Why do some consider going to college a complete waste?

amother

↑ Bluebonnet

Tue, Dec 17 2024, 9:29 am

amother Garnet wrote:

My parents and their siblings were the first in their families to attend college (although my grandparents were very smart and extremely hard working, they were also poor.) They attended city colleges and worked part time jobs and summers to pay expenses. My father won a scholarship to one of the top 5 US Universities. This and the fifty years of hard work that followed completely turned our family’s financial status around. I don’t buy that a college education is worthless. I would not recommend coursework in East Asian basket weaving or Colonialism and Capitalism. I do believe in being a well rounded person who understands history, literature, political science, math, natural sciences and is employable. My relatives received a real education at Brooklyn and City colleges. I unfortunately see a total lack of this background in the current university age population, including those eschewing a college education. There needs to be a compromise.

You do realize when your parents and your aunts and uncles went to college, it cost like $300 a semester, right? You could easily pay that from just a summer or a weekend job. My parents did it too. Those days were already gone when I went to college 20ish years ago, and it's even worse now. Yes, even the "cheap" public colleges will still run you about 10k per semester if you're lucky. Many, maybe most, majors no longer offer the ROI they used to. There is no reason someone who wants to be a doctor or engineer needs multiple courses of literature and history. Being well rounded is great, but your rounded will be just as well if you spend $15 on a MOOC in Shakespeare than $1500 taking the same university seminar for credit. Other countries do not require their doctors and lawyers to do four years of undergraduate studies, most you can just do a year or so of prerequisites and then you go straight into medicine, law etc. And look at the quality of humans in universities right now. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. The whole system is a big mess and not living up to the grand promises like it did 50ish years ago. People are starting to wake up now. I hope it continues and forces universities to fix themselves.

amother

Scarlet

Tue, Dec 17 2024, 9:39 am

Because going to college doesn’t equal making money. But it could mean a lot of debt. My husband never went to college and our income is well over a million dollars after taxes

Gut

Tue, Dec 17 2024, 9:42 am

College depends on what you want to achieve. You can't become a good doctor without College. But you could be a great business person without degree

Ruchel

Tue, Dec 17 2024, 9:48 am

I must say, when I see the debts, it's crazy... I LOVE my degree but would I pay to be in DEBT?? I guess that depends on how much I would make, but you can't necessarily be sure... (yes, if you'r a neurosurgeon)

amother

Amber

Tue, Dec 17 2024, 9:59 am

I personally wouldn't last a day in college. I love to learn, but not in a classroom setting.

That said, I earn close to 250k annually by using the talents hashem gave me. Im in the design industry and I get to use my creativity every day. College is important for some, but it shouldn't be basic hishtadlus for everyone.

amother

Diamond

Tue, Dec 17 2024, 10:38 am

amother Forsythia wrote:

You work 20 hours a week? So you make the equivalent of $96k full time. Not too shabby for OOT.

40 hours is full time for an office job. Not for a school job. Most schools consider full time to be approx 35 hours (even public schools and MO schools are usually approx 7 hours a day which comes out to 35 hours weekly).
I guess this is because school jobs require a lot of work outside hours