Steve Olsher: College Is The Single Worst Investment A Parent Can Make

[Big Pimpin]

For decades, we have often heard that the journey to career success requires a college degree. While we all want the best for our children, as parents, it is imperative that we pause to examine the educational myth that permeates society and choose whether or not to perpetuate this mentality. Yes, college has its place for those who know the EXACT career path they wish to pursue. For everyone else, and with rare exception, it's a social experiment.

If you send your child to college expecting a solid return on your investment, start playing the Lotto. You have a better chance of winning.

To be clear, secondary education has its benefits. There is a proven correlation between knowledge and income. That said, we can no longer ignore the disturbing facts and objectively explore alternative options towards reaching the same destination.

Consider the following:

1) According to a recent Rutgers University study, 53% of students who graduated between 2006 and 2010 are currently working full-time.

It has become increasingly evident that a college degree does not equate to job security. Further, 50% of those employed full-time work in positions where a Bachelor???s degree is not required. Scary.

2) Within 5 years, 87% of college graduates do NOT work in their field of study.

Is it really a mystery that the result of attending college straight from high school is often that Mom and Dad are broke and junior has a degree in art history with a minor in pre-unemployment?

3) Outdated mindsets continue to drive the educational system.
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When was the last time you used biology, chemistry, algebra, statistics, calculus, or philosophy? Unless you're an engineer, scientist or teacher, odds are good it???s been awhile.

Students spend 60 - 70% of their time, energy, and your hard-earned cash on classes they will never use. General education courses were originally created to expose students to multiple subjects so they could then choose which major to pick. This course of action is wasteful on many levels and must be reversed.

So, what are the alternatives?

1) Send your child off into the world before sending them off to college.

Don't spend $21,500 this year on tuition (the average annual cost). Give ???em $5,000 and a swift kick. Your child will learn significantly more about life, their options, and opportunities being on their own than being at home or in school. Both are sheltered environments. The world is harsh. Teach them this lesson early.

2) Encourage them to volunteer, join the peace corps, work, enlist in the military, apprentice, intern, and network.

The time to begin exploring options is when you have zero responsibilities. Dare your child to soar and cut the rope. As long as they???re holding on to you or the current belief system, they???ll never attain their desired heights or forge their own path.

3) If they gain clarity on their WHAT - that is, the ONE thing they were born to do - have them research education alternatives and come to you with a game plan.
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There are more options for creating an outstanding career than ever before. From trade schools, to seminars, books on tape, work/study programs, getting a job, and the internet ??? students no longer need to be in a classroom to gain the knowledge required to propel their life forward.

And, once options are presented, have them pay it (or at least a solid chunk of the cost). People inherently value what they spend their own money on.

Ultimately, as parents, it is our responsibility to raise adults who make a positive contribution to our world. College is not a prerequisite.

Therefore, we must teach our children how to tap into their inherent blueprint and heed their natural gifts. Then, and only then, will you realize a meaningful return on your investment.

After all, one in every four college graduates still lives with their parents. Odds are good, that???s not the return most parents had in mind???

 

[SloppyJ]

"Don't let the liberal media tell you how to live your life"

-Clayton Bigsby

 

[Big Smoothy]

Give your child $5,000 a swift kick and send them out to the world?

Bullshit.

They will be working in the service sector.

I agree that college - because of the astronomical costs in the US - is a bad investment. Good for the mind and maturing, definitely.

But the cost is so prohibitive.

I consider myself lucky to have graduated from Uni in the early 90s.

 

[SloppyJ]

I believe there are better ways to go about it than just shipping them off to college to live on campus and rack up debt. I've been working full time at an engineering firm since I got out of HS. I've also been taking college classes ever since then also. Granted it's taken me MUCH longer than my friends, I'm about to graduate. But you know what, I have ZERO debt.

I went to a community college to get all of the BS out of the way and then transfered to a top university to finish my degree. I would not trade my experiences for anything. I've learned so much and grown a lot as a person. Live on my own and pay my own bills. It's a tough world, but I would hate to venture into the job market and work at a factory for the rest of my life because I didn't go to school.

