Is a College Degree Really Worth the Cost?

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A degree has definately been a benefit for my husband. Both his dad and my dad didn't have degrees and they have struggled all our lives to make ends meet. My father has owned his own business for 30 years and still doesn't have a sound retirement even though his company is sucessful and his income is above average.
I have noticed that since my husband graduated he has become more sucessful at learning how to plan and invest. If there are things about our finances that need adjusting he seems to be better equipt to find the answers to the challenges than my dad and father-in-law. He also appears to have more job options available than they do. I have noticed that our dads tend to be more limited in their choices for employment than my husband.
I think the major benefit is that if my husband's job is less likely to become obsolete than our dads jobs, and if it does become obsolete he has a better chance of being able to learn new skills sets. It isn't because he's smarter than they are rather I believe that it is because going through college has given him the ability to learn and develope new skills when needed. This doesn't have anything to do with smarts, it is a technique that students use when surviving classes they don't excell at. It is a survivor skill that becomes ingrained in the student. I my opinion it is often (not always) missing in thosse who don't attend college.

Shanan of OK 11:18PM May 25, 2009

I graduated a year ago with a BA in Communication Arts and I also have an Associates in Visual Communications. The job market is so bad right now that i cannot find an entry level job. I am working part time at a country club. The problem i am faced with is that I have relatively no career experience and I am afraid that as time goes by people will look at that and think that i have been out of school too long and won't hire me. I considered getting my Masters but i don't know if that will open the job market any more. I feel that it is really about who you know and since i moved to a new state, i know no one. When i first moved here, i got a job as a Graphic Artist on a magazine but then was let go after a few months so i can't use that on my resume. I feel like i am stuck.

Tammy of TX 1:40PM March 19, 2009

To many people, college is a waste of time and money. Still, it's better to be part of an enlightened or educated society than a return to our barbaric past.

Mike of CA 8:40AM March 17, 2009

We are so consumed with the idea that individuals are better citizens if they have an education beyond high school. Problem with this ideology, it perpetuates the never ending cycle of betterment through official education. Education documented on paper is not proof of intelligence. A degree proves an individual had the accessibility, time, money, and patience to allow someone else to organize historical rhetoric, and incorporate what will become their intellect. Given a book of historical facts, an adult with the desire to learn will learn without the college education, instructor, or grade book. Their intelligence will be evident in their work as they rise through the ranks of employment.
Bottom line, as we push more young people to attend college, wasted years become the norm. We're already seeing the trend, in positions that did not previously require a formal education, are now doing so with no basic merit, or apparent advantage.. When will it end? Allow the cream to rise to the top on its own. We are filling important roles with lazy, unintelligent, untrained individuals based upon a piece of paper. Formal education beyond high school is not the answer, for every title..History has shown that the genesis does not have the patience to allow the "can't-doers" to teach them...The intelligent adults, teach themselves.

Betty of GA 10:21PM March 14, 2009

This is what is wrong with education today - it is treated as a commodity. So the only reason you should go to college is to earn more money? College is not a short cut to riches and we are finally beginning to acknowledge that. That is a myth we use to peddle the biggest swindle ever perpetuated onto young people - student loans. Student loans is not a form of financial aide but a money making scheme by lenders using the federal government as an enforcer. If income is what you are looking for there are other ways to to get at that which cost a lot less.
Colleges are full of students who do not want to be there and who are basically in a holding pattern. As the population ages we have turned college into a convenient storage unit where young people are stored until society finds a place for them. Most students end up going to college not because they have intellectual talent, curiosity or a burning desire to seek the truth. They end up there by default.
Here is one example. I see so many students that want to be writers yet they don't write. Instead they take English classes from people who have little or no success as published authors. People that want to write - well, they write.
The value of a college education cannot be measured solely in dollars.

