College...a ripoff?

Originally posted by Shaione
->Friend A thinks that 4 year colleges are a big rip-off. You pay thousands of dollars and most likely get yourself in debt. Then in the end, it may take you forever to get a job. And when you do, it not even be in your chosen field. The catch usually is, you are fresh out of school and you have no experience. The only way to get a job is to have experience, but you need a job for that experience. What you do have is a fancy $20,000 degree, though! Here's an appilcation to McDonalds...

If I had to personally agree with any of them, it would be this one.....But I don't agree with he fact that college is a rip-off.....lol

I recently graduated in 2004 with a degree in Anthropology from FSU.....And while I probably should have picked a more "money making" field or at least one I had experience in, I cannot deny that college was a blast....

I had my tough times - But the good ones far outweighed them....Not to mention the personal satisfaction of being the only person in my group of high school friends who went on and completed college 4 years after high school....

I chose my field ONLY b/c it interested me and touched me on a personal level....Perhaps I should have given more thought to that, but I even plan on persuing my Master's degree in 2006 in anthropology, even though it may have nothing to do with my work....

And presently, I work at FSU....assistant office manager - $25,000 yearly plus benefits....Not too bad, could be better on the wages if I had done culinary like I truly wanted to...

But my problem was debt - I didn't want to pay $100,000 for a culinary degree from the CIA, so I stuck with a prepaid college plan my parents set up for me when I was just a kid.....And I'm happy I made that choice, even though I may never actually apply my field of knowledge to an actual job, I'll be satisfied with what I took away from it on a much more personal level....

Originally posted by Shaione
Hey, thanks for the responses. Its making me think a little bit more about what I want to do. Bad thing is, I have no clue what I want to do in life.
I as I said earilier, I love to learn. I might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but I love to learn stuff. And I'm thinking about taking up Zoology and going into research. But I say that today, then next week I'll have a whole new plan.

Anyway, thanks again for reading my babbling and replying.

You don't have to knowwhat you want to do to go to college, In the end a 4 degree is a piece of paper that helps you get job interviews. If you don't know what you want to study, study what you love. If you do that, you will find that you do better in your classwork and find out that your intellectual live is not your only one as the connections between disciplines begin to highlight themselves. I realize this sounds all very high minded, but it is supposed to be. College is not designed to guarantee you a job, it is designed to make you a better human and more well rounded human, and it is these attributes that help you get a good job.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO

my expierance with college was a learning one

i learned that universitys dont care about learning at all
they care about $$$$$$$

ahhh yes
how simple it all boils down to

they collect books; pay people to pick nifty points out of them; and then give us their spin on it
basically its BS lol

complete waste of $$$$

if you want to LEARN things; Go To A PUBLIC LIBRARY
hell, go to the University Library even....they dont card you when you enter
anyone can go in sit down and read a book
its FREE!!!!!!!!!

yet all us idiots; yes idiots;
we get this idea in our head that College will Make us Smart and Rich!
i guess that is the LIE that Colleges and Universitys have drilled into our heads , now isnt it?

its not a conspiracy its called Capitalism
its about Making $$$$
and lots of it

College is just a rip off *if your into acedemia*

If you like sports
by all means; College is for YOU

if you like doing research projects all night long
by all means, Go to College

but if you like learning things
go to a library for FREE

dont waste your $$$ unless you honestly think that a PIECE of PAPER is worth the THOUSANDS of hours of work and the Tens Of Thousands of $$$

after i went to college
ill never pay to go back

but i do go sit in some classes and just listen to the lectures sometimes
thats FREE too!
lol

heck for FREE you can go talk to professors ask them stuff
have a good ol chat
listen to them
they can give you referances and sources to read from to learn more
they are nice people most of the time they will be glad to help you

FREE books FREE Knowledge
yet everyone is going coo-coo for $$$ costly degrees

truely shows how ignorant society is
the college is full
but the library is empty
*until u have 2 do research papers , then the library is full, the periodicals section and computer section*
but your good old trusty rows and rows of books are still silent
heck you can smoke weed in public librarys
no ones there to catch you
lol

I disagree. Penn State's reading room in the library, you know the type, the kind with all the green lamps and dark wood everywhere, is always full. Alot of people are doing research, but more are just plain reading anything. Somtimes i see novels, sometimes i see astronomy books (not school issued books), etc. The library is always full of people using private study rooms or reading in the reading room, or whatever. Its never devoid until the end of the semester when the big papers are due.


