The College Education Scam

Rightwingpatriot.com ^ | April 1, 2014 | Rightwingerpatriot
For the last few decades, students have been fed a whopping lie. This falsehood is that you'll need a college education to succeed in the marketplace and have a successful job or career. To that end, enrollment has skyrocketed, and along with that surge has been the increase of price of going to college. To pay for college, students take out student loans and go massively into debt. The sad fact is that after graduation, they find themselves with a normally worthless degree and tens of thousands in the hole. They've fallen prey to the college education scam. From 1985 to 2010, enrollment in colleges nearly doubled and with that came a huge influx of revenue for the colleges. As restrictions on student loans lessened, it became easier and acceptable for students to go massively into debt to fund their education. Colleges began to swell with idiotic courses and professors teaching nonsense such as trans-gender cultural biases through the medium of popular culture and other such junk. Tuition has skyrocketed because colleges know they can charge essentially whatever they want and students will just take out more loans to pay for it. In my home state of Florida, I paid $40 a credit hour in the early 1990s, Fast forward twenty years, that credit hour will now cost you $210 (if you're paying in-state tuition). From kindergarten onward, the mantra of having to go to college is drummed into our heads. Only idiots forgo getting higher education. Studies are touted that show that college graduates earn $17,500 more per year than those who do not go to college. In my personal opinion, that stat is misleading on several levels. The first is that not all college degrees are equivalent. A person getting a medical degree or one in law will definitely be a high earner during the course of their lifetime. But if you look at other degrees, such as in the liberal arts, then those earnings plummet in comparison. In fact, we've been told that a college degree is our ticket to success, but the reality is that only a few degrees are worthwhile. Many degrees really aren't worth the paper they're printed on when you're out in the job market. Major in history, psychology, sociology, or literature, and find out where that gets you. In fact, there are many high paying jobs that don't require a college degree. Plumbers have a median income of $49,000, while steelworkers earn $46,000. Car mechanics average $39,000 a year. These jobs can be learned in trade schools or through apprenticeship. The cost difference between a trade school and a four year college is astounding. Going to college averages $15,000 a year in total costs for in-state students at four year public institutions (the cost goes much higher for private colleges). In fact, the average bachelor's degree costs a grand total of $127,000. The average cost for going through a trade school is $33,000. When you compare trade school wages to college degree wages, trade schools average only $3,000 a year less than four year graduates. If you factor in being able to work two years earlier and the roughly $94,000 in savings in the cost of education, the argument that colleges are the only way to go falls apart. We also have to consider student debt. Most students graduate with anywhere from $26,000 to $29,000 in debt. If you add in interest over the course of the debt's lifetime, the amount goes even higher. Right now, 70% of college students take out student loans to fund their education. The total amount of outstanding student loan debt is over a trillion dollars, higher than credit card or auto loan debts. So why the college education scam? The easy answer is that it boils down to money. Colleges rake in billions by creating the false demand for college degrees. The government and other lending institutions make money by giving out student loans. The only person who gets screwed is the student. Once they enter the workforce, many find unable to get a job with their degree. Many jobs are not high-tech like we've been led to believe. In fact, the government has been trying to fill positions at Hoover Dam for years, but has had trouble due to the fact that the facility is low tech. My brother works at a hospital power plant that is run by boilers. He and his coworkers are all ex-Navy who learned their trade in the military and do not have a college degree. The sad fact is that colleges do not prepare students for earning a living. They're only about enriching themselves as much as they possibly can. It's a wise decision to look at a two year school, the military, trade schools, or apprenticeships in order to learn a trade. We have a vast shortage of tradesmen in our country and those jobs pay damn well. Such facts are hidden as those in power wish to perpetuate the higher education scam in order to fatten their bank accounts. You don't need a college degree if you're capable, have a great idea, or are willing to work hard to succeed.