 

[ebn2002]

Yes, tell your kids not to go to college so somebody can pick up my kids garbage.

 

[Big Pimpin]

I believe there are better ways to go about it than just shipping them off to college to live on campus and rack up debt. I've been working full time at an engineering firm since I got out of HS. I've also been taking college classes ever since then also. Granted it's taken me MUCH longer than my friends, I'm about to graduate. But you know what, I have ZERO debt.

I went to a community college to get all of the BS out of the way and then transfered to a top university to finish my degree. I would not trade my experiences for anything. I've learned so much and grown a lot as a person. Live on my own and pay my own bills. It's a tough world, but I would hate to venture into the job market and work at a factory for the rest of my life because I didn't go to school.

I do think most kids need some type of gap between HS and their first year of college to get a clue about how life works and how important either a good degree or a skilled trade is to being financially successful in life.

College isn't for everyone and there's nothing wrong with a guy who is willing to get his hands dirty and sweat learning HVAC, plumbing or welding.

Personally, I worked and paid my own way through college as I went and have no regrets. Coming out of college debt free is huge IMO.

 

[myCATpowerlifts]

This is actually incredibly good advice.
If you read the article, you'd see why.

I spent a lot of time/money in classes I ultimately will not use, because I was told from early early on that I needed to head straight to college after highschool.

This is a big mistake for most people.

I think everyone should work from age 18 to 21, before they decide to go to college.

Save lots of money, and they'll have a much better idea what they do and do not want to do.

 

[SloppyJ]

I do think most kids need some type of gap between HS and their first year of college to get a clue about how life works and how important either a good degree or a skilled trade is to being financially successful in life.

College isn't for everyone and there's nothing wrong with a guy who is willing to get his hands dirty and sweat learning HVAC, plumbing or welding.

Personally, I worked and paid my own way through college as I went and have no regrets. Coming out of college debt free is huge IMO.

I agree 100%. A specialized technical field IMO has a better job placement than someone with a BS in business or something not so specific.

 

[Big Pimpin]

I agree 100%. A specialized technical field IMO has a better job placement than someone with a BS in business or something not so specific.

My brother had 2 yrs of college in and at 21 said fuck it. Went and took A+, Net+ and MCSE classes. Started off at $30K 10 yrs ago and now will make high 80's this year with bonus and works 5 minutes from his house. He runs an entire IT dept for 450 employes in 6 branch offices.

Not every kid is college material and I know a lot of well off electricians, HVAC, plumbers and IT nerds. A lot has to do with personal ambition too.

 

[Wookiemonster]

I think everyone should work from age 18 to 21, before they decide to go to college.

This is where I think 4 years of federal service either in the Military or Peace Corps type work (strictly in America) should come in.

 

[ebn2002]

Disagree with all of you. A degree is general because it gives you OPTIONS. Go work HVAC, thats all you can ever do. Specialize in something right out of high school and you are doing it forever.

I have a business degree. I am a stock broker. If I decide I don't like this job there are hundreds of other jobs I can go get right away with my degree, and all of them pay more than 99% of people will make with a high school diploma.

Anybody with a degree and no job after one year is fukn lazy or thinks they are more qualified than they are and won't take an entry level job. Wouldn't matter if they didn't go to college, they would still be lazy.

College is not for everybody, I get that, but to say that kids should get some specialized training and then be stuck doing that same thing forever is not a good idea. Options and flexibility are more important in my opinion.

and people talking about making $80k a year is good, but I made more than that my first year out of school at 24, not bragging just saying you are way behind without college. And also one of my professors was the reason I got an internship and now I work for the same company 7 years later. can't get the community feel and contacts at special school.

 

[bandaidwoman]

we need to bring back the days of apprenticeship, honestly a draftsman does not need a college degree, many technical , highly skilled jobs can be done with apprenticeship.
However, I honestly don't see how highschool even comes close to producing an analytical chemist or biochemist ( my previous field) without a college education. High level mathmatical fields, ditto. I have saved up 150 grand for my daughter already to go to college (because i lived in a house i bought for less than 160 grand, lived simply etc.) which will give her some freedom but if she goes to grad school ( like I did) she is on her own. I don't expect her to major in something that will gaurantee huge salary. What if she wants to be a theoretical physicist? ( and we need them since thier work indirectly feeds into applications in IT.) I worked between college and grad school and that was very eye opening. Not everyone should go straight to college out of highschool. That I agree with.