So based on that, I have to disagree that noone is in the library unless they're doing research.

Maybe im just a nerd, and do stuff besides party. Although I do party, I don't party every weekend. I liken university to the front steps in front of a huge office building where my career is. Its the first steps on my way to doing what I want to do.

Hello everyone,

This topic couldnt be more relevant to my current situation. I graduated with B.A. in Psychology. However, all throughout college, I was not really sure about what I wanted to major in. I switched my major twice but then decided to stick with Psychology because I wanted to just graduate on time. However, since 9/11 I became more and more interested in International Relations and decided that I wanted to do my graduate study in International Relations. So now I am working full time and going to grad. school part time. So I am hoping that since I don't really have any background in International Relations, going to school for it help me build that foundation. As for my undergrad., right now I am working in Sales which has nothing to do with my degree, however I took this job in sales because I need experience!! Hopefully, in near future I will get a job that would have something to do with my degree.

Statistically, the money a college graduate earns over his working life is a whole lot more than the tuition you (or your parents) pay. However, if you were to take all tht tuition-and-books money now and stick it in your 401(k) you could, like as not, retire at age fifty as a millioniare.

But you're not going to do that if you're in your twenties or thirties, so it's probably not really an issue!

What is important is that a college graduate has a lot more choices of career than someone who has no education at all. A degree probably won't help you advance in your chosen field, true; but it will get you a job there in the first place.

When I graduated from high school in 1963, like most kids, i didn't know what I wasnted to do, so I went into the service. When I got out I went to a local community college and then the University of Maryland to get a degree in English Lit. I have always referred to this as a BAADC (Bachelor or Arts in After-Dinner Conversation), but I was able to get a job as a teacher without the teaching certificate. That lasted for two years, but at least I can say I know why I don't want to be a 5th-grade teacher; I was one!

Later, after having switched to the aerospace/defense business, I went back to school (in my forties) and took an engineering degree, because that's where the money was. I never used it that much, but it kept the promotions and salary increases coming in. Now, at 60, I'm finishing up an MBA so I can teach at a JUCO when I retire in 2007.

The reason I went to college was primarily to take fun courses, none of which led to either the BSE or the MBA; and to take the others, none of which I was crazy about, to get the bux and security.

What you do is your choice, of course, but with the world getting more and more technical, the chances of you advancing in just about any job without a four-year degree, regardless of its use, is pretty small.

Getting a degree is worthy investment, becasue companies these days don't care about experaince, they want a peice of paper that says you can do it.

That's not completely true... I do not have a degree, I have on the job experience.

I've been at my current job for 7 years, 3 times promoted, very nice salary, benefits, lots of other perks...

I've had 2 other job offers in 3 years, with perks, good salary, etc.

IMHO everyone should have a minimum of a 4 year college education but it's almost imperative in this day and age to go beyond that and get a Masters degree.

Why ? I have no college degree, my G/F has a degree and 10 years on the job, I make about 12k more per year than she does and the work is less stressful, better benefits.

You don't have to knowwhat you want to do to go to college, In the end a 4 degree is a piece of paper that helps you get job interviews. If you don't know what you want to study, study what you love. If you do that, you will find that you do better in your classwork and find out that your intellectual live is not your only one as the connections between disciplines begin to highlight themselves. I realize this sounds all very high minded, but it is supposed to be. College is not designed to guarantee you a job, it is designed to make you a better human and more well rounded human, and it is these attributes that help you get a good job.

Exactly.... right on, I don't care how much education you have or how much money you make, you have to be happy in what you're doing.

"If you want to be rich don't go to college." Robert Kiyosaki

Another thing about whether its a waste or not. On average, just the difference in lifetime income between one who finishes high school compared to one that doesn't is $500,000. I'm sure that the average difference between high school / college would have to be more. However, through that I mean stopping at high school and not going to a technical / trade school.

It is in your interests to go to a prestigious undergraduate university if you are looking to work in a corporate setting. If your aspirations are entreprenuerial in nature then its a big waste of money. Its fun though.

