Yet more contrarian views, these excerpted from much longer articles on Martynemko.com. Marty Nemko is a career coach who formerly had a syndicated newspaper column.
"Sure You Should Go to College?
"By Marty Nemko
"...Even if you can get into a prestigious college, you may be wiser to skip college at least for a while. ...But you might ask, 'Why not go to college first?'
"One obvious answer is the money. At the sort of public university that readers of this article are likely to attend, the sticker price for four years of tuition, room, board, and other standard expenses averages $60,000, at a similar private college or university, $150,000. And the average student takes not four years, but 5.2 years to get their bachelor’s degree. Remember too that especially if your family is middle income, much of your financial aid will be loan, not grant. That means you must pay it back—plus interest.
"But you say, 'I keep hearing that college graduates earn much more over their lifetimes than non-graduates.' That’s one of the misleading statistics colleges foist on you. Of course, college graduates, on average, earn more. But that’s in part because the pool of the college-bound is brighter, more motivated, and have more family connections than the non-college bound. ...
"Who should consider saying no to college
"People who are impressive to others and are burned out on school. Over my lifetime, I’ve gotten to know hundreds of successful people. For some of them, a degree, especially a degree from a prestigious college, was key to their success. But other people succeeded without degrees, usually because they were impressive people: smart self-starters who were likeable so others were willing to do things for them. ...Such people also often started their own successful business. ...
"You’ve struggled your way to average grades. Are you one of those students who managed to struggle your way to a B in math but didn’t really understand many of the concepts? ...And when you took the SAT, you scored under 950?
Here are some truths that the colleges—which are businesses and want your money—don’t want you to know:
"o Of every 100 freshmen with the above profile, fewer than 25 at so-called four-year colleges will earn their bachelor’s degree, even when given six years!
"o Such students’ time on campus is often a non-stop assault to their self-esteem, from that first class when they’re already confused, to the final exam, when they experience that terror that most of us have experienced when we know we’ll do badly.
"o Even if such students defy the odds and graduate, they often fare poorly in the job market. There is an oversupply of bachelor’s degree holders. Even many strong students struggle to find a decent job. Plenty of college degree holders are folding sweaters at the Gap for $10 an hour, driving a cab, or hawking real estate. Marginal students have an even harder time. [Emphasis added!—ekrampitzjr]
"o Students who are mainly going to college to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. College is a poor place to do that. ...Worse, most majors have little to do with careers. Most college graduates end up in careers not related to their major. ...
"But whatever you decide, make your choice based on what seems right for you rather than on what’s expected of you. So many people go through life making decisions based on what other people will think of them. ..."
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"Degree Proliferation: Protecting Yourself from the Fallout
"By Marty Nemko
"Considering going back to school?
"In 1970, only 40% of high school graduates went to college. Today, it’s almost 70%. The percentage of people...with bachelor’s and graduate degrees has similarly skyrocketed. And the trend is accelerating, as more and more people trudge back to school to ride out the bad job market.
"The problem is that there aren’t enough jobs to go around for all these degree holders. That’s true even with a supposedly marketable degree such as a PhD. in molecular biology. In the 1980s, that Ph.D. opened doors to lots of desirable positions. By the late ‘90s, there were more PhDs than jobs, so many PhDs were forced to accept a one-year “post-doc” before being able to land a real position. Today, thousands of PhDs sit in post-docs for years waiting for a real job. ...
"What are the implications of degree proliferation for you, the job seeker?
"If you’re thinking about going back to school mainly for the piece of paper, think twice. The piece of paper will be far from a guarantor of a good job; it will be a hunting license. ...
"Advice I’d Give My Child
"Are you sure you want to accept years of no income so you can learn lots of stuff that will be irrelevant in the real world, and for the privilege, take on $100,000 in student loans in hopes of finding a $50,000 job? ..."
