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The article takes an exclusively financial look at 'worth it' and completely ignores both education and human connection as an aspect of going to college. I get

The article takes an exclusively financial look at 'worth it' and completely ignores both education and human connection as an aspect of going to college. I get that the author is writing about money and money alone, but the headline is deceptive. Additionally, I do understand that a lot of people go to college for the purposes of getting a job. But that's not all college is, and pretending that the only reason anyone values college is the salary level afterwords is missing the most interesting pieces of the discussion. Things like, -the arts are important for a society regardless of the financial profit from it (i.e., it would be 'worth it' to a society to not force each individual person to earn a living wage for their whole working life). -college as a mechanism for meeting people, making connections, and learning about the world. Yes, some college experiences can be closed-minded, but that is not the norm. -many other things. This author is so focused on money, they are missing the forest for the trees.

hockeybias 8y ago
I am a software developer with a Fine Arts major from a small liberal arts college. I am immensely grateful for my liberal arts background. Without it, I think I would be going through life a bit blind.
and0 8y ago
You don't need to rack up six figures of debt to make human connections or gain experiences. There are a number of ways to accomplish this without all the debt and in arguably more useful ways than memorizing things you'll never have a chance to use. Off the top of my head, I can imagine volunteer work or, better yet, New-Deal-style programs with actual financial incentive would offer the same ~magical experience~ of fraternity.
- neuromantik8086 8y ago
  It doesn't make sense to go into debt, sure. But if you can get someone else to pay for college (i.e., a generous scholarship) it's well worth it, and the tuition costs pre-tuition spiral would definitely be worth it as well. It's difficult to think of a better way to cultivate personal relationships than college. Presumably you've chosen classes based off your own interests, so the people you meet within those classes are good candidates for friendship (via homophily). True, you could use subreddits to find folks with similar interests, but in my experience those don't lead to the same kinds of relationships you develop when you physically encounter other people. Building a state park a la the New Deal CCC doesn't really create the same sense of shared interest since no one's actually interested in the art of bricklaying for the most part, and volunteering has a lot of turnover (mostly due to folks using it as a resume item). If you're at a SLAC, the number of people you see is limited so there's less competition for attention when forming bonds and a lot of mere exposure effect. The value of college (at least at a SLAC) is arguably less about the classroom lessons and more about having a decent method for finding other people you can grow with.

hockeybias 8y ago

I am a software developer with a Fine Arts major from a small liberal arts college. I am immensely grateful for my liberal arts background. Without it, I think I would be going through life a bit blind.

and0 8y ago

You don't need to rack up six figures of debt to make human connections or gain experiences. There are a number of ways to accomplish this without all the debt and in arguably more useful ways than memorizing things you'll never have a chance to use. Off the top of my head, I can imagine volunteer work or, better yet, New-Deal-style programs with actual financial incentive would offer the same ~magical experience~ of fraternity.

neuromantik8086 8y ago
It doesn't make sense to go into debt, sure. But if you can get someone else to pay for college (i.e., a generous scholarship) it's well worth it, and the tuition costs pre-tuition spiral would definitely be worth it as well. It's difficult to think of a better way to cultivate personal relationships than college. Presumably you've chosen classes based off your own interests, so the people you meet within those classes are good candidates for friendship (via homophily). True, you could use subreddits to find folks with similar interests, but in my experience those don't lead to the same kinds of relationships you develop when you physically encounter other people. Building a state park a la the New Deal CCC doesn't really create the same sense of shared interest since no one's actually interested in the art of bricklaying for the most part, and volunteering has a lot of turnover (mostly due to folks using it as a resume item). If you're at a SLAC, the number of people you see is limited so there's less competition for attention when forming bonds and a lot of mere exposure effect. The value of college (at least at a SLAC) is arguably less about the classroom lessons and more about having a decent method for finding other people you can grow with.