LogFAQs > #976687358

Hayame_Zero posted...

It costs a ton of money, and a lot of kids are pushed to go to college even if they don't have a clear direction for a career.

This is basically it. I teach at a college, and this is what I've noticed. Students in high school are told they have to go to college right away, and honestly, at 17/18 years old, I don't think most students really know what they want to do, so they end up going to college and getting a degree that's probably not going to do much for them.

I didn't go back to college until my 30's, and by then I had already worked a few jobs and had some time to think about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to spend the rest of my career. That might have been a little too late in life, but that was my decision at that point. I think mid-20's would be ideal for students to start college for most people (of course, some people are ready by 17/18).

There's also the idea that people are being told they need to go to college to earn a decent living, and this isn't true. People should also be told that there are plenty of good jobs in trades and in the service industry. You can go to a decent trade school for much less time for far less money and usually come out into an apprenticeship making decent money and often times without much (or any) debt.

The school I work at actually has some programs built around this where students can get sponsorships from companies that will pay for schooling and then give the students jobs upon graduation. Jobs like auto mechanic (including EVs), diesel mechanics, culinary arts, service management, and IT. Most of our students are not right out of high school (of course, we have some who are), and the students in these trade graduate without much debt, a college degree, and a job where they're setup for future advancement if they want to do it.

But, to get back to the topic at hand, students are pushed into college without a plan, and since college is now so ridiculously expensive (there are a lot of factors at play that made this happen), they graduate with a lot of debt and a lot of difficulty in finding employment. That's why it's generally viewed by many as a scam.