College degrees worth extra $23k/yr in salary

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A degree tells your potential employer that you have the discipline it takes to learn, cogitate, and solve problems. It shows not so much that you've learned something, but that you have the ability to learn. The fact that you've learned some stuff along the way is also a bonus. Intelligence is not so much what you know, but that you are able to learn.

What other yardstick can a potential employer use to gauge someone's intelligence?




This was the near exact words of my first employer, a civil engineering firm. For anyone who doubts the worth of college needs to understand this is what a potential employer sees. Also another major stepping stone is that I went to a state university and alumni connection simply on a resume has gotten me in the door.

I did not know why I went to college except my parents pushed it. I got a 2.0 in engineering (basically passed) but enjoyed life to its fullest while there including girls, beer and some minor drugs too. I learned a lot too about myself and my mind was opened.

My current job interestingly enough as a software contractor does not require a degree just skillset.
 
Many jobs in the computer sector do not require a degree, in my experience. Employers in that sector are far more concerned about what experience you have, and in some cases they are more concerned about whether you have a security clearance than anything else.

What's amusing to me is that the non-computer-industry computer jobs, for say, local government or a non-profit, or a hospital, etc, *always* are advertised as wanting a college degree, and the starting salary is usually also pretty low.
 
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"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? ..."




That is a valid argument, if they are going to a prestige college or out of state, in a major that leads to $50k jobs.

I went in debt to the tune of $17k over 4 years of college and made far more than that my first year out.

I went to a local college and applied for every grant and scholarhip around. I recieved a few, which added up to $15k total. Many people never apply... Without them though, it would have been $32k for the 4 years, and I still made more than that my first year out.

That said, there were a lot of fields I looked at, and did not go into because there was a glut in the market, or because the pay would have not been enough. I picked industrial technology, because it is a field dominated by baby boomers, who are retiring in droves, and the demand is tremendous, and the pay is good as well.

All that said, if I had been making 1/2 of what I am now, and happy in my field, I'd of never went to school. What sent me to school was the fact that I was burnt out in my old field, and had no obstacles to going to school. If I had been married with a kid, to a woman in the same income range or less, I'd of never went, regardless of what I was making.
 
I managed to accumulate 42 credits towards a lousy associate of applied science degree in business manangement before I relized I was wasting my time. A bachelor's isnt even where 'it's at' anymore. Everybody's got one! I decided about a year ago that if I decide to return to school, it's going to be for something more focused. I decided on Radiography. It's in the medical field, so like a few of my nurse friends, I can take those skills to any city in the country and find work. I was discouraged to find out that the highest paid Radiographers make only $10K more than I currently do, and NO SCHOOL in the Dallas area offers courses for this at night, so I'm back to square one - my 42 credits towards nothing. I'd like to change careers and get the h-e-l-l out of telecom, but the current system makes it impossible unless you'd be happy with the typical degree they're handing to everyone that graduates from college in this area. And if you're considered middle class, (up to your financial limits with mortgage, car payment and all that goes with it) financial aid is another hill that can't be climbed. If you're rich, mommy and daddy pay for it. If you're dirt poor, Uncle Sam does. The average American is the one that loses out.
 
That was totally uncalled for Scott. Especially the male organ part. This was a good lively discussion and will likely be locked now. Who's the ...???
 
Maybe if you were in the service or had someone close to you serving you'd think differently.
I guess you don't.
And if the mod's don't like the post, they can delete it and let the thread move on.
Really ruined your day, eh?
 
Scott, although I may agree with you that the junior Massachusets senator stuck his foot in his mouth(and the statement was untrue and in poor taste) this forum is not the place for it. Anything to do with national politics gets threads locked.
As a courtesy to those having a decent discussion we try to avoid these hotbuttons. As a courtesy you can hit the quote button on the offending post and edit it by inseringt "editpost" in the URL in place of the words "postreply" This will save a moderator the trouble. T
This is our refuge from that junk.
 
that's cool - but I went through the thread, and it was a mix of discussion and junk, so I replied.
Sorry, I didn't know about the trick to edit...
 
OK, you are trying... hit the quote buttion and cut this out of the URL "newreply" Replace that with "editpost and hit go for the url...I would have never made a good computer support guy...

I am adding this senetetnce to show that I just editied my own post.
tongue.gif
 
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From another forum, here is why that $23K pay differential between those with degrees and those without is going to erode over the next few years. It concerns bringing in foreign workers on H1-B visas to replace Americans in those jobs that require degrees:

"...I used to work for a very well known manufacturer with bigtime name recognition. I was at a corporate cocktail party about five years ago, and one of our recruiters told us how the deal works.

"1. The company only wants to hire foreign nationals on H1Bs, even for jobs inside the USA.

"2. They have to justify this to the Feds due to our 'laws' on the books about how they cannot import someone unless they cannot find an American with the same skills (this is key).

"3. They find the guy they want in India, who agrees to work for 50% of an American's salary in exchange for a greencard.

"4. They have the guy sit down for a few hours with one of their lawyers, and the lawyer does a complete braindump on every possible 'skill' this guy has: every software package he has ever used, every class he took, every type of project he has ever worked on, etc.

"5. They then write a classified ad describing this guy's skill set, so detailed that there is virtually no chance whatsoever that anyone except him will meet the reqs. Again, this is on purpose.

"6. They place the ad in some...
[news]paper in the middle of nowhere for a few weeks. Again, this is just to cover their behinds just in case there is a 100% match that is currently unemployed in Armpit, Nebraska.

"7. After a few weeks they go ahead and hire the guy from India.

"8. The next time the CEO gives a speech, he makes some nasty comments about how dumb Americans are.
[Emphasis added.—ekrampitzjr]

"Again, this is exactly how the big deal whorporate recruiter told me the process worked. He wasn't disgruntled or anything, he was relating how they brought in their latest 'big score' from India. ..."


Any of you surprised? I'm not. Of course, this makes US citizens' degrees worthless in these technical fields and drives down pay. Again, that $23K difference won't be there long at the rate things are going. As some with college degrees are already saying: "You want fries with that?"
 
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