Let’s be Honest DCUM Moms: Half of your kids should not be going to college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok you go first. Don’t send your kid to college.

Good luck with that!
PS- some of us can afford college.

Yes, this. Saying “don’t go into major debt for undergrad” is quite different from saying “don’t go to college at all unless it’s Harvard.”

But anyway, OP’s post appears to be AI.

[Anonymous]

I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy... in order to give their children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine. - Adams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has Charlie Kirk risen from the dead?

He better have else his kids are about to have a 1/2 sibling.

[Anonymous]

I feel like college is necessary for those going on to medical school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

If you rearrange DCUM it spells dumb.

Holy mother of stupid posts. We export millions of jobs to Asia because our politicians have sold American kids out. Plenty of jobs requiring degrees/higher level training.

Invest 300k in appreciating assets for your kid's future instead of throwing it down the toilet not to mention the lost 4 years.

We ain't in Kansas anymore mommys.

I do understand what you’re trying to articulate, but this is where I will largely disagree with you. The decision to go, or not to go, to college isn’t one size fits all but the notion that young adults who do go to college don’t change, grow, or really learn anything useable in 4 years is where you lose me. Now how much to invest in that experience is up to each family to decide for themselves, but to consider it worthless is too dichotomous for my taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

Getting better educated has far more value than this narrow "ROI" you're myopically focused on, OP. You only look at the tangible but the intangibilities are worth far more, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok you go first. Don’t send your kid to college.

Good luck with that!
PS- some of us can afford college.

Yes, this. Saying “don’t go into major debt for undergrad” is quite different from saying “don’t go to college at all unless it’s Harvard.”

But anyway, OP’s post appears to be AI.

Ha, that didn’t even dawn on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has Charlie Kirk risen from the dead?

Who?

[Anonymous]

So, OP is kind of a case study in why going to college is important. At a very base level, an education might have stopped her from making a post addressing "DC Urban Moms and Dads Moms."

Because DCUM Moms is redundant. It's like saying the HIV virus.

[Anonymous]

You are probably right OP. But parents believe it’s always the other half their kid is not in. So we march on…

[Anonymous]

To OP’s point, the four year college degree has been pushed forward in favor of associates and trade school. It’s been ingrained that a 4 college degree is the only post high school schooling worth pursuing and anything less than that is not socially acceptable and Career acceptable. So to her point, we have kids who probably would’ve been better served with a trade degree or a different schooling path rather than getting in debt and going to a a 4 year college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would "Johnny at State U" be graduating with six figure debt? If the school is in state and you are UMC (as most DCUM families are), he should be able to attend an in state (or even many out of state) college with no debt, or very minimal. And the long-term benefits of a college degree continue to include much higher lifetime earnings.

Exactly. My family is on the lower end UMC. We have been saving for our children’s education since they were born. Little by little… Enough for in-state public university. My oldest is a freshman at in state public university, and he will graduate debt-free. Going into a science field and already has an internship lined up for the summer.
Those that are in debt are getting useless degrees and / or decided they want the SLAC experience. And didn’t apply for internships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

My husband went to nothing but state universities. At 40, he’s on his second C-suite job, as Chief Revenue Officer.

I went to private, top-tier universities, and he makes many times more money than I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

No, Johnny from "Big State U" with a degree in Business Administration is going to be a Surgery Scheduler at a large hospital in the suburbs, where he'll make $60,000 a year and be able to afford a comfortable lifestyle. Hanging drywall isn't as well paying a job as you think it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:6:38 again, and it is not a financial decision. He has a well funded 529 and is currently in private school. Let that blow your mind, OP. Some pick this path because they want to, not because they have to. We are proud of him.

Your effusive support for his decision to attend trade school makes me think you might be proud of him but you aren't really that proud of him going to trade school. What kind of trade? And by private school do you mean a local Catholic school?

I think it's just really hard for you to understand we give our kids an experience that does not have a ROI just because.

I mean, how many 2nd homes can you really have.

In trade school?