Poll: Is higher education worth it?

[tobi the good boy]

Depends... I hope to join the military after getting Medical Science degree as a Scientific Officer (A career that is in high demand) so for me I think it'll be worth it. Plus I can get a fair few labwork jobs in hospitals if it doesn't go through.

I say it depends on the degree.

 

[Xman490]

It's worth it if you go all the way to be a professional (as in a Master's Degree) and show people how diligently you can work with that educational background.

Of course, you have to find a way to afford it all.

 

[LetalisK]

Also, last note, don't overlook trades! At least in America, we tend to have big egos and see ourselves as "too good" for blue-collar jobs, but just try bringing that up when you need an electrician or a plumber or a welder. There was an entire power plant that couldn't be built because there weren't enough welders. This doesn't require HUGE EXPENSIVE EDUCATION, but it's a specialized field that will always be in use.

You'd be surprised how much plumbers, electricians, and welders get paid too. It's...a bit disheartening after graduating. >.>

 

[mad825]

In this day in age with tuition cost on the rise would you consider the cost of obtaining a degree worth it.

Well in the UK the student loan system means the risk is minimal. If you cannot pay it back by a certain date it is wiped and if you don't earn enough you don't need to pay payments on it.

...Yeah, a "certain date". I take it you haven't researched this?

I've made comment regarding this on a similar thread.

Not as glamorous you make it out to be. When you start earning minimum 16k a year after graduation you start paying back a percentage. The so called "average" earning for a graduate should be around 31k however lately that figure is starting to skew.

If you don't earn more than 15k a year after 25 years then the loan is written-off also if you are unfit for work. The vast majority of graduates will be paying-off the loan for a good 3 decades.

It's also written-off if you pasted the age of 65...Till Death do us part?

 

[Watcheroftrends]

From an economic aspect, it really depends on your field of study and the cost of tuition relative to how much mastery of the subject you can gain at your chosen institution.

If you have a calling or passion that, unless answered, will haunt your dreams for the rest of your life, it doesn't really how fiscally sound the endeavor of higher education for that passion is. There are people everywhere living on little or nothing and doing so with a smile on their face. If your career will pay out enough to keep you from starvation and sleeping on the streets (accounting for loan payments), then there's no reason to not give it a shot. True happiness is invaluable. If you are this type of person, you'll just sort of know.

Now, if you have a few things you enjoy, but don't eat/sleep/breathe them, then I'd say it's always best to pick the career path that satisfies you "enough" that's stable and well paying. If you aren't 100% sure what you want to do with your life, then it only makes sense to give yourself a stable platform from which you can be flexible should you choose to change careers. You'll likely find, though, that most jobs have the same failings of beauracracy and menial work that interrupts your "real" work. At least with this option, you have the freedom of choice after just a few years of saving and discovery.

If you shoot for the moon and miss in a field that falls more into the liberal arts, life could become extremely miserable if you're not only in mounds of debt, but must rely on the career that is 100% demanding of your heart and soul to pay the bills (even when you really can't put 100% of yourself into it since you've realized it's not what you were meant to do with your life). Very few of us are "artists". You do not become an arstist - you are born one.

In short, make sure you know yourself before you try to know the world.

 

[Shivarage]

Well in the UK the student loan system means the risk is minimal. If you cannot pay it back by a certain date it is wiped and if you don't earn enough you don't need to pay payments on it.

Ahh, you've missed out quite an important detail

the interest rate is ridiculous, I know someone who left uni after 6 months and even when he can pay the amount back, those payments if together would have paid it off but the interest rate just pushed the cost right back to before he started and even higher

it's not as simple as you make it out to be, the quoted cost isn't the full price you pay

 

[phylline]

Well in the UK the student loan system means the risk is minimal. If you cannot pay it back by a certain date it is wiped and if you don't earn enough you don't need to pay payments on it.

Ahh, you've missed out quite an important detail

the interest rate is ridiculous, I know someone who left uni after 6 months and even when he can pay the amount back, those payments if together would have paid it off but the interest rate just pushed the cost right back to before he started and even higher

it's not as simple as you make it out to be, the quoted cost isn't the full price you pay

The method of paying back tuition fees is still fairly manageable (if you're in the new 2013 year or later years, not sure about previous years), however ridiculous the actual cost is. 9% of any income over £21k, if you're under that, you don't have to pay, if you can't pay within a certain amount of years (I *think* it's 30, but don't quote me on that) it's wiped out. It feels more like a graduate tax. So it's manageable, and the interest rate varies depending on how much you actually earn.

Back to the original topic, if you want to learn, I'd say higher education is worth it.

 

[Jandau]

I've been wondering about that myself. College education is fairly cheap in my country (around 400-600 euro per semester) and other costs are not too high (most literature is available in libraries, student housing for out-of-town students is government subsidised for the most part, as is food and transportation, etc.), but I'm still not sure about it being economically viable, if for no other reason then because of the money that I could have earned if I got a full time job straight out of high school.

Now, some high paying fields do require specific higher education (private medical practice, law, etc.), but those schools are hard to get into and even then it's not a guarantee (most doctors don't really make all that much and neither do most lawyers).

All in all, I'd say it's worth it if you have something very specific in mind. However, going to college just for the sake of going to college is a waste of time.

Personally, I got screwed, since I wasn't sure what I wanted and wound up spending over 5 years to end up with degrees in linguistics and anthropology. Since due to the ongoing financial crisis the various scientific institutions where I'd normally look for employment are not hiring at all, I can't get a job in my field and I lack the inspiration to make something happen myself (again, I only took those majors because it sounded interesting and I had no better ideas).

Now I'm regretting it.

Sure, a college degree looks nice, but I'm likely to end up with a job I could do with only a high school education. I would have been better off taking a year or two or three and just working a job while I figure out what I want to do. Also, now that I DO have an idea what I would be interested in, it's too late and I can't afford to go for another 3+ years.

I'm guessing it's even worse in countries where it's pretty much cheaper to buy a house than go to college. I'd say only go for it if you really belive in what you are signing up for. Otherwise, get a job or just go traveling. You'll end up with waaaay more money in the long run...

 

[Rylingo]

For the friends I made, the idiotic positions I found myself in and the shear amount of laughing I did. Yes.

For the education itself? No. Absolutely not. Horrible value for money. Lecturers who couldn't speak english. Lecturers who fell asleep mid-lecture. Sloppy website with terrible emailing systems resulting in inboxes spammed to death everyday. They changed the rules for my degree blocking me in specialising in IT which led to a whole range of negative consequences. Treated me like **** when I was hospitalised with illness during the exam period. Careers advice was atrocious. They forgot to apply for European funding supporting students who travelled abroad on work experience resulting in the loss of £2500 each. Halls drained me of cash in my first year and they blackmailed me for fallacious repairs when I was moving on at the end of the year. Management gave hoity toity speeches about how lucky we were to be attending such an establishment in the vain hope that I would blow air up their asses.
Honestly it felt like they were treating students like cash cows.