I have to wonder if my generation [Millenial] had any effect on university enrollments yet. My kids aren’t quite the age to talk about education plans as I had kiddos later in life @30yo (40 now). I’ll be strongly discouraging uni unless it’s completely unavoidable to what they want to do.
I’m approaching 40 and have three kids from 10yo to 1yo, and I’m still going to encourage them going to college, but in a way that makes sense for them. My wife and I both work at a community college, and there’s no way our kids are going to go to a 4-year right out of high school (unless they get a full scholarship for something and already know exactly what they want to do).
Too many students don’t know what they want to study, don’t value the education, and drive themselves into too much debt. While I highly value the education and skills gained in a bachelor’s program, there’s no need to be going into debt at a university to take first- and second-year courses when community colleges are effectively free (in CA, anyway)
Ship 'em off to Germany and get a free college education. I know a few people that have gone there for grad school for that reason. I wish I had known that was an option…I might still be there, honestly.
I mean the numbers still say that a bachelor’s degree doubles or triples your lifetime earnings over a high school diploma. Moreover, an educated society benefits everyone. College is still the right move at every scale. What we need to do is make it a more equitable system.
Maybe. Depends on how functional you are overall. Turns out I can pass college courses, but not keep a job so well.
I’m really good at getting high paying jobs, but my executive function is terrible. I can’t keep the jobs.
People with good executive function tend to not be aware of it as a factor. For them “getting that job” is the big uncertain hurdle on their path to success.
Not once in my upbringing all the way through college graduation did anyone talk about keeping jobs. It was all about getting the job. I’ve gotten some pretty amazing jobs … and lost them.
Have you tried a job that works on a more cyclic nature? I struggle with executive function, too, and I tried grad school and I could pass the classes and do the work, but I couldn’t finish my dissertation for my PhD program. I eventually realized I did better on an academic schedule and now I teach college classes, so I get to work on the same 12-week quarter system where I did well as a student.
I guess apprenticeships aren’t that common yet in the US, but in many countries you can learn a profession not only at uni. In that case the high school diploma isn’t the last/highest diploma one would get.
Yeah crossing my fingers there’s some fixes in the works along side any debt forgiveness, but with this political environment and some folks attitude of “F you, I got mine “, I’m doubtful.
Same, I’m going to push my kid to do everything they can local. Because even though I don’t regret the experiences I had at university, it was a massive waste of money for me.
Yeah I’d definitely rather have them go to one of the community colleges or maybe a more technical school depending on what they want to do. I just want to prevent them from having to live with what might be debt I deal with for the rest of my life. No big University unless they manage a full ride or something, lol. Mean from my mistakes.
Yeah I look back fondly on the experiences, the conversations, the environment. But it was worse than a waste of time for me. It was, financially, the worst way I could have spent my first years out of high school.
Yeah…I agree. I will say I hope I can at least mitigate the debt issue as much as I can because I won’t be able to help pay, and I’m sure by the time my oldest is ready I’ll make too much for him to qualify for much aid. Maybe community college first or a trade school depending on what their interested in.
Similar boat. Were lucky we were able to move to Europe so my kid has access through the Erasmus network to any college in Europe really. It’s a different world over here.
I’ve joked with my wife about sending the kids to Germany as IIRC they have a really good system that is friendly to international students there. But this is me trying to remember stuff from 15-20 years ago lol
I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. My coworker and I both got a certification last year. I received a promotion shortly after that, but he didn’t get his until much later. He was thinking it might have to do with me having a bachelor’s while he only has an associates degree. I hope that wasn’t it, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Some corpo stooge having to be convinced the technically senior co-worker with tons of tribal knowledge is fit for a step-up promo….sheesh.
I generally encourage kids to just go live a normal life for a few years before college. That way they’re going for something specific they really want to do, and they have an experiential sense of what the dollar amounts mean.
I’m pretty resentful that I had tens of thousands of loans offered to me, far beyond anything my credit would warrant, when I was a teenager, who had been propagandized to go to college for the past ten years of my life.
I feel tricked. Perhaps not on purpose, but I feel like I was tricked.
Are you me? Though i don’t necessarily blame my parents, they just thought that they were encouraging me to do the right thing for my future. I can’t say that my degree was entirely useless but I’d like to think i could have gotten to spot similar to where i am now without the 100k in student loans.
