A more interesting question is:
Is a college degree at a private school worth significantly more than a degree at a public school when the debt burden is factored in?
No, the cost is astronomical.
If you get a real degree, of course.
If you get an affirmative action degree, or a useless degree like womens studies then no.
It all depends on whether the degree is in something like Computer Science or Nineteenth Century Wymins Lesbian Dance Theory. One can quickly lead to an $80,000 starting salary and the other to a slightly lesser career as a Starbucks Barista. I leave it to the reader to figure out which leads to what.
The obvious flaw in this conclusion is that for them to have measured this difference, they have to be studying people who went to college 20 or 30 years ago.
I submit that the comparison with the value of a modern college education is absolutely ridiculous.
College 20-30 years ago was a whole different experience than it will be for those entering it now, or even for those who have just graduated.
Although college has always been a left wing environment at least since I first attended in 1968 (the year things started getting ugly), today it is pretty much nothing but a Progressive propaganda and indoctrination center full of totalitarian leftist, racist nonsense.
Everyday I see articles about crazy radical professors, courses and policies and their latest departure from relevant reality.
Perhaps it is different for science, technology, math and engineering (STEM). But by and large, modern colleges are pretty much reduced to Orwellian moron factories.
Moreover, 20-30 years ago, virtually all large companies required college degrees as a condition for advancement. But I think that is changing now due to the irrelevancy and ridiculous cost of a modern college education.
I don’t see college as an economic decision, at least not primarily economic. Education broadens a person’s perspective and enhances life, so I want my three teens to go to college.
That said, we are conservative reformed Christians. My overriding concern is over who and what they are taught in college. We have worked hard to teach them. I don’t believe they need to go to colleges that parrot everything I’ve taught them, but regardless of how much they can earn later, I am unwilling to pay for the privilege of having my values and beliefs undermined and belittled. In other words, I am not sending my daughters to liberal indoctrination centers, even if it’s free.
If you attend college to make money or get a job, it is probably not worth it.
But if you use college for its intended purpose, to enrich your mind, help you solve problems, teach you “how to think”, expand your horizons, then, yes it is worth it.
It is “not for everybody” and is most definitely not (supposed to be) a tech school.
No because 99% of degrees should be just simple training courses you take online, or better off as hobbies.
There was a time when universities offered very limited courses for a reason. Other areas, like the arts, had specialized schools for that as well. It was serious school for serious study. Mainly for rich kids.
Now it’s like college is a gigantic academic Planet Fitness, where you have to dig through the layers of fluff just to find the thin layer of actual usefulness. an extra 5 years of high school because 18-22 year olds aren’t remotely ready for even the simplest responsibilities and would rather go into massive debt just to have a piece a paper to tell a company to trust that they know what they are doing.
For some yes, and for some (many) no.
I would prefer a president who has served in the military to one with a college degree. Apples and oranges, I know.
the benefits of an education can’t be measured in Dollars and cents
YES....IF;
You take the first 2 years at a community college and ensure the credits are transferrable to a 4 year school.
You take courses that will prepare you for a real job, earning real money.
They're riding on the reputations of a University system that died in the early 60’s...
Today's 'college experience' is not much different than sending your kids to a liberal indoctrination camps run by the kinds of people who use to sell shoes at the five and dime. It's not even Disney World. Not even animal house. It's a cheap carnival with carnies working the 'games'...
Soon the bureaucracy will decide your property taxes must pay for college (like k-12) for everyone...IF WE DON’T GET A HANDLE ON THIS! People need to stop voting “for the children”...it’s a scam.
What about the bottle of hand sanitizer in the picture?!
Student loans are another burden on the middle class. Low income students will qualify for need based scholarships, while middle class families have to rely on merit based scholarships or loans to afford to send their children to college.
I was very fortunate that I was able to get as far as I did in my career w/o completing my degree.
Then one day in April of 2003, I lost my high paying gig reporting directly to the CIO at a globally known Advertising Agency and found myself competing against folks that had college degrees but a fraction of the work & management experience that I had.
Guess who landed those jobs? NOT ME.
I was fortunate enough six months after losing my job to land a fairly well paying position in a large, global bank who had a very generous tuition reimbursement program. I waited until I completed my first year there to get acclimated to the place, establish good working relationships, etc.. and then took advantage of their tuition reimbursement program. I have to add that my immediate manager (the CTO of the bank) was exceedingly supportive and not only signed off on the tuition reimbursement, gave me the flexibility to work from home or in the office during days around mid-terms or semester finals.
I finished my Undergrad degree in Computer Science in 18 months then went on for my Masters Degree.
The bank (ABN AMRO) exited North America selling of all assets in mid-2007. I was in a position at that time to see about 6 months ahead of time that the bank was being positioned to sell. Not wanting to go through the carnage that was to follow, I contacted three recruiters in the Chicago IT market that I trusted.
I had multiple interviews and was able to pick what I viewed as the best offer at that time, and have been with my current employer since.
Does it pay to have a Bachelors or Masters Degree?
An emphatic YES! from me. The difference in pay before and after I'd completed my Bachelors was night and day. I saw an immediate $30k increase in annual salary when I accepted the offer from my current employer.
So IMO, yes it pays to have a college degree. I will say the difference in pay/benefits for having a Bachelors vs. Masters that I've seen isn't anywhere near as vast as no college degree to having a Bachelors degree.
That's just my experience though.
The country would be much better off if the total funding for higher education was cut in half.
I never see these ROI studies factoring in the effect of taxes, which will dramatically reduce the high school/college earnings differential.
If you come out of college owing $100,000 you will need to earn about $191,000 to pay it off assuming a 10 year repayment period and a 4% interest rate (assuming you will pay with after-tax dollars that have been subject to SS, Medicare, 5% state taxes and a 25% fed tax rate).
The $1,000,000 in lifetime earnings is reduced to $625,000 after taxes and when the $191,000 college loan repayment is subtracted, you are left with $430,000, 43% the amount touted in these studies.
Depends. If it is the typical indoctrination to leftism, NO!