Originally Posted by
Itsajob
One of my kids is at a state university and the total bill comes to about $25,000 per year. Friends in the same boat in other states say that their cost are similar. That includes books, lab fees, dorm, and meal plans. Unless an industry (like ours) requires a degree, or if a student is going into medicine, science, engineering....., a degree isn’t worth it. Spending $100,000 on a generic degree doesn’t pay off in the long run. A degree that won’t train you for a job that is actually out there makes no sense. Majoring in French literature won’t exactly open many doors.
Just finished reading the article; it was very good and highlights several points I hadn't considered in full, but kind of tackles what I said from the back-end (STS).
Seems like folks are leaving school with an unpaid debt of $30K-ish, but the overall cost that is PAID as a sum is way higher than it used to be (and exponentially increasing). So, yeah, Johnny may not have to pay back $100K at the end of four years, but someone was paying a higher amount along the way.
Definitely agree there is some hyperbole involved in the higher education front (from multiple parties), usually to push one agenda or another. At the end of the day, I still value a college education very highly, but it depends on what your end-game is, I suppose.
And one thing someone else may have alluded to earlier is the notion that not everyone SHOULD go to college. Not all folks have the capacity or desire, and we have a massive need for professional tradesmen that is not being met in any real way. If I hadn't had my scholarships to pay for school, my dad had pushed pretty hard for me to do a trade of some sort, make some money, and then head to school. Looking back on it, seems like that would have been a pretty good way to go, if I hadn't had the means.
Anyway, kind of derailed things... End of the day, airlines love degrees, so it seems like the easiest way to do it would be an online diploma mill, as you sit on your 18-hour overnights.