Posted on 08/17/2016 7:20:10 PM PDT by Lorianne
One of the most perplexing questions on the minds of young Americans today is whether college is worth the associated tuition cost. It is rather humbling to see that $1.4 trillion in student debt is outstanding today. That is more than auto debt and credit card debt. College tuition has outpaced virtually every category that is tracked in our inflation measures. It has out run housing prices. It has left healthcare in the dust. It has crushed wages which are stagnant for nearly a generation. The last item is probably the most important measure to examine. If college is worth it, why have wages gone stagnant all the while tuition prices continue to go up? Is it because of federal loans? Is it because of mega complexes being built? Or is there something else going on?
The $1.4 trillion question
College tuition wasn’t always so out of control. There seems to be a “price growth through debt” phenomenon going on here. We’ve seen it with housing and also automobile costs. The financing of the system via Wall Street and big banks has caused a runaway inflation in base prices. As wild as housing and auto prices have gone, they simply pale in comparison to college tuition.
(Excerpt) Read more at mybudget360.com ...
If you get z BS in “gender studies” from Oberlin and are not a minority, you will not need your degree working at Fridays, even though it cost you $240,000.
On the other hand, if you get a degree in engineering from MIT, it will likely pay off.
It’s all worth it as long as you’re employed.
Yes, absolutely.
But America needs to protect jobs for Americans.
A college degree is nowhere as valuable as it once was, and much much more expensive.
What is needed is more jobs in America (Trump has that part) and then we will return to the lead.
Buying everything from China helps nobody. Except for the people who have sold out America for their own gain.
Buy American.
For some jobs it is a requirement. Also at one time it paid off by several times the cost.
I am not so sure anymore.
I went to college on an athletic scholarship plus had a college job working the switchboard at night until 10. I actually made a little money after expenses.
I much later returned and finished grad school. That was a disaster for me financially. I spent all my savings, ended up drawing out my retirement and then became disabled before I could find a job.
For most people now, I don’t think it is worth it.
It was worth it for Mrs Gamecock and myself.
It is worth it for our oldest daughter.
Jury is still out for our youngest as they are still in school.
No, mostly college is not worth it. But America doesn’t seem to be working on a viable alternative. It’s an industry, a slick one. A few come out ahead. Most don’t.
Industries that insist on the piece of paper are misguided and are hurting the country. Insist on some aptitude and hard work and quick learning.
There are exceptions but they remain exceptions.
Industries that insist on the piece of paper
Finishing a college degree is worth it, but you get much better ROI if you do the first two years at community college.
VMI.
Grad from the Isenberg,
UMass Amherst. 5/2/16.
We paid state tuition for him. Big Donuts, good job, by 5/8/16.
Depends on where ya go, and what ya do!
College isn’t the end all-be all. Liberals have this idea that a college education is the key to success, and it can be. But liberals want to send EVERYONE to college, and not everyone is suited to college, and not all college educations are worth it.
Everything liberals touch turns to crap, and college is no different.
Like everything, college is what you make of it, and what you get out of it.
If you take Black Studies, Native American Studies, Women’s Studies, or Philosophy, well...good luck with that. I hope you have good bartending skills, because you are going to need them.
If you are suited to science, great. People with talent in many of those fields can get good jobs, but as we all know, you have to get the timing right. It does no good to pick a really good and interesting field if the job market is completely glutted with that field.
And in many cases, people stupidly pay outrageous tuition to go to an ivy league or other high end institution, but in the end, it is going to be a piece of paper you walk away with. Go to a smaller school near home. Commute to school if you can. Don’t graduate with a mountain of debt, even though it looks like the liberals are going go use debt forgiveness as a way to get everyone, no matter how unqualified or unprepared, a college education.
There are a LOT of people who will be far, FAR more successful in a trade. Funny, I have never known plumbers who had trouble putting food on the table or a car in the garage. Being a mechanic usually means you will always be able to support yourself and your family. Electricians, welders, machinists, there are plenty of things that are far, FAR more useful to the right kind of person than a college education can be.
It is all what you make of it.
“If you take Black Studies, Native American Studies, Women’s Studies, “...
You can get a seriously overpaid government job.
Heck yes! Best 4 years of my life. Go Seminmoles! Right out of the chute with my degree in Poly Sci I got a job as an undercover security guard with JB Hunter Dept store. The base salary was $1.50 an hour but the supervisor told me since I had a college degree I was getting $1.80. Good times. :-)
LOL, okay...that was a FAR better way to end my sentence!
Doctors should probably have advanced degrees. Journalists probably shouldn’t. Start there.
I agree with you. I have a Son-in-Law who went on to get his Registered Nurse certificate then another which must be something like a Physicians assistant. He had to go to school a good while after his BS but now is making good money and there is a shortage in his field. He is a big strong guy and they really need them.
My Daughter got her teaching certificate and thinks she was underpaid at $52,000. She helped put her husband through his graduate studies and now is home schooling.
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