1,500,000 fewer students are going to U.S. colleges and universities than 5 years ago

This was "always" gonna be a problem, but like many things boomers and young gen Xers didn't care, they got their money out of it and now the younger generation is left to pay the inflated price that they deemed mandatory.


Better jobs don't appear out of thin air just because more people are educated. There can only be so many engineers, scientists, attorneys and doctors per capita.

 

Depends on the field that you are going into and what your interests are in life. If you have no goals, interests, or even small plan in mine, then it can become costly, just as if you get a major with a high unemployment rate. Mainly, because many companies have had their pick of candidates lined up at their doors.

With that being said, the landscape is about to change with less people going to college, and pending labor shortages. Now, people with college degrees, seemingly can get their pick of what type of job that they want, in which city, and which pay range.

 

Why would I need to go to school if I'm going to be a successful YouTube/TikTok influencer?

 

I think it's great. College is not necessary for everything. I been trying to tell my family with teenagers in school that there are multiple ways towards a good financial future.

I went to college and got an engineering degree. After my 1st year though, it was kicking my ass and I almost switched over to a Communications degree. Thank goodness I stuck with it, I love doing what I do.

 

Why go to school when you can be a Day Trader or OnlyFans model?

 

My son is going to Babson college. He's going for business and finance. They just focus specifically about business. They're not making you take a bunch of unnecessary unrelated classes.

I was pushing him to go be a doctor but after his high school clinicals he didn't like what he saw. A bunch of burned out people.

 

Trade schools is shorter and cheaper.

Jobs like certified electricians / plumbers pay well and high in demand. It's not glamorous.

From a society stand point far more useful than an art scholar.

 

this past year and a half it means watching your college classes on zoom

 

This is not purely good or bad, it's a mixed bag.

On the good side, it's high time that the higher education bubble burst. We've pumped so much "free" money into the HE system and not regulated costs so the natural result is insane inflation and waste.

On the bad side, a college education, even a lousy one, is a good thing and does make society better (costs not withstanding). People losing faith in that system is going to have negative ripple effects.

 

The problem is not the education per se, but the people/institutions trying to profit from it. Saying college is useless is somewhat like saying diversity is useless--when what they do is give you perspectives.

But like everything else in our system, money has perverted it.

 

One interesting thing to note is the gender gap in higher education. It was already slanted towards women starting in the 1980s but it has actually grown over time. Women across all schooling levels outperform men but when it comes to higher education that disparity has been growing continuously. And this is a global trend across the developed world.

I think we can point to the value of trade jobs and saving money but there are really big societal implications towards creating and perpetuating a major education gap between men and women. Just as it was a problem that 50 years ago when women were largely locked out of higher education (or even basic educations), we're seeing the same problem creep up but for men this time.

 

I get that most go to school simply as a means to an end, but I really feel like something is lost if you strip it down to an assembly line for a job. Knowing things, even random disjointed things has value, even in the age of the internet. Sure you can look anything up, at any time... But if you don't have a varied knowledge base, you won't even know you -should- look something up because you never made the connection in the first place.

Trade schools and stripped down degrees have a place, but what a sad world to live in where learning for learning sake isn't valued.

That said, college prices are outrageous and morally criminal. States need to step up funding, and the schools themselves must stop the spending/growth spiral.

 

Could a portion of this just be due to the pandemic? It's really hard to compare anything today (or over the last year) to anything in other recent times.

I would agree that there should be a bigger push for trade schools, but I do think people need schooling in general. I mean, would you want a nurse on their first day to take your blood? They learn that in school, no?

I think they need to be able to put limits on the types of degrees. If you're going to be doing a dance degree, you need to come up with some of that money yourself. If you're going to be an engineer of some sort, the banks could take on a little more risk in giving loans for that. Or maybe schools can only accept X number of theater majors, but X + 20 business majors. I just, too often, here about how there's not any jobs for a degree in a field that didn't have a job when they started 4 years ago.

While there are plenty of people who make a good chunk of money without a degree, the statistics are much more in favor for those who have one. Even if it's not in their field, people who stuck with and did the work to get a degree, likely have a higher work ethic than someone who dropped out. There's lots of variables, but I always viewed college as something to get your ready for a job (white collar job). All passing means is you're willing to do the work required, and you move on to the next step (job).

Same would be for trade school or any program that is an alternate to college.

My degree was accounting. I'm a CPA. It paid off. But I specifically got the accounting degree because I wanted to be employed. I saw college as a way to get a good job, not a "life experience".

 

Do you mean the elder gen Xer's? I fall squarely in Gen X territory but a couple years behind Millennials. I do not identify with any of the elder Gen X and I feel they are closer to the Boomers.

I feel we have glazed over what a degree really means. As a society, we have somehow equated those with a degree as 'educated' when all we really have done is watered down the studies. Our education system is pushing out way too many PHD's and Masters degrees and BA's are held to the same esteem as AA's were 30 years ago.

On another tangent, I feel as if the medical field is very unappealing given the amount of work and responsibility that goes into it. Being in medicine sucks unless its on the scientific side. Who wants to deal with a bunch of fat people who do not give a damn about their health.

 

The education bubble has been discussed very frequently for a couple decades now. Its the lack of education to debt ratio that is way out of control.

Its not suggesting we shouldn't educate people. Of course you do not put people with no experience on the front lines.

There can be a hybrid where a student can enter a single semester to get their feet wet then enter in an entry level paid internship for a semester. Return back to school for a semester and repeat until the student is ready to enter the work force full time.

 

College just says you can

When you cannot win . .you change the definition of winning
Since (white) men are not the monopoly of Higher Ed anymore. . .. in fact finding the gap between them and others lessening
well . . . now just change the narrative that it is not as necessary
Now you can make up any nebulous ideology that helps maintain your position

Rocket River

 

Trade school or degree > generic 4 year degree, excluding engineering.

 

Higher education is great, it's just too expensive. Everyone should spend 2 years at a community college, and 2 years at university learning things that are specific to your major. I don't know why people have a low opinion of going to community college, I somehow feel the 4 year universities are controlling the narrative in order to push for more people to attend their institution for longer.