Comments on: How important is college?

By: Nancy Scott

Nancy Scott — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:07:26 +0000

Personally, I believe the original intent of college was to enlighten our minds; teach us to think by broadening our base of knowledge.
This particular need may be met by other formats with the advent of the internet…what I believe IS important: Knowing where to get the information that you need and how to evaluate the source.

By: Karen F.

Karen F. — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:03:56 +0000

Abraham,
Do you see college a necessity because of the job market or because of the need for more education?
What is the purpose of college in your mind?

By: danielle

danielle — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:44:08 +0000

if i went to college right now for what i want to do, i would end up being $30K in debt for training on something that has been almost completely self taught. it doesn’t make sense for me. i make the same amount of money as people with degrees n the same field.

i think it all depends on what you want to do. for example, i’m all about dave going to school if he knows what he wants and needs it to get there. but for me, it doesn’t make any sense at this point.

to be 100% honest, if i could go back and do it again, i would go to college, just for the experience (as long as i would still have all of my other experiences). that makes no sense. bye.

By: Abraham Piper

Abraham Piper — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:03:26 +0000

Thanks for excellent discussion!

Here’s my question based on many of these comments:

If high school cost 50 or 100K would we start asking whether God was calling our kids to go?

I agree with many of your responses–my point is merely that the choice to not go to college should be made with the same sobriety and realization of the consequences that the choice to quit high school should be made with.

Of course, people can be successful w/o college. People can be successful without high school, too, but we think it’s important enough that we don’t give almost anyone except delinquents the opportunity to prove that high school is sometimes as unnecessary as college.

By: Daisy

Daisy — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:41:47 +0000

One word…inflation. Education has experienced major inflation. It used to be that an 8th grade education meant you were literate. Then it became the High School diploma. Now you can barely guarantee a student is literate and able to “think” when s/he graduates with a BA. College is necessary and useful to some and not to others and as such should be weighed very carefully before engaging in the expense.

I went to college and loved it. I’m a homeschooling stay-at-home Mom of 2. I’m wondering just how often I’m using that $40K degree. My husband has his Master’s in education and was a great teacher before the MA. He says his MA made him only slightly worse of a teacher. LOL.

By: grownANDsexy

grownANDsexy — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:53:29 +0000

Lets put it this way… there was a point in time where it really was a no-brainer to go to college and a no-brainer as to what the outcome would be if you didn’t.

But that is not true any more. You can be successful without it IF you know how to be successful and professional. You have to know what it takes to have a career and a good work ethic, understand a little finance and/or money management (whats a 401K, 457k, Roth IRA and so on).

In fact you need to be like that after college too but you might get away with it if you have a degree.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:06:17 +0000

I think I disagree and yet I want my children to go to college. Does that make me a hypocrite?

By: carissa

carissa — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:35:11 +0000

i guess what i’d like most is to see true equal opportunity for all. because in certain circles of society, despite all the rhetoric about choice, going to college is just not an option. and in other certain circles, despite all the rhetoric about choice, NOT going to college is not an option.

as for that return-on-investment argument, i’m just not sure that’s going to be true in today’s economy. my total education is probably going to cost $250k (100k for undergrad and 150k for grad – most of which i personally didn’t have to pay, but SOMEBODY did), all so i can probably be a professor for a few years and raise some chillun. if we’re talking monetary capital, i don’t know that i’m really going to be able to pay Uncle Sam back.

By: Karen F.

Karen F. — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:25:23 +0000

I would love to hear college graduates weigh in regarding the financial costs of college . . . as the parent of three young girls, my husband and I often wonder if college will be in their future.
We don’t assume they will each go to a 4 year university. Perhaps they will choose a vocational school or specific training . . . perhaps they will want to go to college.
But we wonder about the financial ramifications. We don’t believe we should go into exorbitant debt for their higher education, and we don’t believe our girls should be saddled with upwards of $20k in debt.
Please, thoughts anyone?

By: rachel

rachel — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:38:22 +0000

i have two bachelors degrees from a well-respected private university. and i graduated cum laude.

i work at starbucks.

to pay off my 20K in student loans.