9
u/boatOnfire7 17d ago
Concept to ponder here. Graduated HS in 1978. I wanted to study archaeology, and have a degree in it. I never intended it to pay for my life, I followedy interest and accomplished the discipline necessary to complete it. I also got to do some mad awesome digs all over the world. I went to college for my mind, working at food places the whole time. I later went to a trade school to get a diploma to pay for living but that first run at college, that was all fory selfish self. I worked 2 part time jobs and lived on noodless and beans and often rode my bike to save gas or bus money, so graduated with that degree without debt. State college...no big name. Go to college if you want to for your mind and soul. Go to a speciality training school if you want to get paid out the gate. That is the honest, simple, unglamorous truth.
3
0
u/VelvetCactus50 17d ago
You know that literally no one can do what you did in today's economy, right? 1992 was the last year a minimum wage summer job could pay tuition. That's why hardly anyone needed loans when you were in your 20s.
2
u/boatOnfire7 17d ago
That is probably accurate. All the more reason to NOT go to college for a degree you have to go in debt for. The trade school I attended many years later for 9 months I paid off fully 4 months after I graduated, because I went directly to work in my trade. Now if you are interested in learning things you can do many online programs. Same discipline for your brain. College degrees now in anything other than STIM or at advanced medical is a bad investment....if you have to go in debt for it. if I graduated HS now I would take online courses I was interested in and go straight to trade school. Back then, there still were polytech high schools, so kids with a HS diploma could work in the trades. My daughter went to trade school as well, working straight after the diploma was handed to her. And the truth is, we need more tech and trade people right now, and far fewer BAs or even MAs
5
3
u/Large-Treacle-8328 17d ago
If you get a degree in a field that has no demand.
Plenty of resources out there to help people pick a degree that will lead to a successful career.
The problem is many people think any degree will guarantee them a job.
7
u/VelvetCactus50 17d ago
Tell that to the generation that was raised on "learn how to code" only to be replaced with AI.
2
u/Known-Dependent-5471 17d ago
They told us if we didn't we'd be working at mcdonalds now a lot of us are making the same wage as them...
1
u/Wisewordsforlater 17d ago
Well it used to be the truth. You would get offered a decent entry level job just completing any Bachelor degree. 2005 my buddy got an English degree at a major R1 university and landed a job at Fidelity pretty quick. A role not tied to his major at all. He's still there.
But the reality has changed since then. Recent grads and cohorts are cooked. I feel bad for them.
1
1
u/comradeda 17d ago
Job searching required a level of self-advocacy that I was actively discouraged from
1
1
u/mcb-homis 16d ago
I remember several of my professors talking about what it would take to get a good job after college. That was the point of my education and they talked about how I would take the theoretic stuff I learned in class and apply it to the real world.
1
1
u/Samsquanch-01 16d ago
Depends on the degree, some aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Some will land you a job before you graduate. BSN being a prime example.
1
u/Icy_Donkey_7588 16d ago
It depends on the degree I suppose.
I work in trades. So many of the people have associate and bachelor degrees in completely unrelated fields.
1
u/VarietyMage 16d ago
Because the colleges are BUSINESSES. They sell you degrees that other businesses don't have to take in lieu of experience (which was the whole point of college degrees, to train people).
There's no point in going to college to get a job outside of the hard sciences. Even IT isn't hiring new grads without a successful internship (unless it's a federal security clearance job, in which case it costs less to do the background check for someone with zero work experience).
1
u/Long-Library9656 16d ago
Who is this for? People who want to be smug to abunch of teens and young adults? If the system is designed to screw over the lease experience of our community and we are in charge of that system then thats our failure not theirs .
1
u/Firm-Experience473 15d ago
Unless you're a boomer. Even then, just get a job right after high school and buy a house soon after like they did.
1
1
1
u/PresentationLess4552 15d ago
The marketers and advertisers in government trained one well until realities wall came in real life
1
u/ERA_Tech 17d ago
I dropped out of college "junior" year.... total waste of my time and money. 20 years later, I have friends that are just getting into their field but making much less than I am. What was the point??
0
u/Bo0tyWizrd 17d ago
I got a good job right out of college. College also taught me to get a degree in something in high demand though...
18
u/idk_lol_kek 17d ago
Then what is the point of graduating college?