Is a College Degree still Worth It?

Times have changed, but many people continue to live in the past and follow the now out-dated and obsolete models passed down by previous generations.  The belief that a college degree is a must for success and capturing the American dream may be an illusion.

Students are paying outrageous amounts of money to get college degrees and incurring school loan debts that may take a life time to repay.  School loan debts are the modern day equivalent of the ball and chain.  Years and years of loan payments that may prevent the former student from qualifying for a loan to buy a home.

As the average amount of debt incurred by the average college student increases, institutions of higher learning raise tuition year after year with no regard for the fate of their students.  The out of control federal student loan program is what gives schools the ability to increase tuition and ignore the laws of economics and the consequences to their students.  No matter how high the cost of higher education, the federal government gives  students a blank check  to pay the ridiculous tab.   This bargain with the devil made by higher education, the federal government and politicians will ultimately come crashing down just like  collapse of the entire higher education system when the bubble bursts as it did with the housing market.

Los Angeles Times:  “As U.S. employment patterns evolve, a diploma is no longer a guarantee of a better job and higher pay.”  The article states:

“As the warm glow of college commencement ceremonies gives way to the cold reality of today’s job market, this year’s graduates and their anxious parents might be tempted to wonder whether it was worth it.”

“After spending tens of thousands of dollars on higher education, often taking on huge debts along the way, many face a job market that doesn’t seem to need them. Not only is the American economy producing few new jobs of any kind, but the ones that are being added are overwhelmingly on the lower end of the skill and pay scale.”

“In fact, government surveys indicate that the vast majority of job gains this year have gone to workers with only a high school education or less, casting some doubt on one of the nation’s most deeply held convictions: that a college education is the ticket to the American Dream.”