Posted on 05/08/2013 7:16:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The new Holy Grail in American life appears to be a four-year college degree. Almost all high school students and their parents aspire to go to college, and high school graduates are enrolling in much higher numbers than in the past. The problem is that too few of them are graduating. Dropout rates from four-year schools are over 40 percent and from community colleges they are closer to 70 percent. The need for remedial courses to compensate for what kids are not learning in high school is distressingly high and not all that effective.
For those who actually graduate, a college degree can pay off handsomely in the labor market. After adjusting for other confounding variables, the extra lifetime income associated with a bachelor's degree is $570,000, and the rate of return is high - somewhere around 10 percent.
However, those figures are averages. The benefits of a college degree vary widely depending on the quality of the school and a student's choice of major. Not all college degrees are created equal: there is a huge variation in the return to a bachelor's degree, depending on choice of major and occupation; school type and selectivity level; as well as the likelihood of graduating. The details are spelled out in a newly released Brookings brief. Furthermore, 1 in 5 schoola analyzed have negative returns on investment.
With college costs at record highs, many students are incurring debilitating debt. Student loans are the second largest item on household balance sheets after mortgage debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearmarkets.com ...
I create a powerpoint presentation to show my students (when I briefly taught) how a major based on math makes a lot more money than the other degrees.
Plus, job opportunties are more prevalent.
“New”? “Appears to be”? Where’s this guy been for fifty years?
But in short, the answer is no. Not everyone needs to go to “college” (which is actually a spongy term in its own right), and not everyone who does go succeeds there.
What a RACIST thing to say!
The unemployment rate for college graduates is much lower than for those who didn’t attend or complete college. So it is a good idea to go to college and earn a degree. This shows employers that you are disciplined. To avoid massive student loan debt, select a university that you can afford, keep borrowing to a minimum, live at home if possible, and work your way through college. That’s what I did.
Math, computer science, all in demand. I don’t know how colleges are run today though, I haven’t been in 30 years, but the price gouging and this idea of employing terrorists to teach can’t be good. Seriously, what *possible* good can come from hiring Bill Ayers or Kathy Boudin? “Mom guess what I learned today? How to blow up stuff and kill cops!” “Oh excellent junior! I am so glad we are paying $50k a year for that!”
The 4th year of high school should be for learning a trade. After acquiring practical skills, students will be able to earn their own way through college if THEY want to go...not because their parents want them to go.
Here’s the statistic that tells the tale: The % of our population that graduates with a 4 year degree —Nationally, in the 2010 Census, 28% of the population age 25 and older had a Bachleor’s degree. Scanning other States, NY had a 33% rate, California 30%, Texas & Florida 26%, Michigan 25%, South Carolina 24%, and Mississippi and Louisiana 19-20%. If our so-called educational system is geared to the College Goal (big business for the universities), then it is failing 70-75% of the rest of the people.
Should families of hostages pay the ransom?
I have a friend with two children.
The older is a girl, very smart and academically inclined.
The second, a boy, street smart, but getting mediocre grades and doesn’t like school ( couldn’t wait to finish high school and get outta there ).
My friend keeps telling me how his son should be more like his daughter.
The daughter got some aid and went to Barnard College ( the women’s division of Columbia University ).
The son, after graduation, went to technical school to learn to be a mechanic ( he LOOOVES tinkering with cars ).
After graduation, the daughter ( who majored in Communication arts ) couldn’t find a job she liked and is now in Japan teaching English (a one year contract ). She finished her contract and came back to the USA in 2012. Six months later, she’s still looking for something she likes to do.
The son, after graduation, apprenticed with Autozone specializing in auto transmissions but also learned to be a full service mechanic.
He now works for an auto shop and makes about $42,000 a year.
So, who made out better so far?
Not knocking the lady with the Bachelor’s Degree, but in the Obama economy, that doesn’t help you much.
My daughter spent 2 years in a dental hygiene program. She incurred no student debt and is now making $75,000 doing something she loves. She saw no need to go to a 4 year college and incur a lot of debt.
Exactly right! An excellent example of the point I was trying to make.
I guess when you are young working in a hot greasy sweaty garage(all of which I have seen are NOT climate controlled) is OK, but after a while it would get old. $42,000 ain’t that great for working on today’s vehicles which are at the same complexity level as fighter aircraft of just 30 years ago.
Math, science, engineering, medicine, and law are worthwhile pursuits for university degrees. The rest is just money wasting, brain rotting liberal indoctrination. Unfortunately, most universities are heavily invested in the latter. Technical/vocational schools, along with local community colleges can easily give most people a good start in lucrative career field, contrary to the protests of the meritocracy money mills known as universities.
Communication Arts? Is that what an English Major used to be?
An interesting graph about ROI being better skewed towards public schools. Payscale last month released a list of the top ten ROI schools—every one was a private school.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/college-roi—what-we-found.html?page=all
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