Mike Perkins of MO 3:22AM March 07, 2009

I find it ironic that we are debating this issue (a worthy issue to debate, indeed) all the while President Obama is saying that young people do a "disservice" to themselves and their country by choosing to not attend college -- which has suddenly entered the debate as the newest "right" in America. As a higher education professional at a medium-sized private university, I can tell you that many students CHOOSE not to attend college in favor of pursuing many other noble, worthwhile, and personally fulfilling goals. I would hate to see the day in America when it is somehow "required" for everyone to attend college, or where those who do not achieve some sort of post-high school education are denigrated and treated as if they are somehow second-class citizens. Everyone in this country is important in fulfilling America's promises, and everyone has a unique and distinct role to play in that. Sure I would love to see as many young people as possible choose to further their education and have access to it; sure I would love to see floods of adults return to the classroom to learn a new skill or become better trained in their area of work. But I want individuals to choose this pursuit for themselves, not because someone else, let alone the government, tells them they must.
It is funny to me that those public officials who claim to be all about "choice" are incredibly selective in deciding when this choice is good (almost claiming it as a moral imperative) and when it is bad. It's time for everyone to wake-up and be inspired to again realize the incredible power of the human spirit and of the human drive to achieve things on our own accord.

Chris Potts of IN 2:27PM March 06, 2009

Take Dee of Fla's comments and combine them with Dave G. of MD and you have the state of the union for most of us that are under the age of 35. It just seems that employers require you to have experience but the only jobs that are tagged "entry level" have been outsourced to other countries so that the company can save money. On the other hand, the job ladder (which was such a huge point of discussion in the 1990's) has become stagnant because the older citizens cannot afford to retire anymore. What has that left the new crop of people trying to enter the workforce and start a career, a job waiting tables and tending bar in an economy where noone is going out to eat. It really makes all those comments made by the generations of parents and grandparents who said, "We want to make the world a better place for our children" seem like President Obama's campaign promises. Thanks for nothing!!!

Genration Y spokesperson of MS 2:20PM March 06, 2009

I am a 46 yr old female attending a local community college for the first time. I have to admit I'm second guessing my decsion to go back to school. I thought it would be easier with all our children grown and moved out, less responsiblities, etc... But even tho I make barely 16,000 a year working at walmart and I'm the sole supporter in my family as my husband is disabled, the financil aid agency says I don't qualify for ANY help now.So if I want to continue to go I must get student loans to pay for it all. I have tried for many scholarships but there don't seem to be any for someone my age. They are so specific for age, career goals, or even where you live or the company you work for that i don't qualify for any of them. Even the sholarship walmart offers is for full time employees only (rarely do they ever hire full time anymore) so i can't even get that. What is the point of graduating at 50+ yrs old with 35,000 in loan debt. Hell, I wont even have enough working years left to work enough to pay it off! GO TO SCHOOL WHEN YOURE YOUNG!! don't wait!

witchkitty42 of MI 12:19PM March 06, 2009

Whether or not college is worthwhile depends on how dedicated you are and what field you plan to earn your degree in.
DO NOT go to college because you feel you "have to". Do not go to college because your parents expect you to. Do not go to college because your girlfriend, boyfriend, or best friend is going. College is four years (at minimum) of very hard work, and you will need more than the social expectations of others to complete it successfully.
It's also quite expensive. The aforementioned social expectations are also not a good reason to spend your parent's hard-earned savings or put yourself in debt up to your ears.
Finally, do not go to college if the work you really want to do doesn't require a degree. If you want to be a welder, spend a year or two in trade school to get the appropriate certifications and then enter the workforce. You'll save yourself a lot of time and money, and you'll be able to start saving and investing sooner.
DO go to college if you know what you want to study, the work you want to do requires a degree, and you are reasonably certain you'll be able to find employment in the field after graduation.
Of course few people are 100% certain of those things, but you should be close. At least have a solid general idea of the sort of career you want (e.g., "I want to write" or "I want to work with computers") before investing the tens of thousands of dollars - or more - that college will cost you.
Just some advice from a college graduate who nonetheless wishes he'd put school off until he knew what he wanted to do. I could have saved myself some serious time, effort, and money by waiting until I'd grown up a little bit.

Greg from Tampa of FL 3:48PM March 02, 2009

College is a great thing. I just got done with my JD at the University of Michigan Law School. There the professors are so fantastic, they make the classes fun. Sure, you want the big bucks, but it's also about doing what you want to do in life.

John of MI 9:42PM February 27, 2009