Back in the day, having a college degree almost insured the graduate a good paying job and secure future….
those days are gone, baby. Gone.
As the poverty rate in this country rises to the highest levels since 1965, one must question how this could be, given that we live in the wealthiest and most educated country in the world.
Lack of education is what many people site as one cause of poverty. That’s somewhat true but not completely. There’s more to the picture of how productive someone’s life and career will turn out to be than having a college diploma.
Vision determines Future!
Today’s Bachelor degree, among certain career fields, doesn’t mean much at all. Our daughter, Hailey, graduated last year with her under-graduate degree in Linguistics, but will need to earn her Master’s Degree to accomplish what she wants in her field of study. The three of us gave a great deal of thought about a Linguistics degree for her in the long-term.
However, for many, college cannot deliver the secure future that it once did. Globalization of the workforce over the last 2 decades has been a complete game changer. Our daughter’s career field will be enhanced by globalization and will allow her to work on-line, if she chooses, and just about anywhere in the world. She is taking advantage of and working along side the changes in the workforce, and it will pay off for her.
College tuition can be a complete waste of money.
Without vision, clear cut goals and intense research as to how a degree might be used to propel you to success in your field, you might find that the time spent in class just won’t pay off. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are excellent examples of college drop-outs who made a decent living for themselves without college degrees.
Of the college graduates of 2009, only 55.6% are currently working, 22% are working at a job that doesn’t require a degree and 22.4% are not working at all. This compares to another comparable statistic from 2006-2007 that had a rate of 90% of the students working the spring after graduation. The game is changing and we need to prepare our selves and our children for a different kind of work force. (Source)
Not only are there limited job opportunities for college graduates, many are leaving school with their degree in one hand and a student loan that’s due in the other hand.
How much sense does it make to acquire debt, to get an education that you may or may not be able to find work with?
Is it time to re-evaluate the goal of “getting a job”??? Perhaps the real goal and vision should be to “get a life”. But what does that look like? Sustainable living just might have something to offer.
Could you benefit from a Paradigm Shift??
Next time: ”The People Who Live the Life They Love”
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About kmorris
I still believe a college education is a good thing to have! But… the RIGHT degree is a must. I do believe the days of obscure degrees are over and now a complete waste of money and time. My son graduated with two degrees in electrical and computer engineering. He had multible job offers (even in this economy) because both his degrees are in high demand. He was able to be choosy and joined the Air Force to become a pilot. On the other hand my nephew and niece both just graduated with degrees that have zero demand. Both are still at home with no jobs and no prospect any time soon and saddled with student debt. Now they are left with menial jobs they could have gotten without spending $60,000 in the first place.
If today’s college age students would take the time to understand which jobs are in demand and went for those areas then they will be more successful!
I’m one of those that graduated in 2009 that is unemployed right now. However, a few months after I graduated, I was laid off and then had our first child. We have paid off my student loan debt and I am currently looking for part-time work so we don’t have to pay daycare costs. I may not get into the field I have always been in (Administrative), but I can work my way back there again and actually use my degree.
Totally agree with you, that BEFORE going to college there needs to a plan for what you are going to college and HOW you can go to college getting the degree you want the CHEAPEST. No one cares that you picked the most expensive college over a cheaper school. I find that lots of people go to college and spent tons of money but have no idea what they want to go to college for or they keep changing in the middle of school. They should have spent their teen years job shadowing in jobs that interested them to see if it really was something they would enjoy. Going thru school to get a gen ed degree gets you no where but wasting time and money, so does going to college for degrees that aren’t hiring or are crazy off the wall degrees. And going out of state to school is nuts, thinking you HAVE to go to a University because going to a junior college is just beneath you, or moving out of your parents home while going to college because you want to show everyone you are a grow up is crazy. If you need to go to a University for your degree then take every class you can at the junior college before transfering to the University so it costs less. We live in a town that has both a junior college and university and it is amazing how many young people we know that think they HAVE to go to the university and they HAVE to move out of their parents home to go to college….and now they have tons of debt. My daughter just graduated from the junior college with a nursing degree in May. She got her RN license in June and the next day God blessed her with a job offer. She started working two weeks ago at the closest hospital to our house (God rocks…since she had applied everywhere even in two different states) all while she has continued to live at home. Friends have given her a lot of grief that she still lives at home and that she needs to move out to prove she can live on her own before she gets married. A lot of these same friends are now moving back in with their parents because of debt. Oh BTW, my daughter is making the same amount of money that that the people with RN BSN degrees are making with her associates degree. In a year or so she wants to go back to college to her BSN but when she does the hospital she works at will be paying for it….it is part of her benefits package.
