Most of the NCRA approved court reporting programs are associates degree programs, so they would not be suitable as a bachelor’s degree that law schools require as a prerequisite.
But is analysis of fictional literature the optimal type of writing for pre-law purposes?
33% of college grads are in jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree. So many of those English majors, too, will be educationally over-qualified for their job. At least court reporting is stable, usually government work, with benefits and a pension.
I’ve been meaning to ask the origins of such generous state support in a traditionally red state. For the record, I think these are great programs but, from a far (my understanding, that is), they seem to resemble the “socialism” that conservatives often decry.
The phrase “everyone who shows up graduates” wasn’t meant to be interpreted literally. But for all intents and purposes, that’s what I’ve observed in some places in recent years. Some majors weren’t rigorous to begin with and they’ve become even less so, in an environment of lowered expectations.
I know quite a bit about the history of HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) in Georgia as I happened to start college in Georgia right after it was implemented. Most people don’t know this, but GA had a Democrat led state house for well over a century and had Governors that were Democrats for 131 consecutive years (1872-2003). HOPE was signed into law by Zell Miller, a “Blue Dog” Democrat. HOPE started out with income limits for those who could receive lottery funds, but the state legislature removed those limits due to the overall popularity of the program in 1995.
One reason that the program is so popular is that it is not a tax, but paid for through lottery receipts (today there are people who believe this a form of a regressive tax as most lottery participants are low income), but the voluntary aspect of playing the lottery and the overall far reaching societal impact here in GA has made it such a popular program even in what is now a “RED state” (I would say the state is currently a “PURPLE state” that has red tint).
HOPE has had a major impact on college enrollment numbers in GA (students from small GA towns and from lower income households began to attend college in much higher numbers after the implementation of HOPE).
Florida has a comparable program, and Alabama is known for generously aiding its in-state students as well.
Yeah, most of the Southeastern US today is using lottery funds for educational endeavors in different ways after seeing the success of the GA model.
It is really encouraging-such a great use of funds, and keeps talented students in the state.
TN does too via lottery although not as aggressive. It was just increased. To $4500 first two years and $5700 last two years.
It’s $3200 at two year schools.
Not as aggressive as Georgia and Florida which seem to retain most their highest achieving kids but another state that’s uses public funds.
A lot of what litigators do is research and persuasive writing, so there are other majors that might teach those skills but English is certainly one.
Remember that it was in the last several decades that the Democrats and Republicans switched sides on social issues, which resulted in the states in the region switching ruling parties. However, since the past socially conservative Democrats were (like today) the more left leaning party on economic issues, some policies that were favorable to the middle or lower income people (like improving state college affordability) were implemented then.
I’ve learned a lot today, on the interesting histories and spread of these programs and that the current societal polarization (or cleavages) appears to be somewhat manufactured. Thanks, @ChangeTheGame @roycroftmom @tsbna44 and @ucbalumnus!
Add Louisiana as another state that has been fairly generous in trying to keep its residents in-state. Most college-bound students qualify for free in-state tuition, but as tuition increased, but legislators balked when tuition prices started increasing. As a result, the in-state publics charge significantly higher fees, while allowing the state to say that it still offers covers “tuition.”
Irrespective of what people say here, if a college cannot recruit students, they will close.
@blossom I am genuinely curious about how many H1B cases does your company sponsor for studies majors? The reason I ask this is because we have been “importing” over 200K individuals each year to fill positions for over 40 years now? That does not even include those that are on OPT or work in businesses that are not included in the H1B cap, like universities and non-profits.
We are personally working through ROI in our household. My kid might get into an LAC/private college to study engineering or go to a large state uni with decent scholarship. I paid a lot of attention to discussions on here and did research on starting salaries and outcomes. Basically, unless you can cover expenses, it makes very little sense to attend a private based on ROI alone.
Top 100 H1B Visa Sponsors -2021 H1B Visa Report | MyVisaJobs.com lists the top H-1B employers for 2021. Biggest ones are IT outsourcing, followed by those hiring CS graduates with graduate degrees (note the difference in pay levels). In past years, IT outsourcing companies were an even larger share, prompting more complaints about the H-1B system.
Thanks!
Took a quick glance at professions:
https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2021-H1B-Visa-Category.aspx?T=OC
The thing about outsourcing outfits is that: (1) They will only sponsor their best talent (2) These people have to be placed somewhere at a profit and they are not exactly making peanuts.
ROI boils down to supply and demand.
I don’t understand your question or its relevance.
We don’t hire Asian Studies majors to code-- so the companies which need foreign talent to fill comp sci/IT type roles, and are the primary users of H1B’s-- completely different job market.
Jobs are not always fungible with regard to education. But there are many jobs where major isn’t that important.
Companies (even companies that hire a lot of engineers) need people in corporate communications, investor relations, marketing, employee relations, comp and benefits, facilities management, etc. Many large employers of engineers have ratios which would surprise you- the non-tec employee population is many times larger than the engineering/CS population. Which makes sense when you break it down… but isn’t always obvious. Nobody is sponsoring an H1B visa for an entry level government relations person-- particularly since the hurdle to get that employee security clearance down the road (when they are likely to need it) is very, very high for a foreign national.
The point is there is a much larger demand for certain majors versus other ones…hence the larger ROI.
We are likely not hurting for communication studies majors, or psychology majors and so on and so forth. So, being able to justify a huge college pay tag for a job that is not hurting for qualified candidates probably does not make a lot of sense for many people. I am not at all dismissing their value to society, far from it.
Predicting the job market 5 years from now is tricky business- just ask any of the petroleum engineers who graduated into a hiring trough in the oil industry, or any software/CS person in 2001 during the tech bust, or any finance major in 2009 who started college in a robust market and graduated into… whatever we are calling the Bear Stearns/Lehman collapse these days.
There is always a much larger demand for certain majors than others. Predicting which ones- now that’s where the rubber meets the road. And of course- assuming that someone who could be a star as a psych major could also be a star as a petroleum engineer… we all know that’s likely not the case, and vice versa as well.
This is one reason why focusing on the skills developed in college tends to hold up over time better than the actual content.
And you’d be surprised how hard it is to hire for some of the jobs you think aren’t “hurting” for qualified candidates.
Breadth vs depth is a choice made by colleges as well as by students. Colleges outside US tend to emphasize depth to a greater degree than their US counterparts. The idea is simple. Few students can reach the level of depth in a complicated subject area outside an academic setting, while the breadth of knowledge is more easily attainable elsewhere. Do students benefit from breadth? Of course, but life is full of trade-offs.