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Is It Just Me????

wyliec said:
That would depend on when you retired, and/or if you are comparing initial salary to when you first started, and when they started; also, some of the better companies try to keep up with inflation. You need our Alaskan friend to compare yesteryear dollars to what they could purchase, and what today's dollars purchase.
Click to expand...

It also depends on how much you paid for the degree. Today's college education is much more expensive, so the higher average salaries need to have the costs, including interest on loans, netted out. Also, convert today's $ to the value of the previous - or vice-versa.

I keep thinking about when I was finishing high school, doing better in the job market after going to college was a given. You could get a "general" degree and really make out. Now there are college graduates going begging for jobs and facing lots of college debt.
 
Hi Patti,

Re: Now there are college graduates going begging for jobs and facing lots of college debt.

From the article that I linked: The unemployment rate for Americans with a bachelor’s degree is 2.8%.

This does not support your assertion.

Jerry Baumchen

PS) I paid the full boat for both of my kid's formal educations. I did it for two reasons:

1. I come from a very working class family. College was NOT something you even considered. My folks could not afford to help me financially. I worked part-time & went to school part-time; took 6 1/2 yrs to get my degree. I promised myself back then, that if I could afford it my kids would not have to do what I had to do.

2. I could afford it.
 
:shocked: Oh, GREAT!! :banghead:

Now I'm hungry again! :gaah:

Jerry,
:congrats: on doing right by your kids! :clap: :thumbup:
We helped ours out by paying for the first three years. We figured that a little bit of student debt could be used to build some credit for the future.
(He came out with a $12,000 debt: pretty manageable!)
 
JerryB said:
Hi Patti,

Re: Now there are college graduates going begging for jobs and facing lots of college debt.

From the article that I linked: The unemployment rate for Americans with a bachelor’s degree is 2.8%.

This does not support your assertion.

Jerry Baumchen

PS) I paid the full boat for both of my kid's formal educations. I did it for two reasons:

1. I come from a very working class family. College was NOT something you even considered. My folks could not afford to help me financially. I worked part-time & went to school part-time; took 6 1/2 yrs to get my degree. I promised myself back then, that if I could afford it my kids would not have to do what I had to do.

2. I could afford it.
Click to expand...

Good your you, Jerry. Your kids were blessed to have you to do that for them. My folks also paid for my college and graduate school, for which I'll be forever grateful. But I'd still question the return on the investment in college, compared to when we were of that age. Increases in the cost of college education has far exceeded the inflation rate and, IMHO, it is very overpriced. Of course, for some fields it is absolutely necessary, like medicine, law, engineering.

I had a teenage child, I'd encourage them to learn a trade and work at it a while, then go to college if still want too, and if they have a specific field they want to study. I would also advise that you don't have to go to college to get an education, just for a degree.
 
PrairieSpyder said:
I would also advise that you don't have to go to college to get an education, just for a degree.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. I joined the navy right out of high school because otherwise I would have been drafted. When I got back from 4 years of service (2 in Vietnam) I was in no mood to go back to schools where the student body spent most of their free time protesting the war and especially vets (who had no choice but to go). So I looked around and found a technical school that gave me my start in the (then) new field of computer programming. Nine months later I had a job and the beginnings of a great 30 year career. I made very good money and could work most anywhere I wanted to live. I could stay in my own city or travel as much as I wanted. I could give my family much, much more than I ever had growing up and still managed to put a sizeable amount away for retirement.

I was somewhat lucky because today that same career field is filled with H1b people who work for cheap and real programming has been replaced by cartoon apps and what we used to call graphic arts. But it is still possible for someone to acquire a good technical degree and build a good career - and in a field that can't be replaced by someone in India or Pakistan.

There are a number of careers that obviously require college but there are many others where the debt and time incurred in obtaining a degree take a lifetime to pay back, if ever. I got $80/month from my GI Bill and used that to pay for my technical school. The payback has been phenomenal.
 
Bob Denman said:
:shocked: Oh, GREAT!! :banghead:

Now I'm hungry again! :gaah:

Jerry,
:congrats: on doing right by your kids! :clap: :thumbup:
We helped ours out by paying for the first three years. We figured that a little bit of student debt could be used to build some credit for the future.
(He came out with a $12,000 debt: pretty manageable!)
Click to expand...

I can top that. My daughter is sending me back to school.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................to pick up her child every day. She's a great daughter.
 
Bryer's was the first ice cream to reduce the size of their cartons from 1/2 gallon. And that was years after they were whipping air into their product!
 
I didn't go to college, back when I graduated high school, the college folks were the ones pumping gas and flipping burgers while the folks that had a trade were working steady for good money.

I learned to weld and have had a very good run. I also went through an apprenticeship (the OTHER four year degree) and instead of racking up debt in college, I was getting paid very well to learn on the job. My wife and I are going to Kansas City tomorrow and I'm going to sign my retirement papers and start my pension from the Boilermakers Union and I'll also start my pension from Komatsu America.

Both of my kids graduated from college and my son-in-law has a masters. Our first granddaughter will start college in two years and I hope they have as much of a shot to do as well as we all have. Nowadays, a college degree is equivalent to a high school diploma back in the early seventies.

The price of a college degree? Cheap at twice the price. Which it will soon be.......again!
 
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