College Degrees Aren't Becoming More Valuable

Forbes ^ | April 21, 2014 | George Leef

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

It is quite true that college graduates have a significantly lower unemployment rate than non-college graduates.

It is also quite true that costs of a college education has skyrocketed to an insane level in recent years and that student debt levels these days defy imagination.

That all stated, there are a number of things college students can do to keep colleges expenses to a minimum:

1) Select a public university as opposed to a private expensive college.

2) Choose a university near your home and commute to school as opposed to living in a college dorm.

3) Work part time jobs and keep borrowing to a minimum, socializing to a minimum, and partying to a minimum.

I know this works. It’s what I did to get through college. I also attended summer session and never participated in Spring Break or fraternities.

I worked like a dog to get through college in six years earning both a B.A. and an M.A. and I graduated with a minimum amount of stdent loan debt, about $9000.00 which was all paid off within about ten years after graduation.

[cripplecreek]

It also helped to volunteer for every second of overtime they would give me. I worked 12 hour shifts for 4 months without a day off when I got into that department.

[MeganC]

I skipped college and the mountain of debt that goes with it and went straight to being a mom. It’s the best job in the world and it’s WAY better than slogging through traffic every day to get to a job I hate so I can off my debts so maybe one day when I’m in my 40’s I can start a family.

[pax_et_bonum]

If the price of college keeps going up even STEM degrees will become uneconomical.
So we will clandestinely take to educating ourselves in underground ‘STEM cells’.

HA! HA! HA! HA! See what I did there?

—

Yes! And it’s very funny.

Did you use your college degree to do it?

;-)

[wally_bert]

Back in the late 90s when I was a poor state public TV employee with an overblown title and joke salary, I tried the shotgun effect of learning computer repair and programming. I maxed the hardware classes but bombed C big time.

[TianaHighrider]

Fido - Very good observation. Also the one someone said about just wanting to keep kids four more years to brain wash them more (since it is all about political correctness and not critical thinking).

The higher (and public) education systems does look like they have turned into nothing but scams built to put us into lifelong debt slavery while quashing all ‘unapproved’ ideas, rights, or individuality.

[Organic Panic]

College is now an employment program for leftist losers. Sure there are the chemists, doctors, architect, and engineers that teach and come out of college. But the vast majority of courses are just to keep fellow lefties employed. How many art history majors does the world need? Where else can the poverty pimps, sexists, racists, and misanthropes stay employed?

[wally_bert]

That describes the lead programmer very well. He has to have a hand in most things that go on. I’ve learned a lot from just hanging with him some.

[Lou L]

All it took was an interest and a willingness to learn.

If only more college students exhibited those traits.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Your job: make Capitalists out of them.” <<

Risky for a PhD candidate. Its all so subjective these days.
.

[demshateGod]

There are certain orthodoxies that guide much of their thinking. I haven’t done very well avoiding swipes at some of their sacred cows: Environment worship and egalitarianism. Another one is evolution which I haven’t got around to challenging yet. But when I do, I’ll probably be kicked out of the program. Which will suite me fine.

[uglybiker]

Some PHD's can be more useful than others. ;-)

Note PHD also stands for 'Piled Higher and Deeper'.

[grania]

I would submit that an employer is better off with a HS graduate with an excellent academic and citizenship record and no debt. That person has far better potential than a college graduate with debt that is near impossible to pay off.

[Amagi]

College Degrees Aren't Becoming More Valuable

Aye, but they're becoming more expensive, and there's the rub.

[JimRed]

Any degree ending with the word “studies” is a sure ticket to the unemployment line.

[dfwgator]

Any degree ending with the word “studies” is a sure ticket to the unemployment line.

Or a ticket to become a Waitress for life.