The Great College Hoax

It is a hoax or a fraud from the standpoint of the cultural perspective that dominates people's vision... the presumption is that you must go to college to 'make it' in America, and that presumption is reinforced by the fact that so many jobs, even entry level jobs want, and expect people to have a degree of some sort as a gateway into the world of adult work.

I don't know that anyone needs to cry on anyone's shoulder... but we do need to bring this hoax to the attention of younger people. Being a plumber is not all that bad of a gig, and you can't outsource a leak repair to India.

Your suggestion is that people should use math and due diligence to determine how one might make a living... but when we consider that law schools were reporting any employed graduate as a 'working attorney' we see that there was indeed some overt fraud in the mix too. Many career paths that once existed as fruitful have been decimated... being a professor comes to mind... that is no longer a viable option as the tenure track jobs are much more scarce now... much teaching is done by adjuncts and the like. Being a lawyer is far less lucrative than it once was based on the number of lawyers out there driving down wages, and the continuing increase in law school cost making that a less appealing option. Medicine as a ticket to a life of upper middle class living is going to be fixed as well once the full implications of Obamacare are worked out over the next 15-20 years.

The inflation in college costs has impacted the state universities as well, and the article (now 4 years old) notes that a degree from a state school is 46K. Would it have been cheaper to finance every minute of a 4 year degree in 1970 vs now? Yes. The inflation factor in education is eating away at the earnings advantage over high school, and trade school.

The worst offenders of all are 'for profit' schools where in many cases there is overt fraud in terms of the quality of education provided. The fact that these schools are allowed to continue functioning and continue to prey on the lower class people, and people who are less well educated to begin with is criminal. That they are admitting 'students' who by and large couldn't get into other 4 year schools should be a giant red flag. Community colleges are good, and do a similar service at a fraction of the cost, for profit schools are bad. Entire careers and corporate entities are allowed to be built on the backs of the gullible millions who aren't aware that their credit worthiness is being harvested for someone else's gain. In that sense it is very much like the housing bubble as you also say.

You mention the government holding people responsible for things, and seem to imply that the government would not hold people responsible in this instance, but I think it should be noted that, as the article mentions, you cannot discharge this debt via bankruptcy. In that sense college debt often becomes a kind of indentured servitude.

Sounds a lot like the housing bubble, no? Give loans to people who otherwise shouldn't get them all in the name of universal home ownership.

Now we have Obama continuing this push for universal college education with the government right there encouraging it (damn near compelling it) and financing it.

Get the fed govt out of higher education, period.

As long as you're in debt, you're the bank's slave

when the fed guarantees it? also let's not forget that SL's are unlike any other debt in that it's just about impossible to discharge a SL in bankruptcy.

But the bank isn't betting you can't pay the loan. They are knowing you must pay the payments. If you ever pay it off, they still get all the interest for the time that you were paying it off. I didn't say it's a high risk, I just said in no way is the bank "betting" you can't pay the loan/make payments. It's only you "betting" that those payments are worth the future job that your degree gets you.

Nearly 30% of Americans with associate's degrees now make more than those with bachelor's degrees, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. In fact, other recent research in several states shows that, on average, community college graduates right out of school make more than graduates of four-year universities.

The average wage for graduates of community colleges in Tennessee, for instance, is $38,948 -- more than $1,300 higher than the average salaries for graduates of the state's four-year institutions.

In Virginia, recent graduates of occupational and technical degree programs at its community colleges make an average of $40,000. That's almost $2,500 more than recent bachelor's degree recipients.

"There is that perception that the bachelor's degree is the default, and, quite frankly, before we started this work showing the value of a technical associate's degree, I would have said that, too," says Mark Schneider, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, which helped collect the earning numbers for some states.

And while by mid-career, many bachelor's degree recipients have caught up in earnings to community college grads, "the other factor that has to be taken into account is that getting a four-year degree can be much more expensive than getting a two-year degree," Schneider says.

A two-year community college degree, at present full rates, costs about $6,262, according to the College Board. A bachelor's degree from a four-year, private residential university goes for $158,072.

The increase in wages for community college grads is being driven by a high demand for people with so-called "middle-skills" that often require no more than an associate's degree, such as lab technicians, teachers in early childhood programs, computer engineers, draftsmen, radiation therapists, paralegals, and machinists.

With a two-year community college degree, air traffic controllers can make $113,547, radiation therapists $76,627, dental hygienists $70,408, nuclear medicine technologists $69,638, nuclear technicians $68,037, registered nurses $65,853, and fashion designers $63,170, CareerBuilder.com reported in January.

"You come out with skills that people want immediately and not just theory," Omer says.

"You come out with skills that people want immediately and not just theory," Omer says.

Community college grads out-earn bachelor's degree holders
[cnn.com]

"Still, the salary advantage for associate's degree holders narrows over time, as bachelor's degree recipients eventually catch up, says Schneider.

Although these figures vary widely by profession, associate's degree recipients, on average, end up making about $500,000 more over their careers than people with only high school diplomas, but $500,000 less than people with bachelor's degrees, the Georgetown center calculates."

The BS degrees probably contribute to that catch-up, while the BA degrees drag down the figures from the onset.

There’s no doubt that the average college graduate earns more than the average worker with only a high school diploma, but a new report shows that it may not always make financial sense to invest in a degree.

The report from the Brookings Institute highlights the numerous ways in which it is difficult to truly estimate the value of a college education.

For example, while college graduates from the most selective schools do tend to earn significantly more than those who choose to not acquire a further education, it could be argued that these people are inherently more motivated to succeed, regardless of education.

Meanwhile, the Brookings report figures that the average person who goes into the workforce straight out of high school earns more than $50,000 over those few years. So while a college graduate may leave school with a degree and a higher-paying job, the student loan burden may mean the graduate is worse-off financially than the person who chose to not seek a higher education.

“It is a mistake to unilaterally tell young Americans that going to college — any college — is the best decision they can make,” write the researchers. “A bachelor’s degree is not a smart investment for every student in every circumstance.”

College is purely what you get out of it. If you take a bunch of slacker classes, major in history, and generally just don't seek out a career path . . . well, you're sunk. But for those of us who have career aspirations and work towards them while in college its almost a surefire guarantee of future success. Its kind of silly to just say college is a waste since some people graduate with tons of debt and no job, you have to look into the individual to find out the truth behind the story.

College in general isn't a rip off. It's no different than any other decision you make. Work hard and make good choices, and you'll get what you want out of life.