Today, people will tell you thats its normal to go to college. Its expected of americans to take that next step and branch out into the amazing adventure college claims to be. You will learn new and valuable skills, and make "far more" money then the "losers" who skip the 4 year programs, and get right into the work force... Or so they say.
While some college degrees hold their value when it comes to skills like Nursing, Medical doctors, Mechanical engineering, and some other sciences, the majority of the majors and minors students are studding today are more or less, a complete waste of time. This is boomeranged even worse when graduates can't find jobs, and are stuck with massive amounts of student loans, which creates a massive debt bubble, similar to the 2008 finincal crisis. Plenty of us have seen folks working at fast food joints, or selling used cars with college degrees, but should be working in a much higher field based on the investment they thought they made in themselves. While this issue also touches on the current financial crises, much of it is due to the fact that too many people are attending higher education facilities, the value of their degrees are dropping, and the life crippling loans most normal folks are stuck dragging along their whole existence.
When I say things like this, Im not bashing the pursuit of higher education, but rather the cost to benefits and the ROI of the decision to attend a college or university. In my next few paragraphs, I'm going to break down what I call the "College indoctrination scheme", or in lighter words, the pressure the establishment puts on you to obtain a worthless degree. I'l also be covering the reason why college costs so much in the 21st century, and the importance of good time management in the formal years of 18-23 when most folks attend these universities.
Lets begin with the Economics of why college is pushed so hard towards students during high school and secondary education. Every teacher and guidance councilor will do everything in their power to make sure each student will attend a higher education faccility, and if you are opposed to this, you become hazed with sayings like " I hope you like fries with that" or that they will be "pumping gas". The reality is, college is not meant for every single person in the world. Colleges make money by providing the service of education and a degree. They market their service and product though propaganda, government schools, and negative social pressure. Throughout history, more and more people are convinced that it is necessary in life to attend a school like this to be one of the "successful" people. This is propagated by the very same people who encourage college for everyone, because they get all the benefits of helping those schools get more money. Many jobs like Guidance councilors, college preps, the SAT monopoly, and the textbook industry couldn't survive without this pressure.
A massive part of why college is so expensive, is because the government guarantees student loans. I mean, really? who on earth would loan some 18 year old kid $160,000 at a decent interest rate unless they knew it would be impossible to take a loss. The schools are not stupid, and know they will always get the tuition they ask for, because the students can always get the money. Why else would tuition costs increase as the value of their degrees decrease?
Take a look at this graph of Tuition costs VS Salary for post grads with bachelors degrees I obtained from http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-college-tuition-vs-growth-in-earnings-for-college-graduates-2012-11
This leaves the graduates with a degree that is worthless due to too much supply and demand, and a massive amount of personal debt, that as of 2016, you cannot default on.
Imagine graduating college with a mortgage payment, and you've got nothing to show for it besides a degree that 30,000 other people in your city have. Is that really the best way to start out life? The WORST form of slavery, after all, is debt. Particularly, debt with a high interest rate...
So what are we left to do? There is a fine point between a minimum wage job you get the summer after high school, or the job you get after spending 8 years studying law, but using some economic intuition, they're are ways around these issues. Perhaps you could apply for a job a college graduate would get, but ask for a lower salary. employers might accept this, and you'l be learning valuable skills and experience, while your co-ed is overdosing on Ritalin to pass his 19th century Russian literature class...
Entrepreneurship is another way out of this debt circle. While its hard work, and many have failed, its not impossible to become a successful small business or even corporate CEO if you have the social and hardworking skills to succeed. Learning a trade skill, and owning your own plumbing, electrical, or auto shop is a great thing to do for a career. Wouldn't you rather be ahead of your peers by 4-5 years in an industry that has job security, instead of starting off with a hangover from college parting and debt?
If the Government was not involved in the education business, the free market could work its system of competition, supply and demand, and college would be much more affordable. For example, look how high healthcare costs in the USA are. This, like student loans, is caused by the government intervening in a free market service. Between technological innovations, and the internet, healthcare and education should be close to nothing compared to the price it is today. Its a difficult concept to understand, but if you compared these issues to something like the Corn ethanol subsidies the US government placed to help the environment in the 2000s, its really very similar. Farmers got free extra money to grow corn, so thats what they did, and other food prices increased. Its a natural principle of supply and demand. When the farms know they get more money for corn, thats what they grow, so things like apples and potatoes cost more to produce, and more money at the grocery store. Colleges know they will always get the money, because the government thinks investment in our colleges is a smart idea, when in reality, the best investment is one where the individual takes the risk on, not the tax payers.
In the end, the choice is yours when it comes to pursuing a higher education program like college or a university, I just hate to see so many folks my age graduate with degrees they thought they would love at 19 years old, and end up hating their jobs and are stuck with life crippling debt before they can legally even rent a car.
-Author, Cam Wilson of WilsonBTC