering. No wonder liberals regard conservatives as hicks.
Why should someone studying seminary work need a classroom or lab?
Why should they pay for it?
Let the engineering or science students pay for the lab they use.
This “spreading of costs” among all degrees is why we have this issue.
Those labs and machine shops can be sponsored by companies that hire students in those fields. There is no need for one student to subsidize the work of another.
Take the socialism out of education and let the price of each degree be determined by the demand and materials required to obtain.
Universities are usually way behind the private sector in technology. Their labs and equipment are usually outdated.
So, let’s not over-rate what current universities provide with the hands-on approach.
I fully agree on that notion. Seminaries aren’t usually co-located with regular universities. Also, online studies are perfectly suited to seminaries.
Well, now we know who to turn to for insights on this issue.
Might as well ask Alyssa as well.
That is absurd! University labs ARE sponsored by corporate donors.
Read through the thread yourself. You might pick up on a pervasive anti-education bias.
A common complaint, but note that the vast majority of veterans are NOT officers. Second, that post is far less about the education aspect of his degree and his minor, but more of a "gatekeeper" aspect. My degree was next to useless when it came to being an Army officer. I could've done a Military Science-like curriculum in a few months (40 hours a week as a job), then moved on to the Officer Basic Course and my first unit (note this is essentially what OCS is).
A degree is a requirement to get commissioned. The type of degree is 100% immaterial. When I got my Master's at Syracuse, it was much more focused on what I do in the Army, and the Army picked up the bill while also paying my salary and housing allowance for the entire year I was there. I'll be eligible to retire in a few years and while I can kind of point to my BS getting me through the door, it really wasn't necessary beyond fulfilling an Army requirement.
Take the donors out of this. A university has no business owning a machine shop.
You are overly focused on trade degrees and not the vast majority we are discussing.
Even undergraduate science degrees do not require the vast infrastructure universities own. Those are all vanity projects for the university to attract students and for donors to brag about.
There is nothing in a university that could not be provided by the private sector so they can select the best students as future employees.
Most university degrees do not prepare a student for a job in the real world as it exists. The detachment from real life is growing rapidly.
I am in complete agreement with you. Engineering has a lot of theory, yes, but we also need hands on experience and resources to do experiments.
As a graduate student I leaned on our in house machine shop to fabricate the special apparatus needed for my experiments. When the machinist was busy with the more demanding fabs, he showed me how to use the tooling to make the simpler and cruder setups I needed. I got experience with welding and milling that way.
Now, as my handle might suggest, I don’t get to actually exercise those skills professionally but it does make me more conversant with those who do and that has been a help. I do exercise them at home in my workshop and that is of value to me too.
Science and engineering requires lab work to learn the materials fully. You cannot do that online.
You are flat out wrong. Liberal arts degrees don’t need that equipment, but hard sciences and engineering most certainly do. See my post just above this one.
Joe Burrow (LSU QB) did all of his classes online.
Question, if you take a class online how can anyone assess whether you attended or did any of the work yourself?
“Question, if you take a class online how can anyone assess whether you attended or did any of the work yourself?”
If the final testing is done on site and rigidly controlled it should lay to rest anyone else did anything. Besides who is to say college attendees do all their own work?
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