 

[Big Pimpin]

Some way, some how a 4 year bachelors degree needs to become a 2 year degree in most cases. Unless you are pre-med/pharm/law etc there's no reason to waste 4 years of time and money on 4 Englishes, 3 sciences, a bunch of electives and lame capstones.

The typical kid seeking a business degree should be in and out in 2 years with some extra effort on his part and a reduced overall program requirement on behalf the school.

 

[bandaidwoman]

It all comes down to the value of an education and how one uses it.

My brother's physics degree from Princeton ,though useful, is subservient to his spanish double major at this point in his career... he is a big time international project manager and flies all over latin america managing the software engineers and troubleshooting projects there . I honestly made fun of him majoring in spanish 25 yrs ago but Princeton was very adamant about even the science majors getting a well rounded degree . I bitched about my college requiring me to take english, history , and language classes when I was just a chemistry, math major but I find that my writing skills honed in these classes help me write well so I can grovel for grants from organizations and entities that do not have scientists making the funding decisions.....

 

[LAM]

Anybody with a degree and no job after one year is fukn lazy or thinks they are more qualified than they are and won't take an entry level job. Wouldn't matter if they didn't go to college, they would still be lazy.

the ever increasing student loan default rate shows there is a lack of jobs across all job markets. the lazy excuse hold no water as there are tons of studies to show the US is down about 14M jobs since about 2000. with a workforce of about 168M this equates to about a 8% reduction in jobs which is substantial.

Americans have short memories and do not pay enough attention to details. the economic expansion from 2001-2007 before the banking collapse was only increasing jobs at the annual rate of 0.01%. the housing market boom in the 2000's only temporarily masked this problem. basically we are back to the anemic levels of job creation that we were seeing pre-Internet which was the last time there was actual real income growth in the US and economic expansion that was not fueled by the opening up of credit markets as was seen in the 80's and 2000's...

this consumption based economy based on a service sector is bogus...there are far too many people in the US to be supported by the service sector. 9% unemployed and 20% of the workforce is underemployed. this tells us everything we need to know.

 

[ebn2002]

the ever increasing student loan default rate shows there is a lack of jobs across all job markets. the lazy excuse hold no water as there are tons of studies to show the US is down about 14M jobs since about 2000. .

All I'm saying is my friends that WANT to work are all working. My friends that are like you and say the economy is bad, there are no jobs, etc.. those are the ones that have no job because the economy is bad so they just cry about it instead of getting a job.

 

[Big Pimpin]

the ever increasing student loan default rate shows there is a lack of jobs across all job markets. the lazy excuse hold no water as there are tons of studies to show the US is down about 14M jobs since about 2000. with a workforce of about 168M this equates to about a 8% reduction in jobs which is substantial.

Now that I think about it, I don't know one person that I ran around with in HS or college with a college education that isn't employed right now. We all grew up around ATL (which does have vast opportunities) and entered the workforce in the mid to late 90's so this lack of unemployment could be a result of having plenty of tenure in one's career too.

 

[ALBOB]

A degree is general because it gives you OPTIONS.

Yep, you could work at ANY fast food restaurant you choose.

 

[LAM]

All I'm saying is my friends that WANT to work are all working. My friends that are like you and say the economy is bad, there are no jobs, etc.. those are the ones that have no job because the economy is bad so they just cry about it instead of getting a job.

and how old are your friends? it's substantially easier for people in the 20s & 30's to get a job than those in the 40's and 50's that require substantially higher wages.

jobs have to be available in the same markets where the unemployed are. most company's are not offering relocation allowances, not so easy just to move where the jobs are as that can cost several thousands of dollars easy.

also have to take into account the vast number of homeowners that are upside-down in the mortgage. selling a house is much easier said than done today.

