Years ago I got my degree, admittedly in physics rather than law. For 5 years I drove a truck, and for another year I worked in a food processing plant. I never once considered the degree a waste. But then again, that was before the era of student debt.
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Law school is but the tip of a massive higher education racket we have in the United States. Many undergraduates come out of school with a crushing debt that they might never be able to pay off. What does a liberal arts major learn that translates into a skill set for an income producing job? I would also strongly discourage anyone from majoring in physics today unless they are extraordinarily talented. This might even apply to engineering as well. Mathematics? Don’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. Again if you are in the upper 1% go for it.
Many young people should be going into a vocational track instead of the academic track. Something like auto mechanics. Your job is necessary, well paid (at least in California) and can’t be out sourced.
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I just left a career in Engineering because manufacturing is going down the toilet in this country. I just passed the bar exam this past year. I’m paying off school costs through military service and I’m on my way to Afghanistan next month. I won’t have much debt but articles like this are starting to worry me.
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I agree with Zarkov. I also think the higher education paradigm in the US is broken beyond repair thanks to skyrocketing tuition. It is no longer morally acceptable for a society to send every Tom, Dick, and Harry to college regardless of their capability or aptitude and burden them with a non-dischargeable debt load that in many instances exceeds the cost of a new house (and a large wedding though that is a topic for another time).
The fact of the matter is that we have reached a tipping point where it simply is not worth it for a young adult to go to college (or a professional school) and graduate with a non-dischargeable debt. Sadly, in Michigan where unemployment is the second highest in the US, there are many trade jobs (eg. welding, plumbing, electrician) that are going unfilled because there are too many poor college grads without the requisite trade skills to fill these jobs. These poor college grads would have been better off skipping college and learning these trade skills right after high school. The would be employable and not have the crushing debt burden that is borne by today’s college grads.
When I read these comments on this post, I had to share them here because it reflects the same things I have been saying:
-College tuition is too high.
-There are too many people going to college.
-Federal student loans are to blame.
-Picking the wrong major is not to blame. Even engineers can't find decent work in their field.
-You are better off learning a trade.
This is a bubble--pure and simple. A massive wad of malinvestment has formed here with colleges and universities turning out grads the economy does not need at insane levels of tuition. I love reading these comments because it gives me a very widespread perspective on this phenomena.
Higher education is overrated and oversold. Getting that degree is not a ticket to a better life. The old conventional wisdom does not apply just like that old saw that real estate is always a good investment because home prices always go up. We know better now.
I actively discourage young people from going to college now. I always tell them to find their way into a trade or consider going to med school. Otherwise, you will be FFL--Fucked For Life.
I don't know when this clusterfuck will end. At some point, student loan defaults will reach a critical mass, and political solutions will be offered. Basically, hard working wrench turning high school grads will get to pay for their latte pouring college grad peers' education.
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