Is a College Degree Really Worth it?

[acieEarl]

As others have said, sometimes a degree is necessary to move up the ladder. All depends what you want to do. If you're in the field of work that you want to do, the experience is usually more valuable then the schooling. My job paid for 95% of my masters degree, so I didn't think twice about getting it, just taking 1 or 2 classes at night. That being said, I maybe use about 5 to 10% of what I learned in school at my job.

[kozlodoev]

College degree is a way to do some networking and signal a certain level of ability to a potential employer. It's usually the easiest way. Unless you have a strong plan of how it's going to pan out for you without going to college, I recommend staying -- although I strongly urge you to find one that fits your temperament and expectations. Not all schools are created equal.

[GetLucky]

It depends on your dreams and aspirations and what you actually want to do with your education. I know two millionaires, and both went to state college. One took his father's eyeglasses business and brached out, eventually selling the business to a large corporation. Another was an insurance salesman until he had the idea to rent houses to college students (before it was considered a "thing"). Another person I know is a pizza franchisee, and he has a BA in business. He says he uses his education everyday in ways he never could have thought of when he was younger. It's all relative based on what you want to do.

[Moranis]

I like all the feedback I'm getting. To answer some of the questions, the reason why I chose St. Francis was because I was under the assumption that a smaller, more expensive college would be much more beneficial to me. I figured I would get more personal help, and be able to make connections and build relationships with my professors easier than if I went to a public college. It turns out, that so far the only personal help I need from teachers are for tutoring in classes that I have no interest in and only attend because I have to.

Transferring to a cheaper community college sounds like sounds reasonable, although acieEarl echoes a lot of things I've heard from my own co-workers. I have a little less than a month less in the semester. Man this summer is going to be busy.

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world.  What you need to do this summer is figure out what you really want to do and do the research.  If you stick with communications, look into St. Francis' job placement after graduation, starting salaries, etc.  What type of programs do they have to help people find jobs?  Do they have relationships with employers?  etc.  Being such a small school they might or might not.  A big public university will have a lot more programs designed to help people because they have a lot more students.  If possible see if St. Francis has an arrangement with a local community college where you can take things like English, Math, etc. and that are transferable to the school (you will save a ton of money). 

I went to the University of Cincinnati (big public university).  They have a ton of job placement programs and have an arrangement with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, where virtually every class is transferable to UC.  So a number of my classmates took the first two years at CSTCC before transferring to UC to finish out their college degree.   UC has all sorts of job fairs and programs to help students get jobs.  Being large they always had the very large companies from Cincinnati on hand as well as many of the smaller ones.  Size matters.  Now granted you have to compete more for the jobs, but a company like Proctor & Gamble which is headquartered in Cincinnati, respects UC and the education the students get so P&G favors UC grads verse grads from other similarly situated schools. 

Now granted the time to do all of this was probably before you went to St. Francis, but there is no point throwing good money away.  If you decide you aren't going to be happy at St. Francis or it isn't worth the long term investment then it is better to just cut ties now and move on.  Maybe your research leads you to the conclusion that St. Francis really is the right school for you.  Only you can make that call.

[SHAQATTACK]

If you can afford it yes during and afterwards yes .    Even if your not college material ,   The experience is invaluable life situation.....regardless......I graduated , but it took an extra year ....I was so immature when I entered.    Plus ......graduating gives you an early confidence boost in life.....several employers told me as I interviewed, they understood that no experience was not so  much of an issue at entry level.  They wanted people who , finished college, would finish what they start.   Off on your own with so many distractions , you learn to be a self starter if you wish to succeed .  Finishing what you start is proof of your diligence and dedication to your goals.

If you can achieve your career goal or get started you can save a lot of money by going to a community college .   Some associate degrees pay nearly what a 4 year graduate earns . 

If your being GIVEN the money by relatives to attend college .  Then , GO for it ......like I said the experience was very cool......I was from a small town and needed to stand on my own two feet.

Plus I met my wife.  .       Some life long friends ,  you learn about other cultures , you'll grow as an adult.

I think going away to school is important .

Yes ,  there is more to it than just a diploma and job .   

[jpotter33]

APC brings up a good point with community college.  If you are not certain what you want to do yet still want to go to school, a community college is a lot cheaper option where you can get most of your common intro classes taken care of.

Also, if you can find a trade you are interested in, tech school is a very good option as well.

I agree.  The classic college / university isn't for everyone.  Some of my happiest friends have gone to community college and/or have taken certification courses. 

If you don't know what you want to do, college is a massive waste of time and money.

