The Real Reasons College Is a Bad Investment.

Not so long ago, young adults were sent to college for the purpose of becoming educated, socially aware members of society. The goal of a college education was the learning process itself and the acquisition of beneficial knowledge.

But something changed. Along the way, colleges realized that their graduates were given priority in the job market. College diplomas transitioned from simple indications of education to bargaining chips holding measurable monetary value. People started noticing the increase in net value associated with a college degree.

And just like any other private business, colleges across the country responded to rising demand with significantly higher prices. At this point -- at this price -- college was no longer simply an educational experience; it became an investment.

Today, young adults pay thousands of dollars to colleges for one reason: to get jobs. And yet every year, too many kids are walking off their campuses with expensive degrees and no jobs.

Here are the real reasons why college is a bad investment:

1. It's debatable whether colleges even offer valuable information anymore

2. The educational value you do receive can easily be acquired elsewhere

3. For 90 percent of careers, all required skills are learned on the job

Source.

Textbook companies are hustling education. My school loans seem reasonable

So long as you're not spending $50,000 to learn how to weave baskets, college can be a good idea.

Then again, someone with lots of work experience and references, could easily be considered a hard worker.
Someone who graduated High school, and went to study English for 4 years on daddy's dime, doesn't have to have the greatest work ethic, and probably hasn't seen a day of "work" in their life.

It's not hard to get a job, people are just insanely picky these days.

Even if you worked at Mcdonalds for 2 years. At least you've had a job, you understand what "work" is, and you haven't gone through life holding mommy & daddy's hand.
I've met a few people who've gone to college immediately after high-school, and they can't handle working a part-time job claiming "It's too stressful"

You can get all the degrees you'd like, but if you're lazy, and have little work ethic, those degrees mean nothing in the long-term.

Then again, many degrees are useless, even if you have experience and solid work ethics.

No.

Your level of education is usually directly proportional to your income. With that being said, not all schools are equal and certainly not all degrees are equal.

Usually the people who argue that a post secondary education is useless are the folks who decided not too pursue one and are trying hard to justify their decision.

Keep trying to justify your decision not to go to college to yourself.

I do not know what to do anymore, I have been trying to get my degree for a long period of time.

TC, you ****-up.

Keeping your nose in books and/or your mouth around the beer bong for a few extra years is no indicator of a person's ability or willingness to do manual labor.

There are many paths to success that don't involve a college degree. I think the problem is that everyone assumes that "going to college = high paying job" when it reality it's much more than that such as experience from internships and self-learning (teaching yourself a language or skill) to even your meaningless part-time job.

It's what you put into it and it's not just college but, for example, going from part-time to corporate, PFC to Colonel, or whatever. It's what you put into it.

Huh?

Its not that college is bad and you can't get anything out of it....its the fact that college has become a need after highschool to the point a highschool degree is worthless. Think about it.....every kid is told to go to college so guess what? Just about every kid goes, but the thing is most of them don't finish and end up in thousands of dollars worth of debt. Plus half the people in college shouldn't be there any way. I can't count the number of people Ive had in class that were dumb as dirt. These people are making college degrees worthless. Plus most people are just at a C average, which is insanely easy to do in today's college system. Why should someone with a C average have the same degree as someone with a 3.5 or higher? But with Universities wanting money rather than actually giving people education that won't change.

Ok. Did you actually read my post beyond "beer bong"?

A good rule of thumb, if you chose your major because it's "easy", drop out of school and go get a job. You'll be making the same money you'd be making when you graduate, and you won't have all the school debt to pay back. Now if you chose your major because it's a high-demand field and what you are learning applies directly to the line of work you want to go into, then by all means stay in school.

These points

1. It's debatable whether colleges even offer valuable information anymore

2. The educational value you do receive can easily be acquired elsewhere

Are absolute nonsense. College offers incredibly valuable information that will make you infinitely more knowledgeable/cultured which will help you in anything you do in the future (of course this only happens if you are actually there to learn) This value cannot be easily acquired elsewhere. It would be next to impossible to know/learn, for example, what I know and have the experience that I have without having gone to college. One can learn things and become successful without it, but to say you can easily acquire the education you get in college is absurd. It would take A LOT.

The fact that most people no longer value education and solely go to school to get jobs is indeed true and a shame. People are idiots and do not realize that they will never live happy lives if they do not actualize themselves and find work that is rewarding and in accordance with who they are. Most people are unhappy and strongly dislike their jobs... why? Because of this soulless attitude towards life. College kids, for the most part, have no idea what it means to work. Once they start working a job they have no interest in... the misery slowly sets in. Be careful with what you chose and do not listen to these people who tell you to go to school to make money. Not that there is anything wrong with making money, but you should make it the right way.

guys get over this topic, even if you are right about college, which youre not cause if you wanna be an engineer or have a high standard work other than handing burgers in Mcdonalds then u cant learn during the job, and if u could the shitty society we live in today wont accept it its like a rule no degree = youre fucked. unless youre really lucky

That's why employers hiring those right out of college often look at GPA, which is a fairly good indicator of work-ethic. Someone who isn't a hard-worker is not going to graduate with a top-tier GPA no matter how smart they are, unless their university is an absolute joke.

