<p>"The always rising cost of tuition and the number of students graduating college with significant debt might be enough to turn some away from getting a college education. But a new study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that not going to college could be an even more expensive decision." …</p>
Millennials Who Chose Not To Attend College Are More Likely To Live In Poverty Than Past Generations
<p>Well knock me over with a feather. Jobs simply aren’t there for the less educated? You can’t get a decently paying factory job with a high school diploma anymore? Good gosh, why haven’t we heard about this yet?!</p>
<p>Geez Romani, you know I cant tell if you are being sarcastic or not.
;)</p>
<p>I find the study interesting.</p>
<p>Sorry, ek. :p</p>
<p>I’m in a mood tonight lol. </p>
<p>Compared to previous generations, millenials face higher baseline education requirements to enter the work force, more expensive education, worse job prospects at any educational attainment level, higher medical care costs, and higher payroll taxes to pay for previous generations’ Medicare and Social Security. Not exactly news.</p>
<p>yeah, not really encouraging for the kids either, is it?</p>
<p>Now, their elders would like to Pre-Fleece them, before they even get started. We are doing such a good job of leaving the world a better place for our kids. It’s just breathtaking. Truly.</p>
<p>they should thank us. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Not news, but great stats to show capable kids when they start listening to some of the popular “junk advice” going around telling them to all skip college and become a zillionaire instead.</p>
<p>
Zuckerberg & Gates get mentioned all the time as examples of why u don’t need to go to college. But ‘not finishing at Harvard’ isn’t exactly the same thing as ‘not going to college at all’…</p>
<p>@GMTplus7 I know that and you know that, but plenty of parents, students, and “advice” givers seem to miss the difference. Having stats can’t hurt. It might wake some up. Then we just need the balance of not having them go to the other far extreme and taking on 150+K in debt for a degree.</p>
<p>Now that there is more access to a college degree, and more pressure to complete one, there is more impact to NOT having a degree while the impact of having one has gone down. Instead, there is now pressure to go to grad school to distinguish oneself as a job candidate, the same way a BA used to do. Even if a student gets through a BA with no debt, grad school does not afford the same level of aid, for the most part, so there is still an elite with the money to get their master’s. So degree inflation has made the MA the new BA, basically, offering a chance for debt at both undergrad and grad levels.</p>
<p>I would add that doing vocationally-oriented programs is another way to go, such as the two year Associates or the various certificate programs offered at community college. The kids I know who are not in college are not thinking about Zuckerman et al, but are doing practical or on the job training in the health care or service industries or the trades.</p>
<p>I’ll have to read the Pew Report myself later today when I expect to have time, but just looking at the graphics from the link, 2 year degrees and “some college” don’t fare much better than high school grads.</p>
<p>I wish they would break the two apart (perhaps the full report does). I’d like to think 2 year or certificate folks do much better than those who start college, but don’t complete it. The latter ought to be the worst - no degree and still potentially debt (or spent $$).</p>
<p>In general, I still recommend the trades (with appropriate certificates) and health services (ditto) for students not interested in 4 year schools and who don’t appear to have a viable alternative (farming, family business, or whatever). It’s worked for many. I’d like to think it’s worth it.</p>
<p>Wow, next thing you know someone will be saying "“15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance”</p>
<p>Certainly there are still some careers where one can work themselves up (taking out of the equation vocational type careers), such as retail and the hospitality industries, but they are becoming fewer and fewer…</p>
<p>^ The only careers I can think of require a degree…or at least an AA or certificate…</p>
<p>We have ***hats the likes of Peter Thiel who must take some responsibility for this. Thing is, though, the poverty is not caused by people not working hard, not caring enough, being inadequate human beings, etc. It is caused by there not being enough jobs for everyone that has to work for a living, and in fact there never being enough jobs ever again. The reason you have to go to college is so someone else hopefully ends up in this inevitable poverty instead of you. Nice world we’re living in. </p>
<p>Even factory work requires additional training, including college these days.
Of course, not much manufacturing left in the US.</p>
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<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2013/11/09/washington-a-world-apart/”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2013/11/09/washington-a-world-apart/</a></p>
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<p>I used to work at a Men’s Wearhouse in high school. I wasn’t a salesperson but the salespeople who were there usually did pretty well. District average (Southeast Michigan + Toledo) was about 45K a year, the top guy at our store made nearly 55K (I know because he was the jackass who had to make sure everyone saw his pay statement), and that was for 2008 which wasn’t a particularly good year. Becoming a salesperson requires no education (I don’t think even high school but I don’t recall of any specific examples where someone didn’t have an HS degree), and while they’re not rich, that’s not a bad income at all for someone with no education. </p>
<p>My statement wasn’t an “end-all-be-all”. There are some instances where people can make a living off a being a salesperson, but generally those people have had some training of some sort. </p>
<p>Master’s is the new bachelors. The value of a college degree (BA/BS) has been watered down by too much accessibility. The US has been become a much more educated society, and this is just a consequence.</p>