I have to wonder if my generation [Millenial] had any effect on university enrollments yet. My kids aren’t quite the age to talk about education plans as I had kiddos later in life @30yo (40 now). I’ll be strongly discouraging uni unless it’s completely unavoidable to what they want to do.
I’m approaching 40 and have three kids from 10yo to 1yo, and I’m still going to encourage them going to college, but in a way that makes sense for them. My wife and I both work at a community college, and there’s no way our kids are going to go to a 4-year right out of high school (unless they get a full scholarship for something and already know exactly what they want to do).
Too many students don’t know what they want to study, don’t value the education, and drive themselves into too much debt. While I highly value the education and skills gained in a bachelor’s program, there’s no need to be going into debt at a university to take first- and second-year courses when community colleges are effectively free (in CA, anyway)
Ship 'em off to Germany and get a free college education. I know a few people that have gone there for grad school for that reason. I wish I had known that was an option…I might still be there, honestly.
I mean the numbers still say that a bachelor’s degree doubles or triples your lifetime earnings over a high school diploma. Moreover, an educated society benefits everyone. College is still the right move at every scale. What we need to do is make it a more equitable system.
Maybe. Depends on how functional you are overall. Turns out I can pass college courses, but not keep a job so well.
I’m really good at getting high paying jobs, but my executive function is terrible. I can’t keep the jobs.
People with good executive function tend to not be aware of it as a factor. For them “getting that job” is the big uncertain hurdle on their path to success.
Not once in my upbringing all the way through college graduation did anyone talk about keeping jobs. It was all about getting the job. I’ve gotten some pretty amazing jobs … and lost them.
Have you tried a job that works on a more cyclic nature? I struggle with executive function, too, and I tried grad school and I could pass the classes and do the work, but I couldn’t finish my dissertation for my PhD program. I eventually realized I did better on an academic schedule and now I teach college classes, so I get to work on the same 12-week quarter system where I did well as a student.
I guess apprenticeships aren’t that common yet in the US, but in many countries you can learn a profession not only at uni. In that case the high school diploma isn’t the last/highest diploma one would get.
Yeah crossing my fingers there’s some fixes in the works along side any debt forgiveness, but with this political environment and some folks attitude of “F you, I got mine “, I’m doubtful.
Same, I’m going to push my kid to do everything they can local. Because even though I don’t regret the experiences I had at university, it was a massive waste of money for me.
Yeah I’d definitely rather have them go to one of the community colleges or maybe a more technical school depending on what they want to do. I just want to prevent them from having to live with what might be debt I deal with for the rest of my life. No big University unless they manage a full ride or something, lol. Mean from my mistakes.
Yeah I look back fondly on the experiences, the conversations, the environment. But it was worse than a waste of time for me. It was, financially, the worst way I could have spent my first years out of high school.
This… is sad. Both discouraging and why you discourage.
Yeah…I agree. I will say I hope I can at least mitigate the debt issue as much as I can because I won’t be able to help pay, and I’m sure by the time my oldest is ready I’ll make too much for him to qualify for much aid. Maybe community college first or a trade school depending on what their interested in.
Similar boat. Were lucky we were able to move to Europe so my kid has access through the Erasmus network to any college in Europe really. It’s a different world over here.
I’ve joked with my wife about sending the kids to Germany as IIRC they have a really good system that is friendly to international students there. But this is me trying to remember stuff from 15-20 years ago lol
The easier college gets, the dumber you’ll look for not having a degree
I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. My coworker and I both got a certification last year. I received a promotion shortly after that, but he didn’t get his until much later. He was thinking it might have to do with me having a bachelor’s while he only has an associates degree. I hope that wasn’t it, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Some corpo stooge having to be convinced the technically senior co-worker with tons of tribal knowledge is fit for a step-up promo….sheesh.
I generally encourage kids to just go live a normal life for a few years before college. That way they’re going for something specific they really want to do, and they have an experiential sense of what the dollar amounts mean.
I’m pretty resentful that I had tens of thousands of loans offered to me, far beyond anything my credit would warrant, when I was a teenager, who had been propagandized to go to college for the past ten years of my life.
I feel tricked. Perhaps not on purpose, but I feel like I was tricked.
Are you me? Though i don’t necessarily blame my parents, they just thought that they were encouraging me to do the right thing for my future. I can’t say that my degree was entirely useless but I’d like to think i could have gotten to spot similar to where i am now without the 100k in student loans.