How much is that degree really worth?

peilthetraveler

peilthetraveler

They used to say with a college degree, you could earn $1.6 million dollars more over your lifetime than with a high school diploma.

Turns out the real number is more like $400k over 30 years. I bet if they factored in the extra taxes on high income the college graduates make, and add in the extra income that the high school drop outs make from the EIC on their taxes with all their kids they pop out and a college degree is worth even less.

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-ed...nt-paltry-return?mod=edu-continuing_education
 
Prospective employers should inquire..."What was your Major and Minor? What was your GPA"?

Seems most would be interested in hiring graduates with high GPA in science disciplines.... not really interested in the "basket weaving", "black history" or "women's studies" folks.... maybe English, looking for good communicators... or foreign language to fill a niche.
 
"prospective students paying full price would probably have been better off investing in the stock market 30 years ago rather than spending their money on a college education."
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I know this is off base but prior to this financial mess. One could easliy borrow money to buy a car which we know is going to be a worthless pile of scrap in a few years plus the maintenance cost, etc yet, try and borrow the price of a new car or boat and tell them you want to invest the money in the market. They'll look at you like you have two heads. "What, you'll lose the money"
 
Quote from nutmeg:

"prospective students paying full price would probably have been better off investing in the stock market 30 years ago rather than spending their money on a college education."
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I know this is off base but prior to this financial mess. One could easliy borrow money to buy a car which we know is going to be a worthless pile of scrap in a few years plus the maintenance cost, etc yet, try and borrow the price of a new car or boat and tell them you want to invest the money in the market. They'll look at you like you have two heads. "What, you'll lose the money"
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Yeah, but with a car, if you stop making payments, at least they can repo it and resell it. If you lose the money in the market in 2 months, what do they get?

Just look at what happened with the housing crisis. So many people walked away just because their homes went down in value 30%. Whats the odds people are going to pay if they lose the money in the market?
 
And what do you think the employment prospects and lifetime earnings will be for future HS grads, now that manufacturing jobs are rapidly disappearing, blue collar jobs are disappearing, the information economy is rapidly expanding, and college grads are taking even traditional HS grad jobs like plumbers or electricians?

In other words, who earns more: A HS grad working at Target, or an accountant/engineer/nurse/programmer? As for people who got a BS in a dopey area like Art Appreciation or History, well they are basically no better off than HS diplomates

Only an idiot will expect for the next 30 years, for there to be any hope for Mr. "Got my GED, where is my job?"
 
Quote from QuikrRetirement:



Only an idiot will expect for the next 30 years, for there to be any hope for Mr. "Got my GED, where is my job?"
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Exactly. Simply a HS diploma will scarcely even get you a minimum wage job anymore.
 
Quote from Kassz007:

Exactly. Simply a HS diploma will scarcely even get you a minimum wage job anymore.
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I met a guy a few weeks back that runs a restaurant. He said he was looking to hire a few people(waiters & waitress) and got all these applications from people with bachelors degrees and such. I asked if he was going to hire any of them and he said no as those people would leave the second they found a "real" job. He was only hiring the high school educated people and the H.S. drop outs.

So it seems like if you are desperate for a job, having a degree hurts you.
 
Quote from peilthetraveler:


So it seems like if you are desperate for a job, having a degree hurts you.
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I'm not sure if I buy that. If I was an employer, I would want the brightest mind possible, as long as they were willing to work for the wage that I want to pay for that given position.

Out of curiosity, do you have a degree of any type Peil?
 
Quote from peilthetraveler:

I met a guy a few weeks back that runs a restaurant. He said he was looking to hire a few people(waiters & waitress) and got all these applications from people with bachelors degrees and such. I asked if he was going to hire any of them and he said no as those people would leave the second they found a "real" job. He was only hiring the high school educated people and the H.S. drop outs.

So it seems like if you are desperate for a job, having a degree hurts you.
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Ouch. Please refrain from using your personal experience with one person as if it has ANY bearing on life in general. It makes you look like your pants are down.

You are only reinforcing arguments against your own points.

Further, this strengthens the point of how bad it is not to have a degree. Waitstaff is a low income role, and one of the few things HS diplomates can hope for in the new future. Only low income jobs are going to have a manager preferring lesser skills.

And on the converse, what happens when the HS grad shows up for any serious/professional job, and the hiring manager has 20-30 degreed individuals to choose from?
 
The million dollars over a lifetime number isn't representative of the self employed so that would be interesting to see if they factored that in also.
 
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