 

[KelJu]

My parents couldn't really help me out due to their own financial problems. For the first few years I basically went to school for two semesters, then worked construction for a semester. That was my only way to stay afloat and still have time to devote to the engineering program at South. Then I changed majors to CS, and the coarse load was easier, so I I worked 40 hours per week and took 12 hours of classes per week. I did that off and on for about 5 years until I graduated.

I do not recommend this method if you have other options. Doing it that way basically turned me into a bitter angry fuck, or at least more of a bitter angry fuck than I already was.

Also, I learned some pretty useful trades while I put myself through school which sort of backfired on me. I was making a very good living before I even graduated. As my income increased, so did my standard of living. This made it almost impossible to start entry at level into the field which I got my degree in. I basically had to work two jobs for a year and a half until I worked my way into an income bracket that would allow me to stay on top of my bills.

Long story short, just don't do it the way I did. I would give give my left nut to do it all over again knowing what I know now.

 

[ebn2002]

it's substantially easier for people in the 20s & 30's to get a job than those in the 40's and 50's that require substantially higher wages.

They are 20's and 30's correct.

Maybe people in their 40's and 50's are accustomed to getting paid inflated wages?

 

[LAM]

They are 20's and 30's correct.

Maybe people in their 40's and 50's are accustomed to getting paid inflated wages?

what good is experience if your wages do not increase with it? I highly doubt you expect to be getting paid the same wages at 50 as you do now...

 

[sofargone561]

i like cock! but in all seirousnt i dont care much about this im gettin my degree becuase i kinda like to learn and want to make some good money and hopefully my degrees will get me their. i also plan on joining the military so officers may should be decent especially if i can jump through the ranks =)

 

[Gissurjon]

Now that I think about it, I don't know one person that I ran around with in HS or college with a college education that isn't employed right now. We all grew up around ATL (which does have vast opportunities) and entered the workforce in the mid to late 90's so this lack of unemployment could be a result of having plenty of tenure in one's career too.

Aah the good'ol Clinton years.

 

[KelJu]

I was making more money in 2000 with no post high school education than I was a year ago. Sure, I was working 70 hours a week to do it, but the opportunity was there. Now, fuck, almost every friend I had that was doing construction is out of work. These were people that worked their asses off in 100 degree heat in manufacturing plants and industrial construction sites for years.

The manufacturing sector is now in the shitter, and people who made 70,000 a year aren't going to go work in the service sector for $25,000 a year and I can't blame them.

 

[LAM]

The manufacturing sector is now in the shitter, and people who made 70,000 a year aren't going to go work in the service sector for $25,000 a year and I can't blame them.

a lost white collar job that places a person in the service sector isn't a stepping stone to anything. it's a dead end job with basically no way to recover economically. it's mind boggling to me that people can't understand things that are common sense that don't even really have anything to do with having knowledge about economics.

it's basic common sense and basic mathematics.

 

[lnvanry]

what good is experience if your wages do not increase with it? I highly doubt you expect to be getting paid the same wages at 50 as you do now...

Experience should drive merit...and merit is what should dictate wages.

breadth/depth of experience should equate to a higher salary. Achievement equates to a higher salary, but hey, I'm a young gun

It sounds like the author got burned by academia either as a student or a parent. I understand where he is coming from, but your odds aren't as bad as playing the lottery....not even close. If thats not a hyperbole than I don't know what is

 

[Big Pimpin]

Aah the good'ol Clinton years.

The WTC bombing, the cluster fuck in Mogadishu, the cluster fuck in Waco, the embassy bombing, the Cole and the tech bubble and market crash. Good times I tell ya.

 

[Dale Mabry]

I agree with the OP big time. In fact, the chance you are going to make any significant amount of money working for somebody else in the next couple of decades is slim to none. Perfect a trade, work a decade on it for yourself, and you will make money.

 

[bandaidwoman]

unfortunately with this kind of rhetoric many future scientists/ engineers won't go to college ( the underpinning of future innovation etc.). My sister went to college to be a history major,she took a lot of courses and realized she actually liked linguistics which segwayed into programming which led to software engineer. If she never went to college to broaden her horizons and find her skill she would be nowhere.