Same here. I think it's a very good idea to try community college first if you're not sure what you want to do. That's what I did, and I changed my course of direction three times before finally sticking with one. After getting my Associates there, I went to a four-year liberal arts college and attained my Bachelors. After that I got my Masters at a large university, and I'm currently working on my doctorate right now. So just because you start off at a community college doesn't mean you can't attain a higher degree later on.

It also depends upon what you want to do. For me, having a PhD is pretty much necessary, because I want to work in academia and do research in philosophy, theology, and ethics. In addition, these types of programs also give you necessary experience for your future. For example, right now I'm doing research for a big name in bioethics through a graduate research assistantship, and I've also taught my own college classes through teaching assistantships.

On the other hand, I have friends in engineering and chemistry that only got their Masters, because people in their field prefer experience over a doctoral degree. On an even different level, my brother only has his Associates degree, but he's working on the railroad as an engineer making close to six figures. So, honestly, it really just depends upon what you want to do, how passionate you are about learning the discipline, and what your career goals are.

[Wretch]

For good or for bad education is a gate to opportunity.  There are outliers, like Gates or Jobs, but most people's incomes are tied to their education level. Also most career fields require certain education to enter them, for some that is a traditional college for other it's professional certificates.

I have a BA in Political Science and I worked my way through a public university and took no debt.  I regret not getting a BS and not going to grad school as I have reached a point in my career where I am competing for promotions with BS degrees in finance or accounting and MBAs.  At 44 I am in process of returning to school to get more education.

My wife on the other hand has the same undergrad degree from the same school I attended but went on and got her JD. She feels hamstrung by her, relatively small, school debt from law school, but I feel she has more options than I do because of her post grad degree. It also bothers her that we both make similar incomes, but I feel I out earn my education level based on some fortunate circumstances.

I will also say be prepare to be treated as a valuable but replaceable cog in the machine regardless your choice,  In my experience the more education you have the more valuable (harder to replace) you are and the easier it is to change jobs if you are dissatisfied. My wife feels, the opposite, her JD pigeon holes her and she has to be a lawyer.

So both sides of the college argument exist in our home so I understand your question. Whether a degree is worth it is based on a lot of variables like major, and expense.  I wouldn't want to have $100k in school debt for an undergrad degree in French.  The only advice I will offer is don't think just about the job you get coming out of school.  Try to honestly evaluate where you want to be in 20 years both personally and financially and then decide what sort of education you need to get there, not what sort of education you need to get your first job.

Good luck with your choice.  It's good you are asking questions about education and it's cost.

[fairweatherfan]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.


To the OP: Like others have said, don't go to college just to go to college.  You should want to expand your intellectual abilities (there are other ways to do this, though) and/or pursue a specific career.  You don't need your life planned out in advance to make an education worthwhile, but you do need to at least be interested in becoming more educated.

[D Dub]

I'm a 19 year old sophomore currently enrolled in St. Francis College NY, and I wanted to know if staying all four years, amassing large amounts of debt, and getting a college degree is truly worth it. For one, I'm majoring in "Communications" which I'm beginning to see is a useless major (no offense to anyone that has that major too). I'm also minoring in sports management but have yet to even take a class in that subject because I'm registering late due to financial issues. There are a plethora of "core classes", and "electives" that I must pay for and take in order to graduate, but if I continue to take these classes, I would've takn more classes outside my major and minor than inside.

Don't even get me started on textbooks. Not only are the prices outrageous, but teachers make it mandatory to purchase it, and even penalize you for not bringing the textbook to class. If the textbook is created by a teacher in the school, once you purchase it, you're not allowed to return it because a new edition would have been made before the semester even ends. And the difference between the editions are so miniscule it should be a crime to call it "new".

I'm not against school, or education, just "college". I'd rather go to a trade school, or be a non-matriculated student.

I work at Family Dollar, as an Assistant Store Manager and have a part-time job as IT Mover (all I do is move office equipment such as phones and computers.) I'd very much like to ditch Communcations and focus on IT but the people that I work with often tell me that you don't necessarily need an IT degree. Taking specific classes and earning IT licenses, are good enough to get a career going.

I was wondering if I should try to continue going through college, or try a different approach by learning a trade, and attending schools that specialize in the things I'm interested in. I'd really appreciate the feedback because this has been bouncing around my head for weeks now.

I can empathize, graduated with a BA in Communications myself.  It was an absolute struggle for me to find a job out of school.  The problem is, by itself, Communications degrees don't really align to any one industry, so you have to couple it with other certs, experience, ingenuity, maybe a personal connection that gets you in the door...you get the idea.  While its the classic 'jack of all, master of none' type of degree, without any degree whatsoever you really limit your earning potential. Would you rather never make more than 50k a year debt free, or borrow 125k and earn somewhere between 75-100k a year? 

