Degree not worth the cost

[BrianGriffin]

Whatever happened to grants and scholarships?

This dates me, but I remember when I was in school there was a much-coveted scholarship, one for each high school in the school district. The winner would get $500 a semester, which pretty much covered tuition at the local commuter college. If you could also get the $250 leadership scholarship, you basically had a full ride if you wanted to stay home with mom and dad.

I remember hearing complaints that costs had gone up because at one point the $500 would cover everything except room and board.

I know the in-state tuition at said local college has much more than doubled since then (still a relative bargain). Books have probably doubled. But I doubt if the amount of money in either of those scholarships have more than doubled.

Is this a factor on why there is more debt? Are the costs going up faster than the endowments for scholarships are going on?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

My wife and I started college funds for our kids a few years ago and I told her, "The only way I'll let them go to a private school is if they get into an Ivy or an Ivy-level (Stanford, Duke...) school and they need the fancy degree to become a doc or a lawyer or to get into business school.

Anything else, go to a public school for a third of the cost.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I have heard that college girls of this generation have been influenced in a very positive way by the portrayal of threesomes and casual sort-of-lesbianism in mass media. Researching that phenomenon would be worth a few thousand in loans.

 

[Dick Whitman]

My wife and I started college funds for our kids a few years ago and I told her, "The only way I'll let them go to a private school is if they get into an Ivy or an Ivy-level (Stanford, Duke...) school and they need the fancy degree to become a doc or a lawyer or to get into business school.

The most bizarre to me are the really expensive liberal arts colleges out east. I mean, maybe going to Haverford or Amherst opens more doors than I think, but I'd never heard of those places when I was coming out of high school. I'm not an East Coaster, though.

 

[YankeeFan]

Az: With tuition going through the roof in step with the availability of loans, it is easy to imagine one wanting something more out of college than a wide-ranging exposure to different viewpoints.

I sort of agree with that, but if all one wants is a trade, a revenue stream, go to a trade school.

If you want your ticket punched for a white(r) collar job - engineering, etc., as was the case here - then understand the changing nature of the employment pool and manage the amount of debt you take on. Going $180K in the hole to find a job that pays $75K a year on average is ridiculous.

Exactly. It's risk/reward.

If you're smart, hard working, have gotten into a good school, and plan on a career in a high income field, a college degree is an investment that is worth the risk.

If you want to be a photographer's assistant (as featured in a NYT article), a degree in social work from NYU probably isn't a sound investment.

 

[schiezainc]

I got out of a four-year college in about five years (Slacked off senior year) and left with $700 in debt.

Paid it off in two months. Best decision I've ever made.

 

[qtlaw]

Doctors are laughing at this thread.

My buddy makes huge $$ now as a heart surgeon. But, it took him around 13 years post-grad to get his first private job. So he got his first real paycheck at 35. I don't really begrudge him or anyone similar the huge $$ they make, its pure supply and demand. Oh yeah, and he's saving lives, unlike me.

 

[User 1019]

My income doubled the day I finished my college education. That was four years ago. Now, it's almost three times what it was before college.

For me, the juice has been worth the squeeze.

 

[Mark2010]

The moral of the story is not to take out alternative loans. At least with the federal program, there is income-based repayment available. I dig the guy in the John Deere shirt. You would think he'd have a pic with him dressed up a little bit.

There is also a profile of a journalist who took out $80,000 in loans for his bachelor's.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/news/economy/1106/gallery.student_debt/?hpt=hp_t2

A friend of mine from HS, went to Cal, got his degree and couldn't get a journalism job. (Probably, because the dumbass had next to no clips...)

He takes out $40K in loans and gets a Masters from Stanford. Does he freelance as he does this? Of course not, that would make too much sense...

His first journalism job? Doing agate for $11 an hour.

He's teaching journalism now. The guy had fewer clips during his career than most of us would get in a month and he's teaching at a decent J-School.

Isn't the whole point of getting a Masters in the first place is to get one of those high-paying teaching jobs?