Posted on 06/24/2012 7:09:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
No degree guarantees that a college graduate will earn more over a lifetime than a high school student.
Worse still, there are many degrees where the average high school graduate will likely out-earn a college graduate.
If you’ve ever wanted to know the two main reasons why Americans decide not to go to college, the St. Louis Fed presented two convincing explanations. The more frightening of the two scenarios showed that, for students paying their own tuition, most will need a starting salary of $40,000 or better to overcome lifetime earnings of high school graduates.
How can it be that someone with a $40,000 starting salary can’t out-earn the average high school graduate? The reason is two-fold. Most college students forgo income while attending college. Also, given the average annual tuition of $25,000, a student paying his own way is facing a $100,000 college bill. Add the loss of income and the six-digit education tab, and graduates start their professional lives in a large financial hole.
If a starting salary of $40,000 is what it takes to overcome the high costs of going to college, you will want to know what degrees aren’t averaging the benchmark income. Georgetown pulled together statistics on average starting salary for many popular degrees. Below are five degrees with average starting salaries that may not be worth paying the costs for college.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“People attain degrees for all sorts of reasons, and money is not necessarily the primary reason.”
As someone with an advanced degree, pray tell me what sorts of reasons those are, that someone or their parents, or taxpayers, should pay enormous sums of money and get horribly into debt to indulge them.
There are few universities now that teach young people how to think, versus what to think; few that teach rigorous mental, emotional, moral or even practical discipline. Going to college has largely become the default position now for those who can’t or won’t do anything more meaningful and useful with their lives.
The simple truth of life is that, in the long run, if a person has nothing of value to offer to others, nobody will want to support that person’s existence. To inculcate generation after generation with the narcissistic conceit that they are entitled to life’s necessities or even other people’s good will whether or not they offer anything useful in exchange is pure nonsense, and nonsense that has caused and will cause great suffering.
If people simply want to learn the liberal arts, I suggest they read the Great Books or watch courses from the Teaching Company. For young people who lack direction and internal discipline, the military presents by far the best option for practical maturation and training, not college. When my slightly older - past military age - patients (I’m a shrink) tell me they are thinking of going back to school to get a degree in impractical whatever, I suggest they consider instead applying for an apprenticeship in, say, welding at the local shipyard, or apprentice with a local plumber or electrician. Those who have followed that advice have thanked me.
“People attain degrees for all sorts of reasons, and money is not necessarily the primary reason.”
As someone with an advanced degree, pray tell me what sorts of reasons those are, that someone or their parents, or taxpayers, should pay enormous sums of money and get horribly into debt to indulge them.
There are few universities now that teach young people how to think, versus what to think; few that teach rigorous mental, emotional, moral or even practical discipline. Going to college has largely become the default position now for those who can’t or won’t do anything more meaningful and useful with their lives.
The simple truth of life is that, in the long run, if a person has nothing of value to offer to others, nobody will want to support that person’s existence. To inculcate generation after generation with the narcissistic conceit that they are entitled to life’s necessities or even other people’s good will whether or not they offer anything useful in exchange is pure nonsense, and nonsense that has caused and will cause great suffering.
If people simply want to learn the liberal arts, I suggest they read the Great Books or watch courses from the Teaching Company. For young people who lack direction and internal discipline, the military presents by far the best option for practical maturation and training, not college. When my slightly older - past military age - patients (I’m a shrink) tell me they are thinking of going back to school to get a degree in impractical whatever, I suggest they consider instead applying for an apprenticeship in, say, welding at the local shipyard, or apprentice with a local plumber or electrician. Those who have followed that advice have thanked me.
As a homeschooling dad, it has been my pleasure to give my children a classical Christian education using the Veritas Omnibus curriculum. In this manner my older two children have spent their high school years developing their critical thinking skills. On this particular narrow point they have already advanced beyond the majority of college undergraduates. Consequently I feel quite justified in looking at their college experience as simply vocational training.
They’ve been subsumed by “Bitter Women’s Studies”
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.
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.
as long as they pay for it with their own money, or their own loans (that I am not on the hook for) I don’t care what they waste their money on.
When tax dollars pay for it, it better have a decent ROI.
I don’t know about you but after I got my degree in Womens Studies and Black History I get more than you can shake a stick at. /s/
Yup, the profs are on higer education welfare. When they throw tenure about as much as they have you can’t ever get rid of them. Salaries in perpetuity. Whether they do any damn good for the university or college, or not.
College is highly over price and over rated for many things.
Or you could enlist in the military for four years; get money for college; major in petroleum engineering; start out at $100k; go to graduate school after a couple of years and have your employer pay for your MBA; get promoted into management and really make some serious money. Oh wait, college is a waste of time and money isn't it.
Thanks for posting that. Unfortunately, this point goes just straight by a large percentage of FReepers. I would bet that many posting negative comments on certain college majors (esp. liberal arts) have never seen the inside of a college classroom.
Can you tell us more about what trade you chose and how you made the decision?
There may not be much money but there will be great job security in caring for us aging baby-boomers.
Can you tell us more about what trade you chose and how you made the decision?
There may not be much money but there will be great job security in caring for us aging baby-boomers.
I think a lot of those meaningless degree holders end up in law school, too.
military turned me down due to health reasons. (heart problems) So NOT AN OPTION.
I also said MANY not ALL fields.
we also should not forget the 400,000 dollars (or more) I will have made during the 4 years I would have been in the military.
Of the fact that petroleum engineering is not a field I’d want to be in.
I am in the tech industry, I am always in demand. Obama is trying to KILL the petroleum industry.
I work in homes, businesses, hospitals and government buildings. Given the range of companies/people I can work for I feel far safer in the field I am in.
What works for you (or me) won’t work for everyone.
How old are you?
I agree.
Fail to get much out of it?
We employ thousands and thousands of communists who couldn’t do any other work.
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.
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