Is college worth it these days?

Do you guys think college is even worth paying for anymore? In my eyes the only good professions worth even going to college for are the medical field or being a lawyer..

 

It has it's perks such as low interest rate loans, Networking, and on campus living.

 

being a lawyer? lmao.. my sister has went thru 8 years of college..in debt out her ass.

went to law school..

making 45-50k a year for a firm.

thats completely jack shit whenever your in debt like she is. Believe me it is not even worth going to be a lawyer.

If you go for computer science, engineering, medical or any technology field. your solid. In the end, it is worth going to college way more than having a high school education going thru life. It is worth it..if you go for a degree in the majors I listed above. If you go for like history, english, anthropology, etc.

You ARE FUCKED! (pardon the french)

 

College is not worth it if you're going to essentially "check the box"...or if YOU really have no specific career you're passionate about. I found that most of my friends went to college because their parents told them they were, or went to have fun and live that "Animal House" life haha.

Personally for me I think the experience would be worth it because I feel like I've missed out on those crazy party/fun experiences that college has to offer. But I'm not interested in furthering any kind of education through college because I already have a job that will make for a great career in the future.

Like others said college is worth it if you have that career you want in your mind when going into it. May it be medical, architecture, accounting etc. . .
Anything not along those lines your best bet is to hit a vocational school, and/or work your ass off trying to get into a union in my opinion.

She'll get there bro, she's probably been out of college for what a couple years at most I'm thinking. Everyone starts out at the bottom and if she's any good she'll find herself close to the top! My girlfriends boss is an accountant, she started out at a small time accounting firm. Got her experience there then got hired at KPMG, got even more experience and now she's a partner with 2 accounting firms.

 

It all depends on what you want to do, i'm finishing my second semester getting all my basics out of the way because i just got a full time job at a car dealership. If needed i can always go back to school, but for now i'm staying away from it cause i'm not a fan of school haha

 

Well, we don't have to pay for it here so I say yes. Lol. We get all University education for free, including doctorates etc.

At the end of the day, although there are many graduates working in low-end jobs, when the good jobs come around you'll be nearer the top of the pile.

 

In most european countries its free. im not sure if its worth it in the US where tuition fee's can be over 50k/year.

 

My grandpa was born and raised in Scotland. Wish I had the opportunity to do as he did.

@OP: College, as with anything, is what you make of it. If you're planning on becoming a mechanic.. you should question if it's more beneficial to spend two-four years in a lab without real-world experience, or pick up an apprenticeship. On the flip.. I've never heard of many successful technical careers that offers apprenticeships (beyond internships, most of which, are very selective - sometimes exclusively to individuals with a degree).

Success comes with dedication. No matter what you set your mind to you can be successful. Success is not always measured in wealth, though.


My grandpa's friend has a 80-ft wooden 'yacht' that he rents for private parties/company outings (even a porno shoot, once) in Manhattan and takes them around the Harbor. He easily makes over 200,000 USD over the course of 4-6 months and spends his off-season in the Florida Keys with his sail boat that he rents to vacationers, and lives in a house boat.. no taxes.

He does not have a college education.

 

You tell me:
Median annual individual income
Both sexes, age 25+
High school graduate - $26,505
Bachelor's degree - $43,143

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

Is it worth it? Yes, that's 17k more a year on average. State schools cost about 10k a year which would pay for itself before 3 years (a little longer if you're making below avg)

Of coarse there are ways to make it not worth it. For example going to an expensive college, taking out loans, and majoring in a humanity without having a plan.

Medical and legal careers are good, but people can usually get a job and make a good living with any science or math based major.

 

Math, medical, and legal careers are always hot. You can get just a general mathematics degree and do a shit ton of stuff. I thought about doing aeronautical engineering for a while, but I realized how much I hate having to sit down and do math.

