As Colleges are Feminized, Degrees Lose Value

Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2013-05-04 20:14

Article here. Excerpt:

'One fact that is rarely mentioned in the US press is that in developed countries, the prevalence of college degree holders has little correlation with economic output. Russia, for example, has the highest percentage of college degree holders on earth, while Germany has far fewer than the OECD average.
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If you take a look at a typical university classroom, it’s pretty clear why this is happening. Colleges are becoming finishing schools that teach little more than politically correct etiquette to their mainly female students. They are also a form of welfare for career students, AKA professors, many of whom couldn’t teach a job skill that didn’t require begging for federal grants.

For those who attend Ivy League schools such as Harvard or Princeton the degree is probably still worth it, but these are effectively gated communities; middle and working class white boys not wanted (but they’ll take their sisters if they are hot).
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For a bright and competent but not exceptional young man a technical education is a perfectly good start in life. If he wants to finish a four-year degree later, it won’t be very hard, and he can start making decent money early on. The same applies to young women, and an extra bonus for them is that without having some of the wrong-headed ideas shoved down their throats at universities they might be more satisfied with a normal life and make better, more practical decisions.

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I suppose there’s one thing to be said for a college education, and that is that it helps students acquire a well-rounded base of knowledge. However, I’m afraid that with the replacement of classical education with politically correct garbage that doesn’t apply any longer. Maybe at some point in the future we can rebuild schools that teach wisdom and the classics, but the most urgent matter is helping our sons live productive lives rather than turning them loose in a world that prefers to take advantage of them, so for now it’s probably best to counsel most of them to learn a trade before completing a four-year degree.'

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... if not just cost-ineffective, then positively dangerous for the average person's future.

Scenario: Student goes to private college that for 4 years is $150k. The student got the "teaser scholarship" colleges use to get takers: $20k for the first year, renewable *if* the student gets a B+ avg. or better, but with the following plan: B+ gets $10k, an A gets $15k, an A+ (or an "A with honors" as it's sometimes called) gets the same $20k. No scholarship however for jr. or sr. years unless the student majors in certain things (History, Polit. Sci., etc. for example, don't get you the scholarship, but most engineering or science fields do). To keep the scholarship all 4 years, the student needs a B+ or better. So pretend all that happens but the student can't do science because like many ppl, they can't deal w/ it. So let's also say they managed an A+ their first two years. This knocks $40k off the $150k for school. Assuming they had help from parents for $50k, that still leaves them on the hook for $60k in student loans.

$60k to be paid back over 10 years, assuming a 7% interest rate. Now, in this economy, imagine you're 21 and $60k in debt. You have 10 years to pay it back and it cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. Declare bankruptcy but you'll still owe the money after you come out of bankruptcy-- which takes years to do anyway. What's $60k at 7% over 10 years when thinking of a monthly payment? $696.

Now with a non-technical or even science-related degree, does the typical student (no connections to speak of, just an ordinary person) in today's job market stand a chance of getting a job that pays much more than min. wage? But let's pretend for a moment they manage to get a $10/hr job for 40 hrs/wk. $400 gross ls taxed down to, say, $320. So the new grad is taking home $1280/mo. That's if they never *not* go to work-- never get sick, etc. Oh, and did I fail to mention their job is wage (as so many are for new grads) and offers no hlth insurance or 401k? Well let's say they have a parent whose insurance they can stay on, til they're 25 anyway.

So with $696/mo. to pay, they are left with $584/mo. to pay for the following: food, rent, car payment, car insurance.

Rent: Like most ppl new to life after college, living alone's too expensive. Assume they can find a shared housing arrangement that's only $200/mo. This, I know, is low for many urban areas, but let's go with it. The grad is down to $384.

Food: Former student gives up enjoying life: No more beer and pizzas. So food is at $50/wk., or $200/mo. They are down to $184.

Car payment & insurance: New drivers in many states are placed into "risk pools" by the state; in essence, insurers are forced to cover them and the price of the insurance is set by law. Otherwise, they'd never get insurance any time before age 25 or so. So the insurance payment? Depends on the car and if the grad ever had a problem before. Let's just say that 20 years ago, even for new drivers under 25 with clean records, monthly insurance payments in a certain northeast state were $150 for an economy car. And a car payment? Hmmm. Looks like we have nothing left for that. And, I'm pretty sure the risk pool prices have not gone down since 1993!

So my conclusion is this: If anyone, male or female, plans to go to college, given how much it costs today, think really hard abt the whys and hows. College is not just some rite of passage, though ppl seem to think it is. It's a very expensive undertaking and can place a person in a lot of debt at a very vulnerable time of life. It should be evaluated for its value as an investment, with careful attention to the details and doing "due dilligence". Don't expect to hear "the truth" abt any given diploma's market value from anyone actually working for a college either; remember, their job depends on ppl going to college. Would you expect a car dealer to ever actually tell you that the cars they're selling aren't worth the price?

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Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2013-05-06 02:57