Current Events > What's all this about college being a scam?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Most of you got degrees. How is it a scam?

Well gee OP you surely convinced us!

SayHeyyShohei posted...

Well gee OP you surely convinced us!

I'm asking.

People constantly confuse the repercussions of capitalism with the act of going to college.

People treat college like 13th-16th grade, but it also costs an insane amount and most people dont even fully realize that until they have to make loan payments.

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.

Its allowed me to earn well in a career I enjoy, and Ive never made a payment on any of my student loans and dont intend to.

Most of us are in, or are in massive student loan debt, that's the biggest scam of history of all time

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.

gmo7897 posted...

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

Yeah, I guess that's true. Maybe we need kids to settle on a career early. I think college is worth it, but yeah there needs to be an endgame plan.

Its not a scam if you have a goal of exactly what you want to do and you know the earning potential of the career you will try to get into

AzNDarkSamurai posted...

Its not a scam if you have a goal of exactly what you want to do and you know the earning potential of the career you will try to get into

18 year olds are definitely in a position to understand this compared to industry gatekeepers.

If anything, school needs to teach "you will probably be a wage slave, not due to your own failing, but due to the system working as intended."

There are certain degrees for certain majors that I believe won't get you a career level job while others are more lucrative but will still leave you in a massive debt if you're not born into a wealthy family where your parents can pay your expenses.

Cocytus posted...

Most of you got degrees.

But how many use them?

Damn_Underscore posted...

People treat college like 13th-16th grade, but it also costs an insane amount and most people dont even fully realize that until they have to make loan payments.

Youre missing one key word here

Some

Some people treat it like 13-16th grade and graduate with crippling debt.

Collat posted...

But how many use them?

I have an engineering degree that I use every day. I use information from specific classes every day!
At the other extreme, you have the common pre-med and pre-law majors (good schools don't actually have literal Pre-Med and Pre-Law majors), where any undergrad degree knowledge is overshadowed by the grad degree.

people are just angry and be lashing out, blaming others for their problems

I think it is more a failure of parenting than that college is a scam. Millennials saw the rise of the parents siding against the teachers and the hyper infantilization of their children.
Yes, some colleges are way too expensive, but there are plenty of lesser expensive paths out there. A simple teaching of risk/reward analysis to help a young adult understand what their realistic career future looks like and to determine whether going into debt for half a million dollars is a good idea for that liberal arts degree would have went a long way.

Cocytus posted...

Most of you got degrees. How is it a scam?

By God you've destroyed the entire argument in a stroke! People go to colleges to get a degree - they get it! Perfect system.

Textbooks are a scam

thronedfire2 posted...

Textbooks are a scam

That's for sure.

bigblu89 posted...

Youre missing one key word here

Some

Some people treat it like 13-16th grade and graduate with crippling debt.

Its enough people to make it popular to call college a scam

Cocytus posted...

That's for sure.

I pirated my Ethics textbook.

Cocytus posted...

Most of you got degrees. How is it a scam?

the degrees are also a scam

All of our advanced education should be applied education. Studying on paper and taking exams on paper is mostly waste of time and resource.

Like if a person is studying to be a nurse then they should be working in hospitals under supervision for fraction of minimum wage or for free. The learner gets paid, they get experience and the workplace gets the manpower.

Instead of all the money coming out of the students, going to the universities profits. A good country should have free applied education and work experience.