Money well spent

Enjoy applying for entry level positions that require 3-5 years of experience.

Ok, it's true college isn't what it used to be.

A college degree used to be rare, meaning you could get any degree and do any job.

Obviously, it's not like that anymore. Everyone has a degree. You need to get a degree that means something.

If you have rich parents that will support you, great, you can fuck around and graduate after 8 years with an English degree, and you'll be alright.

If your parents aren't rich and can't support you indefinitely, you need a degree in something that is hiring or will be hiring when you graduate. Preferably, with a large paycheck, so paying back the loans is reasonable.

Or, ya know, just don't go to college. Learn to weld or install sattelite dishes, or even better, be a general contractor. You can make a goddamn fortune as a general contractor.

Or, do what Mark Twain did, and mary into wealth. Love is fake anyway!

But, ya know, being 18 and impressionable to romantic ideas, it's tempting to think you don't have to follow this guidance and get an art degree and you'll be fine. Don't fall into that. Be smart.

Going to university means you have a better chance than average at getting a good paying job*, not that you will get one.

*assuming you didn’t degree in some low-pay field or something.

The big difference is the type of job you can get.

If you want to work retail you can make decent money, but you are standing all day, dealing with entitled people and work hours that make it difficult to have a life. If you want a 9-5 better get a degree.

In my mind there are 2 reasons why someone should go to higher education:

• You want a career that requires a specific degree, and the pay will be worth the extra years of investment and essentially a delayed start in life.

• You are genuinely curious about the subject and want to learn it for the sake of learning it.

Great if you get both in the same subject but otherwise pick your price point.

No point in going to Harvard for something you have no way or intention to monetize later down the line.

I don't understand people who go study for a profession that's hard work and low wage, and then complain that it's hard work and low wage.

Going to University means you have a chance at a good paying job. Depending on the job, likely a better chance then someone who didnt go. I make decent money and did not go, however I am incredibly lucky and am not betting on that for any children i have. Trades or University/College is a must.

That being said, how about the Government reduces the cost of post-secondary education, instead of allowing banks to earn off billions of school loans each year. Here, they do reduce it for citizens, however not nearly enough. Additionally, many graduates end up moving to other countries because the pay is lower here.

Going to a good university and getting a degree in STEM means you get a good paying job.

Depends on what you go for.

University is in the end what you make out of it.

Talk to people, make some connections - this is what might end up landing you a job, not necessarily what they teach you or the diploma you might or might not get.

Your wrong little Billy. It can help in getting you a we'll paying job, it it depends on both your degree and perception.

That's pretty much a question of culture and the field.

In Germany, it's pretty much impossible to get into some jobs without a degree. In others, you get a higher salary for having a degree, to the point where some companies will not take you for a position because your degree makes you too expensive. In the public sector, your highest degree determines your salary scale (and most importantly where it caps out).

Not saying the system is good like that, but it is currently that way, so at the very least here, degree often corresponds to higher salary.

Did you use your time at university to network and make lasting connections with people who will likely be more successful than you? Because that practically guarantees a job. If you kept your head down and did nothing of note except get a diploma, you wasted your time.

I barely scrapped through high school and now 20 odd years later I'm in an office job on a 6 figure salary. One of the lucky ones I guess?

Yeah, fuck that. I didn't go because I had no interest in sitting in yet more classrooms listening to people drone on and smelling other people's farts for 4 more years

What did you spend your money on?

A degree focusing on intensive career training in a field that is highly demanded, and networking,...

or a "life experience" and a degree in underwater basket weaving?

Look if going to college didn't cost four years of time with 20K per year, where in my career you'd be near to outdated (tech), I'd go.

But for tech I feel like its almost a scam. I'd rather have the certs and/or practical knowledge or be able to go through an interview via algorithms, soft skills, explaining how to go through what I know. Its harder work to learn this way but I think it keeps your skills sharper.

My only solace is knowing that those same adults that repeated these lies to me as a kid will die starving and poor as I will have nothing to support them with.