That said, I do think you are on the right track with IT.  In today's day and age, communications & IT are one in the same.  Having credentials that speak to both will help you exponentially.  You may also find that the smartphone revolution has created TONS of opportunity to transition businesses from analog to digital; or better yet create a new business model where a pressing need is unmet.  This is, when you think about it, communications at its finest.  I'd stick it out, try and supplement that Com degree with IT projects & certs and make as many new friends as possible.  Its surprising how much the 'friend of a friend' matters in hiring decision these days...

[D Dub]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

I think you are both right, the big-time schools just have a different word for it:  Endowment 

[fairweatherfan]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

I think you are both right, the big-time schools just have a different word for it:  Endowment

That's not really how endowment works; if a university takes in more than it spends in a year it may draw less from the endowment the following year, but it generally doesn't actually put that money into the endowment.  More likely they'll just direct the extra money to some building project or campus initiative, and come up with some excuse for hiring 3 new vice-presidents.

[the_Bird]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

"Non-profit" doesn't mean they aren't trying to make money - it just means that they need to spend all the money they get on fancy new buildings and administration salaries.  Same basic racket as the NCAA; for all intents and purposes you're earnings millions and millions of dollars, but as long as you manage to spend it you get to keep your "tax-exempt" status. 

[Moranis]

All Universities are the same.  They are designed to make money and be profitable.  Just like the rest of the world. 

Hahaha what?  The vast majority of universities are non-profits.  Here's Wiki's list of for profit universities and colleges:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges

Not a lot of big name schools on there; a lot of vocational/specialized schools and fly-by-night online operations, though.

"Non-profit" doesn't mean they aren't trying to make money - it just means that they need to spend all the money they get on fancy new buildings and administration salaries.  Same basic racket as the NCAA; for all intents and purposes you're earnings millions and millions of dollars, but as long as you manage to spend it you get to keep your "tax-exempt" status.

Exactly.

[jaketwice]

First: GOOD ON YOU for thinking about WHY you are going to college. Answer: to get a J-O-B. Communications will not get you a job. Communications might just as well be a degree in drinking beer, studying abroad, and trying to date girls who will like you better when you're 30 anyway.

I absolutely think you should switch majors to something requiring an understanding of math. Accounting/IT, etc. The reason those jobs pay more is because majoring in communications is not that difficult. Those fields require some level of technical expertise. You will struggle to find employment (probably, ITE) with a communications major.

Most of my technical friends came out of school making $70s/$80s, while the liberal artists make doodly squat, and their careers never recover.

That said, dropping out to work as an assistant manager at a retail establishment is a bad idea for the same reason. Lots of people can do that job. You want to make money? Do a job that one cannot do without some level of higher ed.

In short: change majors. Do extra time if you must.

List of unprofitable/financially foolish majors:

1. communications
2. history
3. English
4. political science
5. sociology
6. unless you want to be in the mental health field: psychology
7. visual art
8. music/music performance (including especially any kind of singing)
9. journalism
10. dance (of any kind - even knowing a lot about dance)

[jaketwice]

First: GOOD ON YOU for thinking about WHY you are going to college. Answer: to get a J-O-B. Communications will not get you a job. Communications might just as well be a degree in drinking beer, studying abroad, and trying to date girls who will like you better when you're 30 anyway.

I absolutely think you should switch majors to something requiring an understanding of math. Accounting/IT, etc. The reason those jobs pay more is because majoring in communications is not that difficult. Those fields require some level of technical expertise. You will struggle to find employment (probably, ITE) with a communications major.

Most of my technical friends came out of school making $70s/$80s, while the liberal artists make doodly squat, and their careers never recover.

That said, dropping out to work as an assistant manager at a retail establishment is a bad idea for the same reason. Lots of people can do that job. You want to make money? Do a job that one cannot do without some level of higher ed.

In short: change majors. Do extra time if you must.

List of unprofitable/financially foolish majors:

1. communications
2. history
3. English
4. political science
5. sociology
6. unless you want to be in the mental health field: psychology
7. visual art
8. music/music performance (including especially any kind of singing)
9. journalism
10. dance (of any kind - even knowing a lot about dance)

And before some Yahoo comes along to tell us all how great his history degree worked out in his life, and before the visual artist tells us how her degree prepared her to make the banner on the website for her dog-walking business, let's understand - I am speaking STATISTICALLY. There are exceptions to every rule. Because some internet stranger is happy with her life path does not mean you should continue to flounder around doing "communications." Here is a PDF from the NY Fed that has a helpful chart on Page 6 that speaks to the heart of your query.

http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci20-1.pdf

I don't think the Federal Reserve has skin in this particular game.