Couldn't agree with you more.
My brother in law is the director of the regional Work Source here and echos your exact statement.
To be honest, for both my sons part of the focus on college was there desire to become Army Officers and the need for a degree to do so.
Prior to deciding on college we had explored various options which also included Trade Schools. For some of their friends these Trade Schools have resulted in very well paying jobs and the beginning of excellent careers.
My son's high school paid great lip service to the many options of Trade Schools and apprentice work when they had their orientation. It became clear as school went along that the big push was college prep, cancelling programs like construction, auto shop cut backs, and others did not help either.
Jcleppe. I agree with you 100% too. But I do want to point out that my previous post wasn't an "Anti-College" post. I am all for college. "For the RIGHT PERSON". If I wasn't in favor of college, I wouldn't have 3 degrees myself. Both of my kids graduated college in 4 years. (None of this 5-6 year plan). Both graduated from college 100% Debt Free. My son received a scholarship after graduating from the air force academy and is currently working on getting his PhD. Both of my kids received numerous scholarships and/or work programs to make college cost basically ZERO. I've helped a lot of kids go to college. Many to the academies. Some ROTC. Some enlisted. Some to community colleges; and some to trade schools.
Again, I am totally in favor of college for the right people. And there's almost no reason in the world that after 4 years of college, your debt "IF ANY" should be more than that of a car loan. E.g. LESS than $25,000. If you owe more than that for college, then someone fed you a lot of B.S.
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And while I understand what Full Metal Bulldog posted about Liberal Arts majors vs STEM majors; there is actually some truth to that. There are way too many individuals that WASTE their money going to college; not knowing what they want to be when they grow up, so some idiot rationalizes to them about getting a "GENERAL EDUCATION" Liberal Arts Degree. Don't get me wrong. If you have goals that are very specific, and most likely requires a master's degree or higher, or even law school or medical school, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with a liberal arts degree in English, History, Language, or even a specific general science like Chemistry. If you want to be a teacher, practice the arts, or specialize is a specific science then I am all for it. But many people are told that a Liberal Arts degree is a better degree because it's more "Well Rounded" of an education. But what's worse, is students who aren't sure what they want to major in, are told that a liberal arts degree is a better degree to get now; then they can concentrate later. "What a waste of money".
These individuals would have done better going to a community college to get their GER classes out of the way; work part time; apprentice; intern; or even just take some time off to figure out what they want to do. THEN enrolling full time into college. Going to college; JUST TO GO; is a waste of time and definitely of money.
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So, I guess my position is that probably half the individuals enrolled in college probably have no business there. They are there because someone said they needed to go. They are wasting their time and money. They could have done better without college. And for those that do go/need college, many should have waited until they were ready. Until they knew what they wanted. Until they established goals. I didn't start college right out of high school, but like I said, I have 3 degrees. But for what it's worth, my HIGHEST PAYING JOB I've ever had, "Which I left because of family reasons", didn't require any type of college education. And that job paid in the 6 figures.