Is college is a rip off?

13 Comments

Lots of people I know that went can't get hired to almost all the jobs they applied to and theyre 10,000-100,000 dollars in debt. The only place that will take them is Walmart and a few other minimum wage places. It's not enough money to pay off the debt and they can barely keep up. I remember growing up all the adults would tell us go to college, work hard, and you'll get a high paying job to buy a house, raise a family, and quickly pay back the debt. Where is that ending we were promised? We're all in our mid 20's and mid 30's and we worked our asses off. I can't afford to live in an apartment. My friends raise their kids in food stamps, and the few people that were successful look down on us saying we didn't put any effort. We all got ripped off. I wish I had a time machine to go back in time and tell my 17 year old self not to go.

Yes 22
No 17
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Comments ( 13 )
  • Kuntmonkey
    6 years ago

    College is a scam. The only thing you need to learn is how to learn, the rest is easy.

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  • sillygirl77
    6 years ago

    My answer is sometimes its a rip off and for others it worked out well

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  • Justmehere
    6 years ago

    I wouldn't say rip off, and it is important to choose a usable major and marketable knowledge, however, I'd agree that anymore..Thinking twice is warranted. Without student loans, working and only going part time, or other financial help, it's very difficult to see returns on the investment. In my own case, I received my first student loan payment book 3 months after graduating college. Was working, but making squat, and living in a small apartment with concrete floors (place was a converted chicken barn..no joke).

    I paid the payments as-is until getting a better job, but it still wasn't easy early on. Between rent, car payment, bills, and the student loan, I often did think..Were those last 4 years of debt worth this?

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  • jethro
    6 years ago

    Simply going to college is not the solution. You actually need to study something that is marketable and that has some relevance. Studying art history or political science is not going to get you the high paying job you envisioned. If you have no marketable talents to begin with, no one has any incentive to hire you. Unless your parents already own a business that you can work at. Personally, I have seen very few people getting out of college that are qualified to even work a drive up window at McDonalds.

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    • wigz
      6 years ago

      See, that line of thinking is wrong too. Any degree can be worked or a waste, it's all in how you use it. If you think you can get a degree in some art and then just 'be' an artist and live off that then you are potentially misguided but if you have a deeper knowledge of art and use that to, say, direct a museum or restore historic sites then you have something valuable.

      My brother majored in political science, minored in French, and he makes good money working for a government contractor watching satellites and reviewing intelligence. Other people from that same program write speeches/for grants. Others went into the military as officers. Etc. It's all in how you work it. Some jobs just want to see that you can achieve a degree, put in the work and see it through, and it doesn't matter so much what your degree is. It's often more about making it work for you rather than you working under it per se.

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  • xfg-48
    6 years ago

    You should have developed a career strategy 1-2 years into college instead of assuming a job would be handed to you on a silver platter.

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  • lordofopinions
    5 years ago

    In your parents day the economy was booming then greedy companies started sending everything to 3rd world countries for cheap labor. Everything has gone to hell in a hand basket and still going. Consider a trades career or a drug dealer.

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  • Avant-Garde
    6 years ago

    I don't mean to make this a debate about politics, but I keep seeing this problem with liberal leaning colleges. I wish there was someone looking out for these students. They need to pair these courses up with something that has a higher likelihood of finding employment.

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  • John__Cena
    6 years ago

    People who go to college and get stupid degrees that dont apply to real life. They are the ones who ejd up like your friend. And they deserve it because they chose to pick a stupid degree.

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  • nekochsn808
    6 years ago

    i guess planning ahead when you go to college is a must

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  • KPHM
    6 years ago

    depends on your major
    computer science, pre-med -> med school, etc. are very good
    depending on the wage that you want, you can take coding classes that line up directly into lower tier jobs instead of college

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  • BlackCatsAreAwesome
    6 years ago

    Yup college is a scam unless you go into STEM. Women Studies is useless fluff that only teaches girls how to hate men.

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  • wigz
    6 years ago

    No, you just have to choose your study carefully and take full advantage of your time in school. Choose something you like and that you can translate into a desireable skill. You have to make it work for you, it's not going to happen on its own. It may have worked that way in the past when all you needed was the degree to set you apart but now you need more...you actually have to compete and fill a niche. Finishing higher education is a plus but you have to parlay it into real life. And pay attention in school and take every opportunity you can to work, intern, volunteer and gain experience! Classroom stuff is one thing but actual real-world experience is invaluable. Tailor your resumé to the jobs you apply for.

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