When a 4 year college degree isn't enough

[Lamb]

I hear so often that a 4 year college degree won't get graduates into a job of their major. WHY NOT? Then I hear next that they need to continue their education and go for their masters.

To me this is absolutely ridiculous to pay over $100,000 in schooling/cost of living, etc... and then for the grads to struggle to repay their loans and find employment. What is wrong with our country that it's come to this?

I'm all for trade schools!

 

[Josiah]

I hear so often that a 4 year college degree won't get graduates into a job of their major. WHY NOT? Then I hear next that they need to continue their education and go for their masters.

To me this is absolutely ridiculous to pay over $100,000 in schooling/cost of living, etc... and then for the grads to struggle to repay their loans and find employment. What is wrong with our country that it's come to this?

I'm all for trade schools!

Education is never a bad thing. A college education is never a bad thing (especially when it is strong in liberal arts, research and communication skills). It MAY not lead to financial reward, but I disagree that the only things of value are those that have FINANCIAL reward.

If a student majors in basket weaving or the history of Mongolian literature (or even forestry, library science, etc.) ..... and then complains: "Hey, I can't find a job in my field that starts at over $100K!" Well..... I'll bet someone TOLD THEM they would not way back when they were in high school and discussing majors. We seem to have this STUPID idea that if you learn something, many emplorers ergo are mandated to hire us and pay us (well) for that. Nope. Go over to the placement office.... ASK about work in that field and what it pays, they'll tell you. Or just google, it's all there.

Want to graduate and make money? Consider engineering and geology for starters. But again, not everyone who goes to college has money as their primary objective.




My half cent



- Josiah

 

[psalms 91]

Education is never a bad thing. A college education is never a bad thing (especially when it is strong in liberal arts, research and communication skills). It MAY not lead to financial reward, but I disagree that the only things of value are those that have FINANCIAL reward.

If a student majors in basket weaving or the history of Mongolian literature (or even forestry, library science, etc.) ..... and then complains: "Hey, I can't find a job in my field that starts at over $100K!" Well..... I'll bet someone TOLD THEM they would not way back when they were in high school and discussing majors. We seem to have this STUPID idea that if you learn something, many emplorers ergo are mandated to hire us and pay us (well) for that. Nope. Go over to the placement office.... ASK about work in that field and what it pays, they'll tell you. Usually, the profs will too.

Want to graduate and make money? Consider engineering and geology for starters. But again, not everyone who goes to college has money as their primary objective.




My half cent



- Josiah

Considering the cost there should be a job, I agree that people dont always choose wisely for a major but in Phychology and some other fields a masters is required and then some, and yes I do find it rediculous for what they get paid. personally I think college for the most part is a waste of time and money

 

[Josiah]

Yup, there are those who graduate with 100K in student loans.....

NORMALLY, this is avoidable. First of all, you don't HAVE to go to Cornell or Harvard - there are EXCELLENT, well respected schools that don't have 12K per quarter tuition. And even if you go to Cornell or Harvard, very few students actually pay the full price, scholarships are very numerous for the QUALIFIED, the only ones paying the full cost are those who can afford it and who were admitted because they are legacies.

I did the first half of my undergrad work at a local community college. Cost close to nothing. (BTW, I "double dipped" - applying the units to both my high school diploma AND my college degree; lots do this). Then I transferred to the University of California at San Diego on a "full ride" scholarship (I paid no tuition at all.... although the in state tuition at the UC's is not too bad). I worked and my parents helped - and that covered housing, books, etc. There was no need for any loans. I then went to grad school - but as a researcher, so my salary cancelled my tuition - and with more than enough left over to pay my other college expenses. I did have my apartment and car expenses but again, summer work and parents covered that - no need for loans.




- Josiah

 

[Josiah]

Considering the cost there should be a job, I agree that people dont always choose wisely for a major but in Phychology and some other fields a masters is required and then some, and yes I do find it rediculous for what they get paid.

Yes, in SOME fields, graduate education is needed for entry. Again, this is well known BEFORE the student begins college work. But if MONEY is the thing valued by the materialist, he/she can consider engineering or geology or a host of other fields where a BS is all that is needed for entry, where there will be jobs begging for them, and where entry salaries can approach 100K. If all that matters is money.

personally I think college for the most part is a waste of time and money

Of course, I entirely and passionately disagree. Good education is never a waste of time or money. It MAY not always enrich our wallet but then I disagree that that's all that matters, all that is of worth or value. I wouldn't be a Christian, I wouldn't be married, I wouldn't do a LOT of things if I thought that all that matters is money.




- Josiah. Ph.D.

 

[Rens]

wrong thread

 

[tango]

I hear so often that a 4 year college degree won't get graduates into a job of their major. WHY NOT? Then I hear next that they need to continue their education and go for their masters.

To me this is absolutely ridiculous to pay over $100,000 in schooling/cost of living, etc... and then for the grads to struggle to repay their loans and find employment. What is wrong with our country that it's come to this?

I'm all for trade schools!

It's easy to ask questions like "is this right?" but it clearly is right or it wouldn't be happening. The question to ask is who it's right for.

What better way to keep people enslaved to the system than to saddle them with huge debts before they even get going? By the time you've got six figures in student debt and another six figures in mortgage debt you'll be spending most of the next 30 years working hard to repay it all. From the perspective of the money lenders the best thing about it is that people consider it to be perfectly normal to do this.

Looking at some figures, in very broad-brush terms the person making $60k pa works out about $30/hour or $240/day (assuming very approximate figures of 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year). If you've got a mortgage payment of $500 and a student loan payment of $250 that means that out of every 20 days you work, 3 of them are just to repay large scale debts. Of course if you're repaying debts out of post-tax income it's worse than that. It's great for the banks because it means you're worth $750 to them every month and they don't have to do anything productive to get that $750.

It's also pretty good for the educational establishments - where just about everything is a degree course these days it's a source of easy money for them.

Of course the flip side is that for some areas it's reasonable to expect advanced study as a precursor to entry. I don't know that I'd want someone designing a nuclear power station based on taking a three-month course during summer school.

 

[Rens]

Oh I posted in the wrong thread, that was about misandry. Can't change it somehow.
4 year is enough sometimes, for me it's enough, my sister did 6 years for basis doctor, but her friends who are all doctors studied 4 years longer and some collegues from her for the exact same work earn twice as much at least.

 

[ValleyGal]

When I started my degree, a 4-year degree was enough to do what I wanted to do - geriatric social work, and with an employment history in long term care, I was told I was a shoe-in. By the time I graduated (in the top 5% of my class), a BSW was enough for entry-level positions, and I would need a master's level for any kind of specialty such as geriatrics. With a mountain of student debt, I could not possibly consider a master's, so entry-level it is. I regret my degree. What took four years to learn could have been done in two, and at the diploma (associate's in the US), it could have been learned in less than one.

I ended up in a career that is not my passion, and am suffocating under the mountain of debt that bought me into an entry-level position that barely pays above associate's level.

Universities should do more market research and aptitude testing, and take these things into consideration before accepting people into bachelor level programs. When they take just anyone for a dying profession, they know very well that most of them will end up jobless and unable to repay their loans. Imo, universities should be more discerning as well as more competitive.

Tango, maybe you are from the US where money is a little different, but where I live, with the amount I had to borrow to go to university, my repayment is more like $1250, not $250. My repayment amount is the equivalent to more than half my monthly net income, leaving me way below poverty line. There are people on social assistance making more than I do, after paying the loan. Yes, I regret my degree.