Choosing your major based on ease is a horrible idea (though I have no idea who does that), but choosing your major because it relates to a high-demand field is equally stupid. High-demand jobs are often very fickle and subject to trends. There was a recent article in the Wall St. Journal about the dangers of too specialized of an education, and studying for something simply because it is in demand.

One of the administrators at Texas A&M this year cautioned some of the incoming freshman wishing to be Petroleum Engineers at the school, (as it is apparently a very popular major there), as analysis shows that those jobs are very likely to wane over the next decade or so. If you really insist on choosing a major because it is in a high-demand field, you should at least look at the long-term analysis concerning the field, and not just the short-term trends.

If I hadn't gone to university, I don't know what I'd have done with my life. One thing is certain, though: It would've been boring.

lol collage...

If you would have read my entire post (yeah, I know it's overwhelmingly long) you'd see what my point was.

There's always a demand for petroleum engineers. The only change is that there is more demand domestically, but there's been an international demand for over a century.

He is saying that four extra years at school isnt an indication they have a good work ethic.

college isn't a bad investment really, it's just I don't think students really know how to build upon the skills needed for the private sector as many don't have the experience seeking jobs, seeing what employers need from people so they can focus their skillset and degree around that

GI Bill, son.

All the money, none of it out of my pocket.

So even if it is a bad investment, ain't my investment.

I use FAFSA so I don't have to pay a dime.

#Justminoritythings

Really? Cuz I have a 3.4 GPA, and I'm lazy as all hell. So I'm inclined to disagree with that statement. And no, my college isn't some party college.

Since when is a 3.4 GPA "top tier"? I know for my school's graduate program it sure isn't considered top tier.

I wasn't saying that a 3.4 is top tier. I was saying that I got a somewhat good GPA with very little effort, which sorta debunks your previous claim. Also, I'm an undergrad, not a grad student.

College education has become a bad investment because students stopped learning shit in there. The end is no longer about acquiring a thorough and deep understanding of a field, its rather the acquisition of the degree itself. Vast majority of students say to themselves and to each others "You just get that damn piece of paper with most minimum effort, you/we will figure out the rest later". Only thing is that by the time they get to "later", they realize just how much they're screwed. They find themselves intellectually and mentally worn out at the age of 23-24 thinking that they achieved something of value and that the time and resources they poured into the degree will now start to pay off. But in reality, they're just too deep in intellectual and personal stagnation and staleness after wasting a great deal of what should have been one of the most intellectually active and personally cultivating time of their lives. So briefly after graduation they become progressively aware of the scale of the mistakes they made. First of those mistakes is how they haphazardly chose their majors without any consideration or research on the job market and their own talents and shortcomings. In addition all the procrastination and plagiarism they used to boast about come to them and remind them just how ignorant and underachieving they are in the field of their choice. Another thing is how they find themselves aimless after graduation, unaware of what to do next. Employers want experience they don't have and no one was there to tell them about the value and necessity of internships and whatnot. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg, I could go on forever.

The problem is most academic institutions reinforce all of this and even encourage it whether academics realize it or not. Except for the world's most renowned universities, the quality of the teaching staff and its techniques is nonexistent most of the time. The administration is pretty apathetic and indifferent about the quality of its graduates and the education they're (or not) getting. They couldn't care less what happens to them after they're gone as long as they can afford their PR budget and attending conferences. Its like they allow anyone these days to open a university and start giving out degrees and starting departments and study programs. The world is filled with universities of which most are laughingstocks in the sphere of academia.

The academic world is in serious need of reconstruction and reconsideration. I'll make sure if I ever had a kid that he/she won't fall for the same mistakes I did.

This loco guy is making threads with . . . the worst possible advice he could possibly hand out. I really hope he's simply trolling.

I think that you are describing personal problems.

BAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, it most certainly is not.

Jesus fucking christ

This should make the point I am trying to make a bit clearer, and it is written and laid out with far more information than I could procure, from a much more reliable source.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324139404579016662718868576

It seems to be critiquing undergrad specialization more than focusing on demand. And, of course, provided one isn't picking some extreme niche, the problem of not knowing where demand is going to be five years down the road essentially disappears.

tl;dr - there will definitely be a shortage of doctors, nurses in the near future, to some extent, engineers, etc, and targetting one of those fields because of this is, well, simply a practical consideration.