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My friends and family constantly shared articles like this when I was getting my BS and PhD, telling me I was making a big mistake and would be in debt I could

by _yb2s 2y ago

My friends and family constantly shared articles like this when I was getting my BS and PhD, telling me I was making a big mistake and would be in debt I could never pay off. If they really wouldn’t leave me alone, I explained that I was already working in labs as a paid researcher, and winning paid grants and fellowships- I was making more money as a student than they were in regular full time jobs, and took on zero debt. In general, grad students at research focused universities are paid for research and teaching, and have all tuition waived. The path of making money as a student researcher in science and engineering is available to anyone that is interested and able to learn: as an academic PI now, I help a lot of students do this.

sanderjd 2y ago
Yeah, unfortunately I think I see a whiplash effect happening here. I do think it's good that there is increased recognition that college is very expensive and might not be a no-brainer financially. I do think it's generally right that parents had been oversold the "golden ticket" thinking about college for a long time. But now I see a certain part of our culture swinging this pendulum way too far, to whatever the opposite of "golden ticket" is. And maybe that could have even been a useful realignment, maybe if upper class and upper middle class kids were the ones buying into "your college degree will be useless", then this might bend the trend toward evening out the balance of power in society. But no, of course that's not how this is working out. Instead, I see smart working class kids being turned off of higher education, making good money early in their careers, but then hitting walls at their organizations, which they can't advance past without a degree.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  Agreed, college shouldn’t be seen as a no brainer- but, like most things in life, if you have a realistic plan, and clear goals it does make sense. Almost none of the value in college is from classes- but from the opportunity to work directly with experts in what you are interested in. You have to take the initiative to make that happen, it’s not automatically part of the curriculum at most schools.

by _yb2s 2y ago

sanderjd 2y ago

Yeah, unfortunately I think I see a whiplash effect happening here. I do think it's good that there is increased recognition that college is very expensive and might not be a no-brainer financially. I do think it's generally right that parents had been oversold the "golden ticket" thinking about college for a long time. But now I see a certain part of our culture swinging this pendulum way too far, to whatever the opposite of "golden ticket" is. And maybe that could have even been a useful realignment, maybe if upper class and upper middle class kids were the ones buying into "your college degree will be useless", then this might bend the trend toward evening out the balance of power in society. But no, of course that's not how this is working out. Instead, I see smart working class kids being turned off of higher education, making good money early in their careers, but then hitting walls at their organizations, which they can't advance past without a degree.

_yb2s 2y ago
Agreed, college shouldn’t be seen as a no brainer- but, like most things in life, if you have a realistic plan, and clear goals it does make sense. Almost none of the value in college is from classes- but from the opportunity to work directly with experts in what you are interested in. You have to take the initiative to make that happen, it’s not automatically part of the curriculum at most schools.