5 ms·

So let's follow your logic and assume it's clearly in everyone's best interest to go to college, and 100% of high school graduates go on to university. Now the

So let's follow your logic and assume it's clearly in everyone's best interest to go to college, and 100% of high school graduates go on to university. Now the market is flooded with bullshit degrees (assuming no one drops out, putting themselves in an even worse financial situation) and the value of a college degree just went down. Now what?

meri_dian 9y ago
Well in that case people will be judged based on the prestige and quality of the college they went to, and the rigor of their chosen program of study.
- ikeyany 9y ago
  Turns out that already happens without a degree. Welders and electricians are held in pretty high regard compared to someone who spent 4 years in classes that have no real world application. The "college is inherently good" model is flawed.
  - soundwave106 9y ago
    Mmm... I think your point is valid, but perhaps a little over-emphasized. It certainly is worth noting what you are mentioning, that there is more to life than college. The overall summary still is true, though, that college educated students do better career earnings wise. There's just a lot of variance and spread you have to take in account. This website is good, in that it gives some details of the spread inherent in lifetime earnings per college majors. (http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_graduates_earn_over_their_lifetimes/ http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_g...) There is a lot of spread depending on your major. In addition to the lifetime earnings, the site does note that there is huge variance within each major itself. As quoted, "the highest-earning 10 percent of high school graduates out-earn the bottom tenth of graduates in every single major". Unfortunately this report does not seem to go in much detail on two year degrees. Because community / 2-year college in the US is so much cheaper than 4 year colleges typically, I am willing to bet that -- especially if you have to go into debt -- there are some good paths there where the pure rate of return is higher than some college paths these days. (The high school diploma path only OTOH doesn't seem that great unless your atypically REALLY self-motivated.) I do think that chasing career paths solely based on current income is a bad strategy. If you are really into music and meh on molecules, no matter what the average numbers say, it's probably better to be a top 10% musician degree holder than a bottom 10% chemical engineer degree holder.
dlp211 9y ago
This is a strawman. This isn't the world that we live in and it won't be the one we live in for the foreseeable future.
- ikeyany 9y ago
  My point is that there is prosperity outside of a college education, and that we should think about what assumptions are made by employers about people who do get a college education.
hackerman12345 9y ago
Now you have a more educated populace and everyone benefits.

meri_dian 9y ago

Well in that case people will be judged based on the prestige and quality of the college they went to, and the rigor of their chosen program of study.

ikeyany 9y ago
Turns out that already happens without a degree. Welders and electricians are held in pretty high regard compared to someone who spent 4 years in classes that have no real world application. The "college is inherently good" model is flawed.
- soundwave106 9y ago
  Mmm... I think your point is valid, but perhaps a little over-emphasized. It certainly is worth noting what you are mentioning, that there is more to life than college. The overall summary still is true, though, that college educated students do better career earnings wise. There's just a lot of variance and spread you have to take in account. This website is good, in that it gives some details of the spread inherent in lifetime earnings per college majors. (http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_graduates_earn_over_their_lifetimes/ http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_g...) There is a lot of spread depending on your major. In addition to the lifetime earnings, the site does note that there is huge variance within each major itself. As quoted, "the highest-earning 10 percent of high school graduates out-earn the bottom tenth of graduates in every single major". Unfortunately this report does not seem to go in much detail on two year degrees. Because community / 2-year college in the US is so much cheaper than 4 year colleges typically, I am willing to bet that -- especially if you have to go into debt -- there are some good paths there where the pure rate of return is higher than some college paths these days. (The high school diploma path only OTOH doesn't seem that great unless your atypically REALLY self-motivated.) I do think that chasing career paths solely based on current income is a bad strategy. If you are really into music and meh on molecules, no matter what the average numbers say, it's probably better to be a top 10% musician degree holder than a bottom 10% chemical engineer degree holder.

dlp211 9y ago

This is a strawman. This isn't the world that we live in and it won't be the one we live in for the foreseeable future.

ikeyany 9y ago
My point is that there is prosperity outside of a college education, and that we should think about what assumptions are made by employers about people who do get a college education.

hackerman12345 9y ago

Now you have a more educated populace and everyone benefits.