Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling

It doesn't matter when I went to college. My point would be the same: I would do whatever I could to keep from having to take out a student loan. In fact, I did.

A little story: I worked through most of my high school and college years. And, before I even went to college, I'd dreamed of going to the University of Missouri, for its journalism school, and I began making noises about it and planning to do it.

But, in a conversation that I still remember to this day, my dad came into my room one night, sat me down, and gently apologized. But then, he still came right out and told me, point-blank, that, frankly, he could not afford to send me out of state for college, not even for the best journalism school in the country.

So, I didn't go there. Fast forward a few years, and I still ended up telling everyone that I'd had a good experience, in college overall, and certainly, in the school's journalism program. And, during and after that, I still got some great internships and had what I consider to be a good career.

Sure, it probably all could have been even better. But it wasn't bad, and, in the end, I did what I had to do to accomplish everything I wanted, anyway.

It may not be a parental obligation to help kids through college, but if you can afford to do it, I don't know why you wouldn't, if your family relations are anything near normal.

Perhaps that's just my and my family's view of things, but that's the way I see it. I know I'm fortunate to have had the family support that I did have, and still do have. It's the way it should be for everyone.

As others have said, though, there are ways to accomplish goals and still stay within your means. That's all I/we did. And today, doing that is even more imperative than ever.

 

UNLV: Casino Management (seriously)

Paul Smith's College: Forestry and wildlife management, plus hotel management. That's their two primary majors, plus they have some biology and environmental majors. A total of four majors to get a bachelor's at the school.

 

But going beyond your means can lead to better opportunities in the long run, if you play it right.

"I don't wanna go into debt!" is the single worst reason to reject higher education. If it's worth it to you, and you have a goal you want to achieve, you go into debt if you have to.

 

And my point was there may be no way to do it within your means. The NYT article I referenced above quoted the report's co-author as saying tuition and fees will jump from 11 percent of family income to 24 percent; and the percentage is even higher for low-income families.

Who has 24 percent of their income to give to college tuition when most people are living paycheck-to-paycheck?

A part-time or summer job doesn't cut it. Not even close.

 

I actually agree with your ultimate point, but this is horseshit reasoning.

It's someone's job to sell ads and someone's job to decide what goes in the paper. And whether I run the box scores or not -- and I will, thank you -- ain't gonna make a whit of difference in the national economy or in how much debt my corporate parent decides to service on the backs of our profit margin. I mean, come the fuck on, already.

 

I think the spiraling cost of higher education could be the next big policy showdown, like health care was. The two issues have some similarities, as both represent market failures. With health care, it's because insurance - along with lots of othe perverse financial incentives built into the system - leads to overconsumption. With regard to education, student loans lead to overconsumption. In both cases, people are not taking the costs into account in their decision-making, so those costs soar as demand does. Harvard could charge $100K a year in tuition and it would be turning people away left and right.

That said, I don't think the answer is, "Poor people, you're SOL."

 

What happened to the notion that for-profit colleges, especially online programs, would lead to lower tuition?

 

Maybe they should stick to their science or engineering major instead of bailing when the going gets tough:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/17/education.stem.graduation/index.html?hpt=C1

 

How on earth would a for-profit college lead to lower tuition? There is no logic behind that. The name alone tells you they ain't in it for the education.

 

Supply and demand principles.

My guess is that the problem is that the online diploma mills are not drawing from the same demand pool, just a new, completely isolated one. Hence, no effect on the price of a traditional degree.

 

What is the demand pool? My guess it's a lot of people who can't get in anywhere else. Has anyone read the reviews of some of these online schools? It's hilarious because it's obvious that employees troll message boards to post positive comments.

Online for-profit schools were supposed to lead to a revolution in higher education, but all it does is create worthless degrees.

 

Does this mean Pajama Girl from the ads won't be at the freshman mixer?