Answering My Critics On The Subject Of The College Bubble ("Where do they go?")

Forbes ^ | 12/24/2010 | Jerry Boyer

[central_va]

No, I mean the tryst with the wife and girlfriend.

[PapaBear3625]

Hey if you can get a girlfriend to go along as well as the wife, you have three drivers, can run the truck non-stop with one driving and the other two having fun in the back.

[Eagle Eye]

Seriously, Houston is the place to be for EPC and related work.

[catnipman]

“my degree is what made all things possible, no way would i be where i am today without it”

Ditto. I earned two degrees in computer science decades ago, which started me on a life-long learning experience, not only in computer science, but many other fields as well. These degrees also enabled me to start a career that has been well-paid and personally enriching.

Degrees in practical sciences such as computer science and engineering are still quite worthwhile. As far the rest, most are probably a colossal waste of time and money.

[RFEngineer]

“Maybe you should find a more successful company?”

I don’t work for one of these companies, but I generally work with them from time-to-time - and it is very ugly out there.

[Chode]

yup, anything with the word "Studies" in the title isn't worth studying...

[Oatka]

Still, for IT positions it was more important to have the desired skill than the certification or degree.

That was my experience. Certifications in the IT world, I found, can get dated pretty fast. I missed some jobs because the employer wanted a degreed person, but most, when they saw my varied experience and skill level hired me (programming contractor). I was somewhat amazed when at age 63, companies were still offering me "permanent" employment. Luckily I stayed with the "unstable" contracting life until I retired.

[Stegall Tx]

Nor does college have to cost anything remotely like $25K per year.

Absolutely. Our community college which offers degree programs in computer programming, tech support, education, & business (as well as its associated trade school that offers programs in welding, auto mechanics, paint & body, etc, etc) can be attended full-time for less than $5k per year.

If you're working half time at $8 per hour and staying at your parent's home, you can cash-flow much easily. You won't get a degree from a name-brand university, but you use exactly the same textbooks as the other schools pushing the same curriculum. If you learn it, does it really matter WHERE you learn it?

[RipSawyer]

K-12 education has been destroyed. If a high school education meant what it used to mean then ninety plus percent of jobs that require college would not need to. Employers now routinely require a bachelor’s degree for jobs of the sort that would have been done in the past by high school graduates or even dropouts. A high school diploma is now required for the sort of job that used to be done by fourth grade dropouts.

[RipSawyer]

“less than a fourth what a lawyer with an ivy-league degree will get.”
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And the truck driver actually does something productive. It’s a dirty rotten shame.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’m still trying to figure out why everybody is paying $200,000 for a degree.

We have 6 excellent universities in our state’s system; we can get through 4 years at any of them for under $100,000. That includes board, which means you aren’t paying for your kid’s food.

And next year there’s the $4000 credit; when that goes away, there are the $4000 deductions that are worth almost $2000 in state/local taxes.

And for those who really want to save money, our universities have a 2/2 program, where you spend the first two years at community college. If you do that and live at home, it’s like $4000 a year for the first two years, which matches the credit for next year.

Of course, the kid can work while their at college, and they can work in the summer. Meanwhile, college CAN also help kids adjust to making their own decisions in an environment where failure doesn’t include catastrophe.

[hinckley buzzard]

I have always supported higher education, for myself and my kids, but I also find offensive the elitist assumption that some kind of advanced degree is the only respectable way to go.

Entry into the professions is one thing, but the masses of general "humanities" type degrees are pointless and useless.

If I had it to do over I suspect I would get training and apprenticeship in a trade or craft that I loved, get a few years experience to really know the ropes, then I'd take a few business classes at the local JC, and go into business for myself.