Is a college degree the waste of time and money that some people say it is?

[Anonymous]

It is no guarantee, and there will always be individual cases where someone's degree was a waste, huge debt load, etc. but statistically there is no greater predictor of increased income than having a degree. Most jobs that make 30K or more per year require a degree, and if they don't require one, they use a degree as a weeding out tool. 30K isn't much, but it is certainly more than minimum wage. When you look at lifetime earnings, the picture gets much more dramatic.

People always talk about what degrees are wastes, but even if you look at "useless" degrees like communications or liberal arts (as opposed to engineering), as an aggregate, college educated students are doing better than people without college educations in the economy.

[Anonymous]

For most jobs/careers, a state college is just fine. It's crazy how people go into crippling debt for out-of-state schools or fancy ones as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is no guarantee, and there will always be individual cases where someone's degree was a waste, huge debt load, etc. but statistically there is no greater predictor of increased income than having a degree. Most jobs that make 30K or more per year require a degree, and if they don't require one, they use a degree as a weeding out tool. 30K isn't much, but it is certainly more than minimum wage. When you look at lifetime earnings, the picture gets much more dramatic.

People always talk about what degrees are wastes, but even if you look at "useless" degrees like communications or liberal arts (as opposed to engineering), as an aggregate, college educated students are doing better than people without college educations in the economy.

I don't know about that. I graduated in 2008 and know quite a few comm/liberal arts people who are struggling to find employment of any type. And I know several non college educated people pulling in 80K-120K a year (which is considered a good salary where I now live)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what kind of degree they are getting (most humanities degrees are pointless unless from specific top schools) and what they want to do later in life. I know several people who didn't go to college and who are very successful. I know several people who went to college and are struggling to find steady employment in their field 5 years later.

I don't think it is neither foolish nor wise, I think there are a lot of questions that have to be answered first before judgment can be made.

I disagree and this is one of the most pathetic things I keep reading. Either knowledge for knowledge's sake is worth it or it isn't; the school shouldn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what kind of degree they are getting (most humanities degrees are pointless unless from specific top schools) and what they want to do later in life. I know several people who didn't go to college and who are very successful. I know several people who went to college and are struggling to find steady employment in their field 5 years later.

I don't think it is neither foolish nor wise, I think there are a lot of questions that have to be answered first before judgment can be made.

I disagree and this is one of the most pathetic things I keep reading. Either knowledge for knowledge's sake is worth it or it isn't; the school shouldn't matter.

But it does matter to potential employers. Do you really not think that in the employer's eyes, there is no difference between the English major from Yale and the English major from "low ranked college"? Schools like Yale are also more likely to provide internships, extra help, specific classes, more experience, and the connections.

[Anonymous]

A college degree is just one part of the puzzle in order to landing a successful career.

I would not take out tons of debt for a college degree either. If your daughter ends up underemployed or unemployed with 60k in student loan debt, it's going to be a real burden.

[Anonymous]

I also grew up really poor, OP. But college was always mentioned as the way out, and for me it was. I'm the only member of my family with both a college and a graduate degree. I'm also the oldest child, so my youngest sister has now followed me, and is working on a graduate degree.
Apart from that I now have a career (not a job, as I have learned), I have the security that my parents never had. College doesn't prepare you for work, but it gives you the cultural knowledge to function as a member of a specific class. It teaches longer-term thinking. So where my parents planned their spending based on each check, I'm saving for a future that is 30 years away.
It's a mindset, and I'm grateful that even though I'm in debt from school, that my parents gave me this gift of thinking an education is so important.
The hard part is that when I visit my family I have to be very careful to not be "above" myself, and there is a bit of a divide, which has caused some friction over the years, but the bottom line is that education changed the course of my life, and it likely will for your children as well. Let them figure out the debt part - I paid my way, and I know it was easier in the 1990s than now, but I imagine there is still a way if you want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Major is HIGHLY important if you want to support yourself/find a job.

We have a glut of 'communications, sociology, political science, history, etc majors. You better be top in your school and have connections otherwise you are Barista.

Engineering, IT , nursing, chemistry, etc are employable. Education majors planning to teach at the elementary-HS should do fine.

+100

Too many people accrue too much loan debt for degrees that will never allow then to pay it back.

My Masters was free because I had a teaching stipend---common in hard sciences.

[Anonymous]

I work in a nonprofit where we all have humanities and arts degrees, nobody went to a top college, and we all make okay salaries. This has always been my experience working in nonprofit.

Highly unilkly she'll end up a barista with an English degree -- that is solid for getting her into entry level communications based jobs. That being said, I would account for projected income in deciding what school to send her too. I would never ever send my daughters to Yale for an English degree.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the cost for "waste of money." I don't think teh avergae time of four years is a waste for someone who is late teens to early twenties.

[Anonymous]

Going to college is not a waste of money, no.

Even if it doesn't lead to a more lucrative job (which I think it will), don't you want you daughter to be educated for the sake of being educated?

And yes, name can make a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going to college is not a waste of money, no.

Even if it doesn't lead to a more lucrative job (which I think it will), don't you want you daughter to be educated for the sake of being educated?

And yes, name can make a big difference.

Yes, but if my child is screwing around getting a five-year degree in anthropology and then graduates with tens of thousands in debt with no job prospects then yeah, it was a waste of money. Has nothing to do with being educated. Students need to make smarter choices with their time and finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a college degree is necessary nowadays. Most graduate degrees, however, are a waste of money.

REally? I'd say college is like high school used to be, and in most highly paid or respected jobs, you need a grad degree.

I have to agree with this. When I graduated from high school, only a small percentage went on to SLACs, a bulk went to the community college or local state university. No one went Ivy. College attendance was not considered necessary. Now almost all entry jobs require a college degree, to the point where my DC's public had 99.9% going on to college (there were two mormons going on a mission and two undecideds). All 500 were going on to college. That certainly was not the case when I went through public high school.

[Anonymous]

MAJOR is key. What is she studying? College degree can be absolutely necessary or totally wasteful depending on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what kind of degree they are getting (most humanities degrees are pointless unless from specific top schools) and what they want to do later in life. I know several people who didn't go to college and who are very successful. I know several people who went to college and are struggling to find steady employment in their field 5 years later.

I don't think it is neither foolish nor wise, I think there are a lot of questions that have to be answered first before judgment can be made.

I disagree and this is one of the most pathetic things I keep reading. Either knowledge for knowledge's sake is worth it or it isn't; the school shouldn't matter.

That's rich-person talk. The poor can't afford such a gamble. Do you know what it's like to be unemployable and massively in debt?