Is College Right for You?
As we mentioned in our content entitled “HIGH SCHOOL YEARS,” we are going to assume a person is prolific in reading comprehension, writing, basic math, and communication. The next question is, “What am I going to do to afford the necessities of life?” For some occupations continuing formal education is almost mandated. For most other occupations, it is not.
Before expanding on the search for a livelihood, the Tyber Lustig Foundation chooses to address the current state of college education in general. Ever increasingly through the years is the notion that if you don’t go to and graduate from college, you are going to be some sort of failure. Even well-meaning parents have fallen for this misguided thesis.
Other than for certain occupations, college has become nothing more than a four-year delay in entry to adulthood. To make this situation even more troubling, the cost of a college education has skyrocketed out of control. While most areas of life have benefitted from technological advancements, college, as well as our education systems in general, has only become less cost efficient. While it has never been easier to self-educate oneself, formal education continues to dilute itself with a plethora of moronic class offerings. Ask most college graduates how many classes that they took truly helped them in adulthood, and the answer is mostly “not many.”
If the usefulness of college courses in general is concerning, the prices paid for tuition makes it necessary for most students to take out student loans in order to attend. This situation has gotten so bad that the concept of student loan forgiveness is a popular current topic of discussion. This discussion basically proves the point we are trying to make. In most cases the costs of a college education is not worth it. If after attending four years of college, you still do not have the skills to create a livelihood and repay your contractual obligations, who is at fault? Part of the blame is on the individual for not doing some basic math when it came to figuring out how much would be needed to pay back the ridiculous sum and for their choices of the type of curriculum needed to earn a decent livelihood.
The other parties at fault are the colleges themselves. Colleges in general continue to move away from livelihood-aiding classes offered in their curriculum. Budgets keep rising with little thought to cost efficiencies or class offering usefulness. Their concern is about how to get their ever-increasing tuition prices paid with little concern over affordability and effectiveness. A college diploma has been transformed into the most costly participation trophy.
Even the most historically prestigious universities have fallen victim. Take Harvard, for example. At one time being able to list Harvard on your resume was golden. Over the years Harvard has chosen to become more and more political in nature. As a result, Harvard is well on its way to becoming the BUD LIGHT of universities. It is not just Harvard. The University of Southern California (USC), our namesake’s father’s alma mater, has alienated many of its loyal alumni by straying away from its long-standing tradition of producing upwardly mobile entrepreneurial graduates through a politically motivated agenda. The list of politically motivated college hiring practices continues to undermine the benefits of their students without any accountability. Would be donor alumni either do not know or do not care.
The bottom line on college education is that colleges need to focus on students while providing them resources to become better functioning adults, not focusing on politics. Unfortunately, adulthood costs money, and as soon as a person figures out what type of lifestyle will make them happy, the sooner they can map out a gameplan to afford that lifestyle.
One does not need a college degree to start their own business or to develop their own skill sets. Due to current college policies and curriculums, college has almost become a useless four-year waiting room prior to entering the door to the hallway leading to adulthood.
