"At the same time, four in 10 college graduates, according to a recent Gallup study, wind up in jobs that don't require a college degree."
Good Morning Folks,
A neighbor's daughter borrowed $80K to get a duel degree in Italian and Philosophy. She's now the deepest thinking waitress at the Olive Garden.
The truth is that America’s Middle Class is being priced out of colleges for their kids; and many parents are questioning whether college is worth it, and whether they can afford it.
Glenn Reynold's article in the Wall Street Journal "For Too Many Americans, College Today Isn't Worth It" nails it: "There is no point in trying to preserve the old regime. Today's emphasis on measuring college education in terms of future earnings and employability may strike some as philistine, but most students have little choice. When you could pay your way through college by waiting tables, the idea that you should "study what interests you" was more viable than it is today, when the cost of a four-year degree often runs to six figures. For an 18-year-old, investing such a sum in an education without a payoff makes no more sense than buying a Ferrari on credit."
"For many families, the gap between soaring tuition costs and stagnant incomes was filled by debt without improving their job prospects. Today's average student debt of $29,400 may not sound overwhelming, but many students, especially at private and out-of-state colleges, end up owing much more, often more than $100,000. At the same time, four in 10 college graduates, according to a recent Gallup study, wind up in jobs that don't require a college degree.
Blogger Timothy D. Naegele argues for an online shift. He opines, "It has been said that "a college education is the largest scam in U.S. history." Clearly, online education is the future. "
Newspapers and horses and buggies are testaments to bygone eras. College campuses may become relics of the past as well. In as much as children are learning to use computers at a very young age now, query whether traditional classroom education will be relevant—or necessary—at all in the future? Why spend money on “bricks-and-mortar” educational facilities? Among other things, why waste scarce energy resources getting to them?
Everything is online, at one’s fingertips.
At some point, the online schools may hire the best and brightest professors from traditional “bricks-and-mortar” colleges, universities and graduate schools to help them with their educational programs, and to enhance their credibility.
Naegele thinks that the idea of paying professors to give the same lectures year after year is absurd. "Give the lectures once, and record them, period. In the area of rapidly-changing subjects, again YouTube and online conferencing will suffice."
America's higher education problem calls for both wiser choices by families and better value from schools. For some students, this will mean choosing a major carefully (opting for a more practical area of study, like engineering over the humanities), going to a less expensive community college or skipping college altogether to learn a trade.
Writes Reynolds, "In a study they conducted among 48 female students in one residence hall at Indiana University from 2004 to 2009, they found that young women who were similar in terms of "predictors" (grades and test scores) nonetheless emerged from college on very different career trajectories. Those from more modest circumstances were often done in by their partying-related stumbles and actually experienced downward mobility after graduating.
None of these alternatives to a traditional university degree is "the answer" to the higher education bubble.
Many times college just helps get your foot in the door. We lose sight of that. It is up to the nature of the person as to whether or not they go far. What's missing in is the concept of self-motivation. If someone is motivated they can achieve a lot with very little. Rarely today do I see many young people who are truly motivated to achieve. In my career I have seen kids with degrees from Harvard, Yale, Stanford and others, who, once they got out in the real world did not amount to much and others from plain vanilla schools who succeeded not because they were the smartest or richest but because they worked the hardest. I'd take this person every time over the Ivy people.
An eye opening case in point is that according to Wikipedia, "the average net worth of billionaires who dropped out of college, $9.4 billion, is approximately triple that of billionaires with Ph.D.s, $3.2 billion. Even if one removes Bill Gates, who left Harvard University and is now worth $66.0 billion, college dropouts are worth $5.3 billion on average, compared to those who finished only bachelor's degrees, who are worth $2.9 billion. According to a recent report from Cambridge-based Forrester Research, 20% of America's millionaires never attended college."
While it might be important which college someone attended when he or she applies for their first job, several years later it is essentially irrelevant. An online education may be just as valuable, at least in the future. Indeed, many fine universities worldwide would be wise to offer degrees online.
Whether educated traditionally, digitally or by a Jobs/Gates/Zuckerberg/Dell/ Lauren/Geffen drop-out style, at FSO our arms are wide open to anyone and everyone with passion in their hearts, a skip in their step and fire in the belly.
As 2014 promises to be a year of rapid innovation, growth and expansion for our company, we're not cutting back on talent but ramping up big time.
So if you or someone you know of wants to join the happiest team on the planet, send your resume to fsoresume@fso-outsourcing.com
Have a GREAT Day. Love Life.
I'll be a seeing you soon.
***********I'll be a seeing you soon.
Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer
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"When you walk with purpose, you collide with destiny."
~~ Bertice Berry
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Mr. Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. This essay is adapted from his new book, "The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education From Itself," published by Encounter Books
Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, which specializes in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters
