Does a College Degree Pay Off?

[jculloden]

I dug holes and filled them in for 32 years, A nice living and retirement at fifty five, for high school only

 

[DWalt]

When I was in college (Ohio State), I saw many dropouts during the freshman year. And even one suicide. I always thought it was a combination of homesickness and being overwhelmed by the differences between high school and college that they couldn't handle. At that time, I knew of no one who took out student loans, not sure they even existed back then, and most who needed financial assistance got some form of scholarship and/or got a job, at least in the summer, which was what I did. My family certainly had little money to spare for college expenses, but they did pay a little. Of course in that ancient period, my total college expenses were less than $3K/year for everything. I suppose that is too old fashioned for college students to even consider today.

My wife got through college (Syracuse U.) the same way, working in a drugstore and a florist shop on weekends and evenings and also borrowing from a cousin who could well afford to help her, as her family was otherwise very poor. She did pay him back after she graduated and got a full-time job as an RN.

 

[pharmer]

A 4 year "Liberal arts" degree helped in a multitude of ways. But not as much as a career in the military and a career in "Public service." It's easy at 68 to look back at the path and realize I could have gotten off at many points with great opportunity. Unfortunately, no do overs. Joe

 

[Nevada Ed]

Nothing wrong with more education..........

It helps with "Specialty jobs" like Legal, doctors, etc.........

but if going into the construction field, labor etc. it is wasted years of tossing $$$ away.

If any questions.........
look at post #7 again.

 

[pharmer]

....... I knew of no one who took out student loans, not sure they even existed back then, and most who needed financial assistance got some form of scholarship and/or got a job, at least in the summer, which was what I did......

I went to a "commuter school" in NJ. If'n you didn't take an 8am class forget about parking your vehicle. Full time tuition in the early '70's was about $175/ semester and with a $95 "Pell Grant" the books (what a racket) cost about as much. Scheduled all my classes on Mon+Wed or Tues+ Thurs so I could work full time. Makes me tired just remembering it. Joe

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

I have always thought, education for education's sake. Today there are
several ways to become educated, always have been more than one way.

There exist factions in this country that do not want everyone educated,
thus ensuring a low paying menial work force. Even some of the skilled
trades no longer have unions to protect them and help with higher wages.
The same factions have the political clout to pass laws in their favor and
not the working man/woman. With few exceptions the U.S./State/Local
Governments have come down on the side of these same factions.

So, become educated to keep what democracy we have in place for
future generations. An educated electorate will benefit the majority
of the public.

Lastly, don't get hung up on being educated in one certain field. 20 years
down the road said field may not exist.

 

[Protocall_Design]

In the chart in post #120 about college dropout rates, one part says "In 4 year colleges, 56% of students drop out within 6 years."

Apparently only 44% graduated in 4 years, and the ones still there 2 years later, gave up. That whole thing doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Absalom]

In the chart in post #120 about college dropout rates, one part says "In 4 year colleges, 56% of students drop out within 6 years."

Apparently only 44% graduated in 4 years, and the ones still there 2 years later, gave up. That whole thing doesn't make sense to me.

I couldn't make sense of that line either. Further down that webpage, the data which should support that statement, for 4-year-college students, actually show a 63.1% total completion rate after 6 years.

College Dropout Rate [2021]: by Year + Demographics

 

[Onomea]

A lotta people take more than four years to finish undergrad. My dad, first son, and I all took five. Older brother took seven, having gone into the Army and Vietnam for three. Younger brother took something like 20 years as he dropped out but went back later to complete to enhance his career. My two younger sons are an anomaly for us in that they both finished undergrad in four.

 

[Grayfox]

I've heard it said several times that young people today who intend to go to college need to plan on 5 years. The first year will be spent in remedial courses to learn what you should have been taught in High School.

 

[Dave_n]

Mine might be the exception. I came up through the English system in the 1950s whereby you were examined three times around age 11 (usually - 9months, - 3 months and then at or close to 11). Then you were streamed into roughly 10% academic, 25% technical, rest general. So I attended an academic High School and "graduated" in the American sense in 6 years. Then university etc. Of the 14 boys in the science 6th form, all graduating 1956-7, all have earned doctorates (sciences, medicine, dentistry). I was the only one who headed West after a few years in UK industry, and ended up working in Pharma companies and the NIH. My total cost for my doctorate was $500, all other costs (BS and MS) were met by government grants. Mind you, the incentive if you failed was 2 years in one of Her Majesty's armed services as a private or equivalent!! Quite an incentive to pass examinations, though it turned out that my age class was the second to last to be called up, so I was differed past my induction time. It did not stop me being declared 1A by an US draft board when I came in with a green card in 1968!! Dave_n

 

[Badger Matt]

People shouldn't be allowed to borrow money to pay for degrees that are not in demand, 'cause too often they don't pay it back. Or they demand their neighbors pay their loans back for them, via government forgiveness.

I would like to see colleges/universities finance their own students' loans rather than the government/taxpayers. That way they'd stop providing worthless degrees to those who won't be able to afford the payments.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Back in the 80's, mine was almost six, but I don't remember three or four semesters . . .

I've heard it said several times that young people today who intend to go to college need to plan on 5 years. The first year will be spent in remedial courses to learn what you should have been taught in High School.

 

[arjay]

I've heard it said several times that young people today who intend to go to college need to plan on 5 years. The first year will be spent in remedial courses to learn what you should have been taught in High School.

Depends on where they went to school. My kids went to public schools but my my daughters was very much geared towards college prep

 

[kpoesq369]

Buddy of mine had a bachelor's in psychiatry. He poured concrete until he went to nursing school. My BA didn't do me much good, except for getting into a JD program.

 

[DWalt]

I've heard it said several times that young people today who intend to go to college need to plan on 5 years. The first year will be spent in remedial courses to learn what you should have been taught in High School.

That is probably true. I taught undergrad Physics courses at Ohio University in the early-mid 1970s. In my introductory course, I needed to devote considerable class time to teaching basic algebra and trig principles as so many of the incoming students had little to no useful knowledge of it, even though they all should have obtained it in high school. It's impossible to understand Physics without having at least some proficiency with algebra and trig. In fairness, at that time many of the students came from rural areas where high schools didn't provide much in the way of academic excellence.