Oh, just an added thought. College isn’t for everyone….I seriously think that Vo-tec training is the best thing for a lot of people, they just need to figure out early what they would like to do and go for it.
This “Speak Your Mind” is coming from a mother of 4 who homeschools and got THE DEGREE (and still hasn’t payed off the loan10 years later!) and my husband didn’t even finish his AA, but makes more than I did as a teacher in a Christian school! I hesitate to say that I’m not using my degree (education). I AM! I’m educating my children, but I’m not getting paid for it. You don’t have to have a degree to be successful at homeschooling your children.
I think where we’ve gone wrong is where parents (through generations) have stopped teaching children where food comes from, how to make food from scratch and life’s “basics” like fixing a car, toilet or oven.
(All in favor for bringing Home Economics back, say “I”!).
Girls no longer know how to sew, bake or keep a home, let alone have more than 2.5 children. Men no longer know how to keep up with our nation’s politics/news, fix things around the house (“Just call the plumber, honey!”) Each generation is NUMBING the next with our lack of sufficiency (not to mention or dependability on the government) and not only that, but in passing on the way God intended us to live holy lives. Yes, we sin everyday and we are saved by God’s grace. BUT, there are so many blessings if we could just read Scripture and follow God’s manual for life. So many are missing out on His richest blessings because we follow what society says is NORMAL. As Americans, we need to go back to our roots and reestablish what NORMAL is.
Exit soapbox.
Blessings!!!
Kelli
Totally agree Kelli!
See now, I would take exception with someone who has not paid loans back. I would have thought, if behaving in responsible adult manner, one would have taken care of debts before starting a family, even before marrying. Having a family is not an excuse to renege on ones loans. This is my opinion and I do not mean to sound harsh or judge , but that is what we were taught and have taught our children.
I believe a college degree is acceptable and right for anyone who has prepared academically and has spent their formative years thinking and planning about what they are interested in. One should not enter college willy-nilly. Technical schools are also a great option…here they have a waiting list for many of the most popular programs. If so inclined the military can be seen as a career and a stepping stone to future education. Some families have long, proud history of military service.
Both my husband and I were able to go through college and graduate school loan free due to the foresightedness of our parents. The money was saved and ready. Our parents all had college degrees earned during and just after WWII so they saw the value of saving and having college funds ready. We have done the same for our children…they all have/had accounts with enough money in them to cover (estimated) their tuition, books, room and board if needed. We expect they will all go on to graduate school. My daughter starts her Masters in Fall and we are getting money out of her account now. We live in a town with a very large state university so they have not needed to go away to school. Also they know that if they had chosen to go out of state or to a private over-priced establishment that the money would have run out way too soon.
I have come across parents who have saved nothing toward their children’s education and are of the attitude that “they had to pay their way, so can their children” or they need that big house, or new cars, RV etc, or just totally do no understand the concept of saving for anything, not just an education. These are selfish attitudes. We have also had people tell us “but our savings is our retirement money”. We , we have retirement planned also. We live simply, work hard, save money, invest. I have had only 2 cars in my married life of almost 27 years, as an example.
Well, I know this post is a bit of a ramble , but I don’t want to see parents being unprepared and making it unnecessarily difficult for their children to get ahead. Each generation should improve on the last when possible., I believe.
I have a thirteen yr old daughter and I am just beginning to think about my failed attempt at college 15 years ago (and why that happened), along with my sisters 4 year degree that took 5 years to get, and why she was never able to obtain the first job with her degree. She had to choose a different field, which only required a certificate (10 months max to obtain that), and is now making great money!
In my short time studying and pondering this, I think there are 3 options that seem to be secure at the moment.:
1. Technical or trade school (typical 2 year degrees that can be obtained from a less expensive community college)
2. Agriculture degrees (the options for people with these degrees are amazingly versitile)
3. Engineering (still much needed and available)
Again, I’m no expert. Just a mom thinking about her children’s future. But these 3 options just seem to be the safest and most secure when I think about their “after high school” education.