4 ms·

Let me clarify: There are people out there that just should not go to college. It would be a waste of time and money for them. These are the people that need

Let me clarify: There are people out there that just should not go to college. It would be a waste of time and money for them. These are the people that need to take a look at alternate career paths, but those same people were in the room with me when the teacher was telling us about how poor you will be if you don't go do college. I agree that the prestige of a college degree has been watered down, but that is simply a supply and demand thing. If there aren't enough workers with a college degree, then the employer will hire people who don't have one, especially if the job doesn't actually require a degree.

rchaud 7y ago
> There are people out there that just should not go to college. It would be a waste of time and money for them. Wouldn't you say this is a bit 20/20 hindsight-y? You can be an A/B+ average student in HS and be completely out of your depth in college, depending on your course choices and rigor of the institution. I didn't realize until maybe sophomore year that I perform better in applied scenarios rather than theoretical. I'd fail my stats midterms because I didn't understand hetero/homoskedasticity, but I would ace the final project because it gave you a dataset that you were supposed to analyze in STATA to answer specific questions. Got a B- overall though, due to the bad midterm grade. Now, I'm not the kind of person who would fall into the typical "college isn't for you" category, but I did still graduate in 2009 with a 5-figure debt load, an average GPA and a recession economy. I'm sure there were tens of thousands of students like me. We likely have paid off the debt by now and are gainfully employed, but we still question the value of the degree in terms of both financial and time-based opportunity cost.
- jalgos_eminator 7y ago
  Yes, there are some people that by all measures should do well in college, but just don't. That is going to happen in any population of people. What I was talking about was students that I met early on (i.e. in the dorms or 2nd year) that were just there for posterity. They were there to get a degree just to say "I got a degree", and not the knowledge they gained there. I also knew quite a few of the athletes, but that is a separate discussion. Yes, your situation is pretty rough as far as college grads go. My brother graduated a few years after that, but luckily got a job somewhat quickly as the economy was slowly rebounding. Maybe it is 20/20 to talk about this because not many people saw that recession coming. Kids entering college in 2004 were seeing a good economy, and that affected the cost/benefit for them.

rchaud 7y ago

> There are people out there that just should not go to college. It would be a waste of time and money for them. Wouldn't you say this is a bit 20/20 hindsight-y? You can be an A/B+ average student in HS and be completely out of your depth in college, depending on your course choices and rigor of the institution. I didn't realize until maybe sophomore year that I perform better in applied scenarios rather than theoretical. I'd fail my stats midterms because I didn't understand hetero/homoskedasticity, but I would ace the final project because it gave you a dataset that you were supposed to analyze in STATA to answer specific questions. Got a B- overall though, due to the bad midterm grade. Now, I'm not the kind of person who would fall into the typical "college isn't for you" category, but I did still graduate in 2009 with a 5-figure debt load, an average GPA and a recession economy. I'm sure there were tens of thousands of students like me. We likely have paid off the debt by now and are gainfully employed, but we still question the value of the degree in terms of both financial and time-based opportunity cost.

jalgos_eminator 7y ago
Yes, there are some people that by all measures should do well in college, but just don't. That is going to happen in any population of people. What I was talking about was students that I met early on (i.e. in the dorms or 2nd year) that were just there for posterity. They were there to get a degree just to say "I got a degree", and not the knowledge they gained there. I also knew quite a few of the athletes, but that is a separate discussion. Yes, your situation is pretty rough as far as college grads go. My brother graduated a few years after that, but luckily got a job somewhat quickly as the economy was slowly rebounding. Maybe it is 20/20 to talk about this because not many people saw that recession coming. Kids entering college in 2004 were seeing a good economy, and that affected the cost/benefit for them.