Topic: Is College Worth it? So many graduates In Debt/Underemployed - page 3. (Read 4897 times)

My thoughts exactly. I never went to university because I did not know what my goals were. No point wasting 3+ years and a whole lot of cash if I wasn't sure that was the direction I wanted to move.

Instead I did work experience for an excellent sales company and the rest was history! School of hard knocks > college in my opinion.

Basically if you go to school and don't an idea of what you want to do with your future you will just be wasting money.  You could actually be working and getting a head start in the work force.

May you have said is true, but the reality is so cruel, many people want to do but cannot do.

As university as you say and society is different schools. You are totally different.

I met my wonderful hubby in college so it was worth it for me. 

That said, I really think it is crazy to spend $30,000+ per year for a degree.  I have a niece that just graduated from a private university.  She has not been able to find work in her field (forensic science) and is working as a waitress.  She now is trying to pay off her college loan and it is really hard. 

I have thought that if Bitcoin does take off in a wild and crazy manner then I won't really care if my kids want to go to an expensive 4 year college.  If I can pay for it with a few bitcoins then why not!?  But realistically, it seems like a better value just to go to a community college for two years or a less expensive state school.  Or for some just going to a trade school isn't a bad option either.

How many get degrees in fields for which there is no market, or if there is, it pays next to nothing. Unless you are independently wealthy, college years should be spend to learn a profession which will provide for your livelihood with enough left over to repay your loans.

I think it is difficult to answer as I think different people need its approach ! I know some people who have succed in business despite the fact they haven't finished college! But mostly it does worth to go there to study

technical college for practicality

I see what you did there...it's almost as if using the bitcoin network as a metaphor for things makes it more easy to describe

College is a great way to create opportunities for those who were born with parents who have money, while making it harder for those who were born to parents who didn't.

With the internet and the ability to download lets say really efficient classes, it would interesting to eliminate colleges, and have the people who studied the hardest get to learn and get hired by the field of their interest. It would make the most qualified people be at the top, to create a better future.

Main issues as I see it:

1. Offer and Supply rules. If too much people graduate a graduation will worth nothing.

2. Wrong direction, 90%+ wants the graduation to get a good job. For this technical education should be enough, college should be for people up to create jobs.

3. Governments living up for statistics, so to display a population with "high education" they create all sort of useless graduations.

people skills and 'who you know' are more important than college. It might be unfortunate that this is the case (at least from my perspective) but it's human nature.

There are certain professions (degree majors) that are in demand, while others are a waste of time. Do your research.

I've reached the early 30's and although it's never too late to go to school, to me work is work... if I'm stuck 12 hours a day doing something I'd rather not be doing, that's called work... there are almost no professions I would enjoy so much as to not call it 'work' ...  so I might as well stick it out where I'm at making $20/hour rather than risk going to school, wasting lots of money, with no guarantees going forward... plus you lose so much of what you learned in high school by the time you hit 30....


Everyone on the internet makes $50 per hour and owns their own business so I know I'm poor.

I would say the major you pick has to be considered for a correct answer. If you just finished your English poetry degree... Well, let's hope they are hiring at Starbucks. 

It has changed from go to college and figure out what you want to do to, figure out what you want to do and then go to college. If your interested in something that does not require a degree and you can get OJT or Tech training then save some cash and do that. The cost of going to college to "figure out" what you are going to do is not effective any more. It will just cause you to be underpaid and in debt for long periods of time.

I might go back to school for "learning", once I can afford to.
Viewing college as a vital investment is a poor choice for many people.
If you are able to start a business or have success at professional sales (for example), then college is a huge waste of money.

An engineer is very different from a mechanic. I would say college is extremely helpful if you're career goal is to be an engineer. Besides the skills/knowledge you learn, pretty much any engineering job requires you to have a degree.

Yes it is worth. Some subjects you cannot study at home. College is for learning. You should not study for job opportunity.

College is not for the majority of people I don't think. Its useful for certain fields, like the medical field and whatnot, but most people don't need to go to business school, they don't need to get a degree saying they are verified experts at painting or graphic design. Ideally, you shouldn't even need a degree to be a software engineer. In a world that doesn't require a degree to work at McDonalds, you should be able to prove that you are qualified for a job without a piece of paper saying so.

I'm a student, and I see so many people that are wasting their money on frivolous degrees that don't actually better their skills, but just make them "marketable" to employers. I'm a nuclear physics major, so I can talk myself into continuing with my education, as I hope that I'm getting more than just a piece of paper, but there are so many degree paths that are just a waste of money.


I do like to tell the story of my Aunt however, whenever I get super peppy people telling me and others that college is a guarentee that you will get a high paying and high powered job. My aunt got a complete scholarship to Yale, 100% paid for, tuition, books, etc. She went and finished her MBA as salutatorian there. When she graduated, she couldn't find a job, as she was over qualified, and she didn't want to move away from home. So she worked at Walmart/Burger King from then on out. That would be a $350,000 education today. Now imagine if she had paid for it.

In 20 years, a college degree is going to be about as valuable as the toilet paper I wipe my ass with.

As far as right now goes, it absolutely depends on what you're going into. The vast majority of degrees are useless and watered down; aspiring students would be better off self-educating and getting real world experience. People with drive and persistence will succeed and people without won't (regardless of whether they have a degree or not). Things like medical or law degrees will always be tied into college/uni education though, if you're going into such fields you should obviously attend.

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