35 Shocking Facts - College Education Has Become A Giant Money Making Scam

[LEK]

Talk about needed reform...particularly the student loan debacle - as Ron Paul has pointed out.

I think this also reflects the lowered expectations at the secondary school level - kids are not prepared for what college SHOULD be about so the bar has been dropped greatly.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/35-shocking-facts-that-prove-that-college-education-has-become-a-giant-money-making-scam

[libertarian4321]

College is a huge help if you do it correctly.

The problem is, too many kids go into college with no clear plan, float around for a few years, and get a degree in something useless or nearly useless. That degree in "women's studies" or "Early Russian Literature" isn't likely to land you a job. These are the ones that become cashiers.

But the kids that have their stuff together do fine- they get degrees in engineering, medicine, business, science, and the like. They have marketable degrees and will usually get good jobs, earning far more than those who have no degree.

In other words:

$100,000 spent on a BA in Music Appreciation is worthless.
$100,000 spent on a BS in Chemical Engineering is well worth the cost.

[JorgeStevenson]

I was saying the same thing when I was in college. If my parents had given me the option of (a) go to college for 4 years, or (b) giving me $60K lump payment up front, I would have likely spent those 4 years earning money and taking highly targeted community college classes and ultimately been in a much better financial position than I am in at the moment. Although I have a great job with very high earning potential, my net worth just surpassed $0 only a few short months ago (I graduated college in 2007). College was absolutely a waste of my time.

[Napolitanic Wars]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVz-HqwOuyo


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhXKkswynC0

[Brian4Liberty]

When government gets involved, the price goes up.

[libertarian4321]

When government gets involved, the price goes up.

Yup. The government makes it too easy for marginal students to get college money, and is not very good about collecting the loans.

All that extra money means a glut of students, many of who just are not college material. That drives the cost up.

College is great if used intelligently, but a lot of the people who go to college today would be better off learning a trade (plumbers, electricians, HVAC, and the like) than learning Shakespeare at the local Community College or State U.

[PastaRocket848]

college is most definitely a rip-off for some people. for instance, i'm a software developer. i have no degree, and i don't intend to get one. i started programming with basic when i was 9 years old. there's nothing i can learn in a classroom that couldn't be understood quicker and more effectively from actually DOING it. employers don't care what pretty piece of paper you have in this field, they care what you can do.

i've hired one person with a degree in C.S. to work on our team, all the rest are old blackhats i've known and worked with for years. the guy with the degree (from a respected college at that), didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground in terms of real world application development. he could spout all day about the intricacies of different design paradigms and programming methodologies. put him in front of a keyboard and he spends more time reading docs than writing code. this is because he was never taught to think, he was taught to follow along with a books example then emulate that in his work assignment. which, frankly, is worthless in the real world.

needless to say, from then on, we base our hiring decisions on work samples, not paper.

[Revolution9]

college is most definitely a rip-off for some people. for instance, i'm a software developer. i have no degree, and i don't intend to get one. i started programming with basic when i was 9 years old. there's nothing i can learn in a classroom that couldn't be understood quicker and more effectively from actually DOING it. employers don't care what pretty piece of paper you have in this field, they care what you can do.

i've hired one person with a degree in C.S. to work on our team, all the rest are old blackhats i've known and worked with for years. the guy with the degree (from a respected college at that), didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground in terms of real world application development. he could spout all day about the intricacies of different design paradigms and programming methodologies. put him in front of a keyboard and he spends more time reading docs than writing code. this is because he was never taught to think, he was taught to follow along with a books example then emulate that in his work assignment. which, frankly, is worthless in the real world.

needless to say, from then on, we base our hiring decisions on work samples, not paper.

This is true. Also in the arts fields they don't care about degrees. They care what is in your portfolio. This is why you should choose a field you like as every project is a part of the portfolio whether for your own edification or as a client job.

Rev9

[SpiritOf1776_J4]

college is most definitely a rip-off for some people. for instance, i'm a software developer. i have no degree, and i don't intend to get one. i started programming with basic when i was 9 years old. there's nothing i can learn in a classroom that couldn't be understood quicker and more effectively from actually DOING it. employers don't care what pretty piece of paper you have in this field, they care what you can do.

i've hired one person with a degree in C.S. to work on our team, all the rest are old blackhats i've known and worked with for years. the guy with the degree (from a respected college at that), didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground in terms of real world application development. he could spout all day about the intricacies of different design paradigms and programming methodologies. put him in front of a keyboard and he spends more time reading docs than writing code. this is because he was never taught to think, he was taught to follow along with a books example then emulate that in his work assignment. which, frankly, is worthless in the real world.

needless to say, from then on, we base our hiring decisions on work samples, not paper.

I started out this way, as a "blackhat" in the 80s, have worked as a software engineer with the the head of the department that started out like you, and I'm currently working on a PhD.

There is a huge amount of stupid in the college world all the way up to the top levels. As someone that really enjoys learning, the whole thing needs to be restructured around *doing* things. I though it would be different at the top levels. No, I'm told by many many others (who don't really know what they are doing either) that it's all about appearance and people who succeed have learned to pull the right levers, but aren't really thinkers either. There is also a huge amount of foreign students in my field, and the level of creative thinking isn't improved by it either. It becomes who you know and appearances even more so.

If you can start your own engineering firm or equivelent, do it. The best way to surround yourself by innovative people is to create big enough to create the environment yourself. Education is invaluable, but our colleges of higher learning are pretty much sabotaged. Online learning and books and forums for whatever you are trying to do may be a help away from it.

[seraphson]

College Conspiracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZtX32sKVE

I should note that not EVERYTHING mentioned in the film is reputable bit I believe it has some very true tidbits and decent take aways here and there. I believe college is important but I feel as though we're entering a world where you'll eventually need an associates to be a mailman; or take a shit for that matter.