Is attending college an advisable investment? Is the training which our students are experiencing from our universities and colleges well worth all of the time, dollars and work that are required? Decades ago, a college education was pretty affordable and it was just about an automatic solution to the middle-class. But now all of that has changed. At this stage, higher education is a huge business enterprise. There are in excess of 18 million individuals enrolled for the nearly 5,000 universities and colleges now in operation all through the United States. There are quite a few “institutions of higher learning” that now command $40,000 and even $50,000 per year for tuition. That doesn’t even count room and board as well as other living expenses. Meanwhile, as you’re going to see from the data posted below, the standard of instruction at our colleges and universities has worsened badly. When graduation eventually comes, many of our students have essentially learned almost nothing, they end up cannot find good jobs but yet they wind up caught in student loan debt hell for essentially the remainder of their lives.
All over America today, guidance counselors are pushing millions of high school students to attend the top colleges that they can get into, but they rarely alert them on how much it will cost or in regards to the sad truth that they may well end up remaining burdened by massive debt loads for decades into the future.
Indeed, college is really a lot of fun and it’s quite a one of a kind experience. If you can get another person to pay for it then you should truly contemplate going.
There also are numerous professions which totally call for a college degree. Based on your goals, you might not have much of a choice of whether to attend college or not.
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Yet that doesn’t mean that you must go to student loan debt hell.
You don’t have to attend the priciest school that you are able to get into.
You don’t have to get big student loans.
There isn’t any embarrassment in selecting an institution determined by the cost.
You should approach college education as an investment, just like any other. If it is a good investment, then you should be able to earn more than it costs. If not, then college is a bad investment.
Colleges often cite the U.S. Census Bureau which published data purporting to “prove” the value of a college education. Their data suggests that:
- Workers earning a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $51,206 annually.
- Workers with a high school diploma only earn an average of $27,915.
- Workers with an advanced degree average $74,206.
- Those without a high school diploma average $18,734.
As impressive as these statistics are keep in mind that the numbers represent averages and that there isn’t any control for type of degree. I doubt that a graduate with a “business” degree will command a $50K+ salary unless they are working for family.
This isn’t to suggest college isn’t a good thing; for most, but not all kids, it is. Just don’t put yourself in a position to still be paying for your education when you’re in your 50s.
