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I think that the value of a college education has been waning for years as more and more people acquire college degrees. The recession just made it so that if y

I think that the value of a college education has been waning for years as more and more people acquire college degrees. The recession just made it so that if you get a degree that cannot directly lead you to a job it will probably not pay off for you. A coworker of mine is paying 50k a year to send his daughter to college to study social work. I cannot imagine allowing my daughter to throw away that kind of money chasing a job that you can get with a degree from a community college and will likely burn out from in a few years. I think many people just assume that if it's college then it's a good thing. College has many merits but one of them isn't really the promised good job, good career, good life that many people believe it to be. I think many companies just use a college degree as a sign that you were capable of sitting through something for awhile without giving up on it. I'm not sure a degree in journalism says much more than that to most companies (outside of that field of course). I feel bad for the people who have tons of debt and virtually nothing to show for it. I just hope their guide their children in another direction when they get to that age.

edw519 17y ago
A coworker of mine is paying 50k a year to send his daughter to college to study social work. My nephew just decided to switch from engineering to political science. So my brother decided to send him to community college for that instead of university. Same education for 1/10th the price, he says.
donw 17y ago
$200k for four years of education, for a job that pays $25k/year. So, eight years after she graduates, she will have gross income equalling the cost of four years in school. Given living costs versus her income, it will take that girl somewhere around twenty years to save up $200k in cash, and that's if she scrimps and saves. Staggering. I worked and saved, and went to a 'safety school' to save on costs. Even with a $30k personal disaster (2008 was not a fun year) layered on top of the cost of university, a year of work later and I'm back to the point where I could not work for a year without too much discomfort. My total college education cost less than a semester for your coworker's daughter. If I ever have kids, I'll put aside enough to put them through college (yay, EIRA), and then tell them that whatever is left over at the end is theirs to keep as a graduation present, and likewise, if they use all of it before they finish, they can get a job to pay for the rest.
mikeryan 17y ago
"College has many merits but one of them isn't really the promised good job, good career, good life that many people believe it to be." I think its true that a degree will not get you a job. But unless you can prove to be a complete superstar in your field you will severely narrow your choices for getting a job without one. Having a BA/BS even from a minor college is still a bar set by most HR groups. (the relevance of the degree aside). Note the BA, an AA which you get at community colleges generally aren't worth too much. But in regards to your friend paying 50K a year for a social work degree. Sure your friends daughter may not end up with a job where she can ever payback the 200K they're going to pay. But she sounds like someone who is going to try to make a difference in the world. Perhaps that means more then the amount she'll make in salary post-graduation.
- antonovka 17y ago
  I've found that because the applicant market is so incredibly saturated with applicants who have a degree, it's ceased to be an indicator of anything, and HR departments (and hiring managers) have stopped caring. You'll find quite a few job posts now days that explicitly say "... or equivalent experience" in the education section, and many others that will happily ignore the stated requirements.
  - mikeryan 17y ago
    My anecdotal experience has been different, in a saturated market it makes an easy bar to implement. But even then I should say, that the degree bar is likely a lot more relevant for entry level jobs then for more experienced positions.

edw519 17y ago

A coworker of mine is paying 50k a year to send his daughter to college to study social work. My nephew just decided to switch from engineering to political science. So my brother decided to send him to community college for that instead of university. Same education for 1/10th the price, he says.

donw 17y ago

$200k for four years of education, for a job that pays $25k/year. So, eight years after she graduates, she will have gross income equalling the cost of four years in school. Given living costs versus her income, it will take that girl somewhere around twenty years to save up $200k in cash, and that's if she scrimps and saves. Staggering. I worked and saved, and went to a 'safety school' to save on costs. Even with a $30k personal disaster (2008 was not a fun year) layered on top of the cost of university, a year of work later and I'm back to the point where I could not work for a year without too much discomfort. My total college education cost less than a semester for your coworker's daughter. If I ever have kids, I'll put aside enough to put them through college (yay, EIRA), and then tell them that whatever is left over at the end is theirs to keep as a graduation present, and likewise, if they use all of it before they finish, they can get a job to pay for the rest.

mikeryan 17y ago

"College has many merits but one of them isn't really the promised good job, good career, good life that many people believe it to be." I think its true that a degree will not get you a job. But unless you can prove to be a complete superstar in your field you will severely narrow your choices for getting a job without one. Having a BA/BS even from a minor college is still a bar set by most HR groups. (the relevance of the degree aside). Note the BA, an AA which you get at community colleges generally aren't worth too much. But in regards to your friend paying 50K a year for a social work degree. Sure your friends daughter may not end up with a job where she can ever payback the 200K they're going to pay. But she sounds like someone who is going to try to make a difference in the world. Perhaps that means more then the amount she'll make in salary post-graduation.

antonovka 17y ago
I've found that because the applicant market is so incredibly saturated with applicants who have a degree, it's ceased to be an indicator of anything, and HR departments (and hiring managers) have stopped caring. You'll find quite a few job posts now days that explicitly say "... or equivalent experience" in the education section, and many others that will happily ignore the stated requirements.
- mikeryan 17y ago
  My anecdotal experience has been different, in a saturated market it makes an easy bar to implement. But even then I should say, that the degree bar is likely a lot more relevant for entry level jobs then for more experienced positions.