newbury
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2009
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- 13,586
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- From Vt, in Va, retiring to MS
- Tractor
- Kubota's - B7610, M4700
From http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=317601 it seems it could use a separate thread
The primary question is How important is college to career success? and also What level of college? Associates? Bach? Masters? Doctors? Post Doc?
The secondary question is How long should it take to pay off a college education?
And from the thread.
Farmer wrote it's can take a long time to pay off a college degree now.
When I went in to college in 1969 I expected to be able to earn enough with a Bachelor's sheepskin to make it worthwhile. I did and quickly.
Now it seems almost EVERYONE is expected to have a college degree. And usually a masters or better.
With the AVERAGE student loan debt up around $30K a "starter job" (rookie teacher, lab assistant, researcher) barely pays the interest after other costs of living.
As a retired guy I'm now looking at the situation and wondering if I should start advising the grandchildren to get a job BEFORE college that will pay their way thru college.
Is it worth it to work your butt off for decades to pay off a moderate increase in salary?
The primary question is How important is college to career success? and also What level of college? Associates? Bach? Masters? Doctors? Post Doc?
The secondary question is How long should it take to pay off a college education?
I'm not saying it doesn't happen but in my part if the country I don't see it paying. Took the wife 3years after graduation of working a minimum wage job for school system to get a teachers position. Was looked at many times and said we want experience. You don't have any. She would have made more at Walmart than the school system those years. My job requires an 8th grade education. Maybe full high school. I don't use what I learned in college and my degree is in Ag. Heck if high school would prepare the kids for the real world and not some ****ing test we would all be better off. These kids could come out and make a living.
This seems to be getting pretty "off topic" and I'm going to start a separate thread.
Although being retired I do enjoy complaining about things.
And from the thread.
Farmer wrote it's can take a long time to pay off a college degree now.
Also true for me. College in the mid 70s, then law school. I loaded pop trucks when I was in high school then drove the trucks in during college/law school breaks when the older guys took their vacation. I was able to pay for my 7 years post H.S. without any student loans except for the last two years in law school. I didn't mind the hard work, I actually had more fun and learned more about life working with the older guys during those years. Mostly WW II and Korean War veterans. I didn't have any trouble finding jobs when I finished school either. It's completely different for young kids these days. I don't think they will have the same luck I had. Student loan debt, no good jobs to be had, and a world that seems to be falling apart. I'm a federal lawyer now counting down the last 2-4 years till retirement. Guys my age are probably in the last generation of Americans who will live a better retirement than our parents. I hope that I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
I remember working my way thru college at jobs such as janitor and "mop boy" at a doughnut shop. Real difficult to keep the grades up when you work all night. SWMBO got her way paid by a Daddy who got his MD from the GI bill. We decided our 4 kids would be funded like her if we could afford it. They all got good used cars while in college and the last two got new cars as "graduation presents". 3 have Masters degrees, 1 an Associate and 1 of the Masters is closing on her Doctorate. All now earning their own way and "contributing to society".
I paid about $600 for the first YEAR (2 semesters) of college tuition and fees at UVM (not books etc.). The minimum wage was about $1.45 and I made about $1.85 and took home about $1.50. So I worked about 200 hours just to pay for tuition. Today that same two semesters cost about $16,000 and you can probably get $10 per hour to take home. That would take 1,600 hours to to pay the base cost.
When I went to college, in the mid 70's, my college tuition was $17 per credit hour. Now it is about $400, per credit hour. ( same school ) We used to be able to make enough with summer factory jobs to pay tuition, and room and board. The costs of just school are way higher than what we had to pay. And the summer jobs are hard to find.
When I went in to college in 1969 I expected to be able to earn enough with a Bachelor's sheepskin to make it worthwhile. I did and quickly.
Now it seems almost EVERYONE is expected to have a college degree. And usually a masters or better.
With the AVERAGE student loan debt up around $30K a "starter job" (rookie teacher, lab assistant, researcher) barely pays the interest after other costs of living.
As a retired guy I'm now looking at the situation and wondering if I should start advising the grandchildren to get a job BEFORE college that will pay their way thru college.
Is it worth it to work your butt off for decades to pay off a moderate increase in salary?