College, degrees, and jobs, oh my!

[Minimalist]

Timely.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/opini...ss&emc=rss

Predatory Colleges, Freed to Fleece Students

Try as they might, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress cannot disguise that they continue to do the bidding of the for-profit college industry, which has saddled working-class students — including veterans — with crushing debt while providing useless degrees, or no degrees at all.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos claimed ignorance when she was asked during a congressional hearing on Tuesday how many of the college students who told her department that they had been ripped off were complaining about for-profit schools. The widely publicized answer is more than 98 percent.

[Aegon]

Theres another thing far more important than a degree, when trying to secure employment.  Being willing to go to where the employment is in an environment where gainful employment is migratory.  Even if you do have the degree, if you can;t or wont do that....then have fun being a service industry manager. 

Oh I'm willing. Are they willing to hire me? A better question.

[Seraphina]

I know for certain that I've had a successful career because of my college degrees.

College debt is another issue, though. Higher education is far too costly in the US and paying more tuition at school x than school y doesn't necessarily even mean school x is better.
They're talking about making the first 2 years of community college free here in California and I hope that happens - at least by the time my kid is ready for college.

-Teresa

[Fireball]

I know for certain that I've had a successful career because of my college degrees.

College debt is another issue, though. Higher education is far too costly in the US and paying more tuition at school x than school y doesn't necessarily even mean school x is better.
They're talking about making the first 2 years of community college free here in California and I hope that happens - at least by the time my kid is ready for college.

-Teresa

I know that my degree helped, though as I mentioned before, I could have worked as a mechanic until I retired, as well. Maybe not at age 62, but who is to say what will happen in this pinball machine called life? I think just working and not giving up is a trait that goes begging for people these days. As a single provider with a wife and three children in southern California, I never expected to see the day I would actually retire at all, let alone before 65. There were some years after my children were grown that my wife worked, so I won't claim 100% single provider. She is currently looking for work, in spite of the fact that she doesn't have to. There are three times in my life where I have been close to death from medical issues. Any one of those times, I could have been dead. Shit happens, but I managed to live through it. I feel for people who have been dealt a bad hand by genetics and life. Socialized medicine would go a long way to relieving that suffering. I'm all over the place with this post; I guess I'm pretty tired, and I'm done for the night.

[Jackalope]

I have a successful career, in spite of not having a college degree.

Despite having found success without college, I believe I would have reached where I am now much, much earlier in my career if I had a CS degree. I spent a decade working my way up (and making little money) to an entry-level programming position similar to steelcurtain's that I could have easily landed after four years of college.

YMMV.

[CapnAwesome]

Jobs are for suckers who waste their lives making other people rich. Seasonal work or contract work only!

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Um. That's just stupid.

You heard of some people that can't get jobs after getting college degrees. This absolutely happens. The reason? There are plenty of them, but chief among them are that people get BAs in Art History and English Literature and enter a saturated job market full of intellectuals that work until they die.

I got a BS in Computer Science last year and got three job offers before I even had the diploma in hand. No diploma? No job.

Same story here. Computer Science degree, got a job before I graduated.

I think debt basically rules out the benefits of a college education.

I'm 30, left university 7 years ago, will have paid off my college debt by next year.

Thats 8 years of debt. I mean basically 8 years of forced labor to get a 4 year degree. It's a sad standard we have when that can be considered a success.

[Minimalist]

Yup.

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-m...vs-reality

The standard repayment plan for federal student loans puts borrowers on a 10-year track to pay off their debt, but research has shown the average bachelor's degree holder takes 21 years to pay off his or her loans. Under federal income-based repayment options, remaining debt is forgiven after 20 years.

[Tiberius]

Jobs are for suckers who waste their lives making other people rich. Seasonal work or contract work only!

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Same story here. Computer Science degree, got a job before I graduated.


I'm 30, left university 7 years ago, will have paid off my college debt by next year.

Thats 8 years of debt. I mean basically 8 years of forced labor to get a 4 year degree. It's a sad standard we have when that can be considered a success.

What forced labor? I went to university in the UK. I didn’t have to start paying back my loan until I earned £15k a year, and the repayment is based on your income. Interest was 0.9% originally, I think it’s 1.15% now.

I think it’s a success. I don’t think I’d be in the position I am today, at the salary I’m at, if I’d joined the workforce straight out of school.

[The Grand Nudger]

There are definitely places in the world where the college decision is an easier one to make.  The US just isn;t one of them.

[Aegon]

I went to a state college, so I only had about $20k in loans. My grandfather left me... drumroll... $20k when he passed away. So I'm grateful to be graduating debt free. Especially because I doubt I'll be making more than $47,500 in my first job.

I have no qualms about choosing Political Science over Computer Science. Because I would've failed miserably in a STEM major. Not my thing.