Yesterday I was having lunch with a friend, who reflected on the fact that his plumber makes more money than he does, and has more job security, even though he holds two master's degrees. It made me wonder: when is this higher education bubble going to pop? That is, when are enough people going to realize that investing in a college education is, for more and more people, a foolish proposition, because it's going to get you deep in a ditch of debt that you cannot easily climb out of. This debt will delay your ability to buy a house, start a family, and get on with the real business of life.
I am against the idea that education is purely instrumental -- a form of credentialing that exists primarily to provide entree into a desired field -- but surely there must be some recognition even by idealists that there is a connection between what you learn in the classroom and your lifetime of economic productivity.
I am unaware of any specific research tracking the return on investment of a college education these days, so this notion of an educational bubble is mere speculation. Can any readers point us to statistical work done on this point? Beware that posting a link may get your comment automatically hung up in the spam filter. If you put something up and it doesn't appear, e-mail me to let me know and I'll see if I can rescue it.
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Financial aid means that someone else has less money so your daughter can go to college. That's immoral.
I'm trying to compile information and statistics about this on this YouTube video:
watch?v=cyPy--9vdFs
I haven't seen any recent statistics, but I remember some from a graduate class (LOL) I took sometime around 1985. The issue was lifetime real income, assuming that you decided on a career the day you graduated from high school, taking into account average education costs and time value of money, and assuming that you were able to find steady work.
Becoming a medical doctor was the most lucrative career, I don't remember what was second. I think becoming a plumber was third. Becoming a lawyer was someplace in the top ten.
There are of course reasons to pursue a particular career path other than money. I'd be a lousy plumber.
I fully agree with the assesment of a school bubble. A few good links:
School Experience:
http://www.nysun.com/new-york/students-know-less-after-4-college-years/62901/
College Bubble:
http://www.lawschool.com/collegehoax.htm
Correlation btwn IQ and Net Worth:
http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2007/04/correlation-between-iq-and-net-worth.html
Thanks for info
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