Posted on 01/28/2009 5:28:36 AM PST by Kaslin
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A college diploma is supposed to be the ticket to the good life. Colleges and politicians tell students, "Your life will be much better if you go to college. On average during your lifetime you will earn a million dollars more if you get a bachelor's degree." Barack Obama, stumping on the campaign trail, said, "We expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college." Rachele Percel heard the promises. She borrowed big to pay about $24,000 a year to attend Rivier College in New Hampshire. She got a degree in human development. "I was told just to take out the loans and get the degree because when you graduate you're going to be able to get that good job and pay them off no problem," she told me for last week's "20/20." But for three years she failed to find a decent job. Now she holds a low-level desk job doing work she says she could have done straight out of high school. And she's still $85,000 in debt. This month she had to move out of her apartment because she couldn't pay the rent. The promise about college? "I definitely feel like it was a scam," says Rachele. Her college wrote us that that many of its graduates have launched successful careers. But Rachele's problem isn't uncommon. A recent survey asked thousands of students: Would you go to your college again? About 40 percent said no. "The bachelor's degree? It's America's most overrated product," says education consultant and career counselor Dr. Marty Nemko. Nemko is one of many who are critical of that often-cited million-dollar bonus. "There could be no more misleading statistic," he says. It includes billionaire super-earners who skew the average. More importantly, the statistic misleads because many successful college kids would have been successful whether they went to college or not. "You could take the pool of college-bound students and lock them in a closet for four years -- and they're going to earn more money," Nemko says. Those are the kids who already tend to be more intelligent, harder-working and more persistent. But universities still throw around that million-dollar number. Arizona State recently used it to justify a tuition hike. Charles Murray's recent book, "Real Education", argues that many students just aren't able to handle college work. Graduation statistics seem to bear him out. "If you're in the bottom 40 percent of your high school class," Nemko says, "you have a very small chance of graduating, even if you are given eight and a half years." Colleges still actively recruit those kids, and eight years later, many of those students find themselves with no degree and lots of debt. They think of themselves as failures. "And the immoral thing about it is that the colleges do not disclose that!" For many kids, career counselors told us, it's often smarter to acquire specific marketable skills at a community college or technical school, or to work as an apprentice for some business. That makes you more employable. Vocational education pays off for many. Electricians today make on average $48,000 a year. Plumbers make $47,000. That's more than the average American earns. But some people look down on vocational school. A degree from a four-year college is considered first class. A vocational-school degree is not. "More people need to realize that you don't have to get a four-year degree to be successful," says Steven Eilers, who went through an automotive program and then continued his education by getting a paying job as an apprentice in a car-repair center. He's making good money, and he has zero student-loan debt. Eilers story is no fluke. In the past year, while hundreds of thousands of white-collar jobs vanished, the auto-repair industry added jobs. Self-serving college presidents and politicians should drop the scam. Higher enrollments and government loan programs may be good for them, but they are making lots of our kids miserable and poor. For many, the good life can be lived without college. |
Well here’s an idea Rachel Percele. Why didn’t you get a degree that’s worth a damn like economics or engineering. “Human development”?! That’s a major? That’s like majoring in Things and minoring in Stuff.
I have a friend with only a HS Diploma and less than 10yrs of military service who works for an engineering firm making $80K/year.
If we had decent high schools, kids at age 18 would be well prepared for most of the jobs that are out there today.
"Buyer beware."
This story is just groundwork for a later request that the bailout money bail out students who can't afford to pay back their loans... a lesson in responsibility. If you can't afford it, if you didn't plan correctly, if you didn't do your homework, then you're not responsible.
“...degree in human development.”
Should have gone for African-American studies.
“Should have gone for African-American studies.”
Exactly, then you could get a job as Diversity Coordinator at a Chicago hospital pulling down $300+k.
Truth: IF we had decent SCHOOLS period...citizens at age 18 would be well prepared to understand how to think for themselves and decide what they need to do to insure they are successful. The whole edifice of education is a fraud for the majority of ‘students’....what needs to be done is not PC...yet!
The world needs ditch diggers too. I have no degree. I worked hard all my life, and educated myself, and now I run 6 companies. You will find some of the most successful people in life have no degree because there is usually a big difference between going to school and not.
Going to college teachs you how to follow. Trying to do something on your own, teaches you how to lead. Having a passion and drive to succeed is all you need.
And I know people with masters degrees now who can’t find work, and will settle for being a handy man or paper delivery or something.
What is amazing to me, considering I hire a bunch of people with degrees, is that their knowledge of things outside of their specialty, is in general, limited.
Economics, politics, world events, other cultures, is usually where they are lacking. Having a degree doesn’t mean you can’t still be ignorant.
Few go to college for an education. Colleges have become extremely expensive trade schools. College presidents are nothing more than fund raisers. My son was just denied early acceptance at Centre College, because he told the admissions guy he wanted to join the Marines and serve his country after he went got his college education. Admissions guy told the football coach he didn’t think my son was serious enough about college because of his career choice. Coach wanted him to write a letter to admissions guy for an appeal. My boy said he was committing to Lambuth, where he might not be as likely to be looked down upon for considering military service.
The scam is paying $25K/yr for a private college. A diploma only gets you in the door, but you can get one for much less if you do your first two years at a community college then transfer to a four year university for graduation.
College...the new high school.
“If we had decent high schools, kids at age 18 would be well prepared for most of the jobs that are out there today.”
bingo! Not only that, they would be prepared to go to college, so the success rate would be higher. And - we wouldn’t have to spend tons of money on COLLEGE REMEDIAL PROGRAMS! No, not everyone needs to go to college. It’s not a God-given right, and obama is, indeed, sending the wrong message. Job #1 should be to fix public schools - academically, not with money. Will this happen? Of course not.
My ex-wife has no college degree. She pulls in over 120k/year in sales. (cell phones) She simply started at the bottom, stuck with it, and 12 years later reaps the reward of hard work.
This all started about 40 years ago when the civil rights racket pretty much litigated employment exams to the waste bin of history as being “discriminating” against minorities. So employers needed some other way to guarantee a basic level of intelligence above a high school degree and they started requiring a college degree for all jobs, even those that didn’t need college-level skills or knowledge. This is called “creating false demand.”
(fwiw - exams are still pretty prevalent in the rest of the world, particularly in Europe - and lots fewer people get four year degrees as a matter of course)
Everyone started going to college so people started clamoring for help to pay these bills and the feds stepped in with the student loan scam. Next thing you know tuition started getting inflated just like house prices. Look it up. People were no longer paying out of pocket, they were betting on a future stream of cash flows to make a fixed payment.
Unfortunately, unlike mortgages, student loans are recourse loans - from the government of course - and you can’t repossess a diploma even if you wanted to, so we’re not going to ever see a “correction” in tuition.
Human development”?! That’s a major?
It could be worse—it could be “Womans Studies”. Human Development sounds like something you could use in a personnel dept, at least. Or go into sales (which pays great if you’re good at it). Honestly, this kids must know that getting a vanilla liberal arts degree is a crap shoot.
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