As everyone else has already pointed out, it depends what you want to do, and where you go to college. I think college teaches you to put up with endless bull#, which I suppose is neccessary if you want to work for a large corporation.

However, the education you get at most colleges is pretty much bull#. In the humanities and social sciences, they teach all the academic fads along with all sorts of theories, which often bear little resemblance to reality. You learn what the academics consider their field.

In science, math, and engineering, I think it a little is less bull#. However, if you aren't intimidated by technical literature, you can probably learn it all better on your own from books. Although, a lot of it is just a waste of time, and I think what they teach steers you away from being more innovative.

I suppose the thing I think is worst about academia is that teach dependency on professors. They are kind of teaching the idea that you can't learn it, unless you take a class on it, which is total bull#. They also are brainwashing you that their crazy theory is the "truth".

Going to college is not just about getting a piece of paper. It's an assisted living environment and it teaches both necessary social skills and how to prioritize. Most people see it as a joke, just a way to get away from mom and dad for 4 years, but the fact is colleges can teach you a lot of things you can't learn on your own.

It is really hard to say if college is a ripoff...

For me it has been a big ripoff, a couple years ago, I decided to take the plunge (at 36) after being a mechanic for about ten years.

What I wanted to do was to be an automotive claims adjuster and judging by the ads that I saw and see, having a degree in anything was good enough to be considered. With my mechanical background, and genuine interest in claims I figured I would be a shoo-in for a position.

Well it has not been like that at all! With a 3.5 gpa, I have applied to all the companies several times and actually got one interview but it has all been for naught.

They tell me the economy isn't doing so great. Maybe that is what is wrong. It could be the area I live in (Baltimore). Everyone seems to be a graduate around here. I don't know, I just can't help but feel that I was lied to more so than I deluded myself..maybe if the degree was in accounting instead of criminal justice..

I have also applied to numerous other jobs especially in the public sector, and have really gotten nowhere. The worst part is that I did not go for school earlier in life because I was afraid of this very same thing happening. After meeting people and hearing their success stories, I drank the Kool-Aid and it has been expensive with a nasty aftertaste.

Here is a thought, be careful what you get a degree in if you feel that you must go out and get one. It would seem that the days of just having a degree and that being enough to get your foot in the door are over.

I finished college a year and a half ago. It was not for me, to say the least.

I can't even begin to pay the debt, so I deferred and let the interest accrue, and that's with a pretty decent mid-level job, in a profession I didn't study.

It was a huge waste of time for me, and I'm convinced it was just something I did for doings sake. State schools are breeding grounds for mediocrity.

Wanna get laid, smoke grass, drink beer? Go to a state school.

Whoever said companies prefer college over experience is full of it. I'm employed at a level requiring a Masters (which I dont have) because of my experience. I have friends who stayed in school (same field) for their Masters and cant get work anywhere because they have no experience. They also have a mortgage to pay in loans which I dont have.

College as a whole is total crock. You pay out the ass to take a bunch of classes that some putz has arbitrarily deemed "mandatory" thereby prolonging the time you waste and the money you spend just to get the glasses you need for your chosen field.

If I had to do it all over again I'd have spent nothing at all, gone to a trade high school, apprenticed for a couple of years then go pro and be making three times what I make now for less than a quarter of the time and money expended.

If you can afford it or want to be some soulless executive type than go for it. If you just want a decent living and no B.S. then dont bother.

Recently 20/20 did a story on the scam that is Big University

It highly depends on what sort of job do you want. The paper you'll get finishing college or university gives the job-supplier a rough measure on your intellect. So it opens doors to you, as soon as you have that paper most jobs basically won't care what study you did. They know you have a basic skillset which was required in the first place to finish your degree. I don't know how it is in the USA, yes you have to pay loads of money, but since your salaries are way high as well that shouldn't be a problem.

Now experience does count as well, but as I said before that is highly dependent on what sort of job you're looking for. Myself I'm working in advertising and that's a mix of schooling and experience. But with the basic college schooling you'll get more chances and won't stick in the same spot for decades.

But if you are one of the few with a hell of a personality and very driven it doesn't matter what you do, you'll get there.