7 ms·

Here is my observation: based on oldest kid graduating 1.5 years ago from a Big 10 University with a degree in Scientific & Technical Communication. It was subs

by mswen 10y ago

Here is my observation: based on oldest kid graduating 1.5 years ago from a Big 10 University with a degree in Scientific & Technical Communication. It was substantially harder to get a job than we expected. With my network - I finally located her a summer internship on 1099 basis that has turned into a year long engagement - still on a 1099 basis. To date she is showing no financial advantage from attending college. She could make the equivalent doing any number of things that don't require a 4 year degree. They are finally making noise about bringing her on FT salaried with benefits. Then we run into someone who graduated in her same class - still hasn't found work in her field and is making do as a hostess at a restaurant. No financial advantage. These are kids who graduated from respected university and yet here they are still struggling to see a financial benefit. My daughter's debt is fairly low because: she took advantage of a state program that pays tuition to start college early, she lived at home, took public transportation, didn't buy a car until she got this 'job' and still lives at home with our support so that she can focus on paying off the education loans that she did end up with. Was college worth it? I still think so and I have 3 more to go, but I have to say that I am really starting to think hard about the value of higher education.

brians 10y ago
What department at your employer would you expect to hire a Comms major? How many do they need per year? What fraction of those are college hires, vs people who have paid their dues in some trench elsewhere?
- mswen 10y ago
  She is working in an Engineering department for a company that does sensors and cloud monitoring in a specific vertical industry. She does a combination of QA for devices and related software plus has been migrating their documentation from a wiki to SharePoint and editing the entries for clarity, grammar and writing style of the documentation as she does the migration. People from her degree typically would work with product and engineering teams to do both internal documentation as well as user manuals, well written FAQs and other support documentation. In a major medical device company located near here they have teams of people doing this working with expert translators to appropriately localize surgical guides for surgeons around the world. In more academic settings they are sometimes employed to provide assistance in grant writing. You make some good points about new college hires versus experienced people who have paid their dues - but that is true of any field. I am not saying I expected that she would match the salary of CS or engineering grad from the same university. But in comparison to pure communications degrees or English lit degrees - this degree is positioned as the sensible writing degree that actually has corporate positions available. And, to the point of the article - which focused on people who maybe aren't quite ready for college and don't finish their degree but still end up with debt. If anything she is the opposite - qualified to start college 2 years early. Finished in a total of 4.5 years and for what? Now it may payoff as she continues to pay dues in entry level work but for now she could make as much money doing any number of jobs that don't require a 4 year degree.
AnimalMuppet 10y ago
> she took advantage of a state program that pays tuition to start college early... Tell me more. What state, and what program? I'd love to have something like that for my kids...
- mswen 10y ago
  Minnesota. It is called PSEO. If a student scores above some threshold on standardized testing and is in the top third of their class in high school they qualify to enter college as a Junior in high school. Some students just take a handful of college classes while others like my daughter attend FT and get their freshman and sophomore years of college done while still in high school. And, the state of Minnesota pays full tuition as well as books. It is a great deal for hardworking capable students who are willing to take on regular college work and expectations 1 or 2 years early.
  - AnimalMuppet 10y ago
    Thanks. (Unfortunately, we're not in Minnesota, but we'll look for something similar here...)

by mswen 10y ago

brians 10y ago

What department at your employer would you expect to hire a Comms major? How many do they need per year? What fraction of those are college hires, vs people who have paid their dues in some trench elsewhere?

mswen 10y ago
She is working in an Engineering department for a company that does sensors and cloud monitoring in a specific vertical industry. She does a combination of QA for devices and related software plus has been migrating their documentation from a wiki to SharePoint and editing the entries for clarity, grammar and writing style of the documentation as she does the migration. People from her degree typically would work with product and engineering teams to do both internal documentation as well as user manuals, well written FAQs and other support documentation. In a major medical device company located near here they have teams of people doing this working with expert translators to appropriately localize surgical guides for surgeons around the world. In more academic settings they are sometimes employed to provide assistance in grant writing. You make some good points about new college hires versus experienced people who have paid their dues - but that is true of any field. I am not saying I expected that she would match the salary of CS or engineering grad from the same university. But in comparison to pure communications degrees or English lit degrees - this degree is positioned as the sensible writing degree that actually has corporate positions available. And, to the point of the article - which focused on people who maybe aren't quite ready for college and don't finish their degree but still end up with debt. If anything she is the opposite - qualified to start college 2 years early. Finished in a total of 4.5 years and for what? Now it may payoff as she continues to pay dues in entry level work but for now she could make as much money doing any number of jobs that don't require a 4 year degree.

AnimalMuppet 10y ago

> she took advantage of a state program that pays tuition to start college early... Tell me more. What state, and what program? I'd love to have something like that for my kids...

mswen 10y ago
Minnesota. It is called PSEO. If a student scores above some threshold on standardized testing and is in the top third of their class in high school they qualify to enter college as a Junior in high school. Some students just take a handful of college classes while others like my daughter attend FT and get their freshman and sophomore years of college done while still in high school. And, the state of Minnesota pays full tuition as well as books. It is a great deal for hardworking capable students who are willing to take on regular college work and expectations 1 or 2 years early.
- AnimalMuppet 10y ago
  Thanks. (Unfortunately, we're not in Minnesota, but we'll look for something similar here...)