As far as the guy above talking about his sister. I worked in a law office as a clerical worker/mail person for a while. One of the attorneys there was an awesome guy who had just won a Supreme Court case a few months before I got hired. He told me that he hated school and was bottom of his class and the owner of the firm took a chance and gave him a job as a brief writer. Around 5 years later he is getting 8 to 10 cases recorded (a huge thing in the civil legal field) every six months and rolling in the cash. I mean the firm had boxes of accounts to collect on and there was a warehouse with shelves full of these boxes. All of them had thousands of dollars in them and he was taking 15% per case won, and some of these cases were winning upwards of $100 - $200k. He managed around 20 cases at a time and could get an award on a case with around 10 hours of work on a case. Besides the percentage they also got to petition the courts for lawyers fees which were awarded at a rate of $150 - $200 per hour worked on a case.

 

lol @ people thinking college isn't worth it.

So I'm going to be a accountant/business management

I got 5 years for my bachelor in acc, and minor in business.

tuition is 7500 a year for a recognized college in the midwest with a good alumni.

so 7500 x 5 = 37,500 for the actual learning.
It's about 3,500 a semster for living and food too so...
7000 x 5 = 35,000

So far we got $ 72,500 without the interest added to the $37,500 (because you cant get student loan on board and food). Lets just say a even $80,000

So for my $80,000 investment I'll receive an education that will put me in a field with a secure future. A median income of $63,550 according to the BLS 2014 - 15.

So lets say I don't go to college and make the $26,505 a year and work for lets say 25 years doing who knows what.

$26,505 x 25 = $662,625 in my lifetime.

Now we got 5 years taken away from working for school and an $80,000 debt (even though it would be more like 60k probably).

So ($63,550 x 20) - $80,000 = $1,191,000

So you tell me! Would you rather make $662,625 or $1,191,000 in your lifetime not to mention all the unforgettable experiences you'll experience in college?

 

It's worth it, but it shouldn't be. There are true geniuses out there, especially in my field of study (computer science) who can't afford or don't want higher education, but they can't legally be hired at any company worth working at because there's barriers that prevent the company from hiring TRUE talent over [poorly] educated talent. This sort of selective hiring is worse than hiring based on race.

 

There are programs that are worth it and programs that aren't. At the end of the day most employers desire that piece of paper. If you want to be self-employed, for the majority of programs you might as well save yourself the money and self-teach (computer science for example).

 

Wat. I know plenty of people that get hired without degrees.

Also @OP: There are way too many lawyers and unless you go to a top school and manage to get into a top firm, you'll make no money.

 

There are more options once you graduate because now a days there is so much competition that it is hard to get a high end or even a mid end paying job. It is all up to personal opinion tho.

 

It is worth it if you make it worth it. As of right now I'm in chemical engineering working hard. After scholarships my tuition is ~2500 dollars a year x 4 year = 10 000 dollars. The starting pay for a chemical engineer is ~$50 an hour so obviously that 10 000 dollars is basically 2 months work taking taxes into consideration so for me I personally believe it is worth it if you choose the right career path. Another good one is computer science.

 

Depends on what law you want to practice.

 

I've also heard plenty of stories about people trying to raise in ranks in their careers, but can't because of their lack of degree. A particularly sad story about a guy doing grunt work at boeing and is more talented than the lead software engineer

 

I hate how people just assume you will be a dirt poor lower class member of society if you don't go to college. If you look at job listings for computer science jobs you'll notice it says "A 4 year bachelor degree OR x amount of experience in x, y, and z." My guess is that they prefer the latter. 'Experience' is not just working for a company. You can easily teach yourself c++, HTML5, java, exc by buying 30-40$ textbooks on amazon. You can go take tests to get yourself certified in the language at your local test center, build some websites, program some basic windows software, and build up a portfolio. In half the time it would take you to get a degree, you could gain the same amount of credentials for only a few hundred dollars. Not to mention computer science is one of the most secure jobs right now with so many coperations going digital. Almost every business has an IT team. I think it's around 2.5-4% of people with computer science skills are unemployed.

 

To me it's worth it as coming out of college will allow u to command a higher pay. This higher pay over the years will add up to so much more. This is excluding to the extra valuable experience, lessons and friends you will gain in college