Once a Leader, U.S. Lags in College Degrees

Once a Leader, U.S. Lags in College Degrees

www.nytimes.com

Adding to a drumbeat of concern about the nation’s dismal college-completion rates, the College Board warned Thursday that the growing gap between the United States and other countries threatens to undermine American economic competitiveness.

The United States used to lead the world in the number of 25- to 34-year-olds with college degrees. Now it ranks 12th among 36 developed nations.

(visit the link for the full news article)

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/293aa98c69c7.jpg[/atsimg]

To me, it appears that the financial corruption/crisis is directly tied in with the college graduation rate. With the incomes of the average family going down and in some cases going away, along with the cost of tuition going up, we are only going to see less and less formally educated people in this country. The gap between the rich and the poor as well as the elimination of the middle class is only going to make this get worse, unless of course we make this a welfare issue and socialize college.

With that being said, you can rest assured that higher education won't be socialized unless it directly benefits some corporate or special interests. After all, we can't have the public benefitting from our own tax-dollars, now can we?

--airspoon


www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I think the lower numbers of people getting degrees directly relates to the fact that degrees are worthless.

I know friends with 4 year degrees who can't even get jobs at McDonalds. They were told the same old story of "get a degree and you'll make a fortune". But instead they end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt, just for a piece of paper. Frankly, in todays economy, I just don't see it being worth it.

reply to post by DerekJR321


Again, that directly relates to the current financial crisis/corruption. Our jobs are being shipped over-seas, making all jobs scarce, thus ultimately making a degree worthless according to the laws of supply and demand.

--airspoon

Right now students aren't getting a good return on their investment, for college.

You know, there are kids taking out 100,000$ loans to go to school, and when they graduate, they can't even find a job that pays more than minimum wage.


Something has to give -- cheaper schools, or higher paying jobs.

I'm not surprised. Foreign students can come here with their governments paying half and our government paying the other half.

The average US student has to get aid usually in the form of a loan that has to be repaid.

I'm surprised this is news to anyone.

reply to post by CAPT PROTON


I agree, not only do American tax-dollars pay for foreignors to come to our schools, but then the tax-payer will also see to it that they either have a nice cushy job here in America or that the job is shipped back to their homeland, after the finish the schooling that we provide.

I can only assume that we pay for their schooling because they will work for much less money, thus giving the corporate interests a batter bottom line.

Nothing gets done in this country, unless it is to benefit corporate or special interests, with an emphasis on the former.

--airspoon

college degrees are useless unless you are planning on getting your doctorate. i know so many really stupid people who have no business being in college who were admitted by greedy "colleges" who sold them useless degrees in communications or philosophy or liberal arts or some other useless crap.

i think people are waking up and realizing that college degree does not equal success.

Personally I know very few people who don't have their 4 year degree, but that may be because college grads tend not to hang out with non-college grads. It may still be tough to get a job with a degree, but it's almost impossible to get a decent job without one.

My organization still pays 22 year old new hires around $50,000 straight from college, there's a 24 year old working in our team who makes over $70,000 plus a hefty annual bonus.

We do hire "key punchers" from time to time to perform data entry tasks, shuffle paperwork etc - they get treated like crap and make maybe $25,000 a year. We let our staff take off whatever time they need for personal errands, doctors appointments, sick time etc - the key punchers get one freebie, then a verbal warning, then dismissal for the third unexplained absence.

The 24 year old $70k employee has zero interaction with our 24 year old $25k employees - they operate on completely different social levels.

If you want to put yourself into that second class citizen category and skip the whole "college thing" be my guest, it's your life after all.

This is why I go to a community college and not a private college where the fees and tuition rates are through the roof. I pay about $2,500/semester and im good to go. Here in NY all community colleges fall under the SUNY (State University of New York) or CUNY (City University of New York) systems so we have some excellent professors and school resources.

SUNY has some of the best colleges and universities around (ex. Stony Brook, Old Westbury, Binghampton, etc). Even the SUNY community colleges are very highly rated ... mine for example - SUNY Suffolk (aka Suffolk County Community College) - is something like the 5th best community college in the nation.

Instead of going to some overpriced private college or university give your state system a shot. You get the same education for a much cheaper price.

I cant help but feel that college is nothing but a huge scam to futher people into debt. Face it, alot more people now have college degrees then when our parents were younger. A college education is important, but the value of one has been watered down b/c EVERYONE has one, and it doesnt mean anything anymore.

Another good find Spoon,

I am wondering if thier is any data on what types of degree's have suffered the most and what fields of study are still leading to jobs.

I assume tech and/or medical degrees are still valuable.

I am in my mid thirties , i only went to a small community college part time for a few years. Alot of my Highschool friends who went on to four or more years of college are now at home living with thier parents..the ugly truth is this is only going to get worse and there are harder times yet to come..

~meathead

The numbers of people without a college degree may not be a bad thing actually. Maybe this means that people that shouldn't be in college aren't going and that in the future, the quality of the education that is received at colleges in the US will get better; and some of those stupid, pointless degrees will go away.

Well maybe if you dind't have to finance the rest of your life away in order to get a degree, more people could go to college.

My state gets a d- for affordability, and they are about to raise it 5% again.

I only had a partial degree, I had to stop at 13k in loans. And I am only half way through.

reply to post by ChrisF231


Can you obtain a bachelors at suny/cuny?

That's what I did I went to a community college, finished up my associates degree in business admin. C.C. is a joke though. Seemed like a continuation of high school except you had people in their 40's also taking classes complaining how hard it was.

While I didn't expect to even try to go to a 4 year university, I probably should have planned for it. Getting your A.S. with 65 credits then transferring to a 4 year totally sucks. Only about 44 credits counted, most of them didn't fall under any of the requirements they have, such as all the general education classes (history, arts, culture etc) to make you a well-rounded person. I'm going to be graduating with over 130 credits because of those requirements, instead of 120.

Oh well.

Also I finish this december, with a total of $17,700 in debt. Not too bad eh?

reply to post by ChrisF231


I live in Suffolk. Maybe it's just me, but state universities seem to be a higher-power establishments than the community college, with all due respect. If you are into science, especially.

There are a few tricks to getting a degree with minimal cost.

Go part time for a few semesters. That way you don't have to be forced to buy health insurance if you don't have it. (Many schools require it due to liability issues)

Work part time - pay for everything in cash.

Buy all your books online. I have saved HUNDREDS a semester doing this. $50 USED at the bookstore, $5 online. Ridiculous. (actually it was about $4.29 shipping included, the book itself was $1)

Start in community college -- find out which 4 year universities you would like to transfer to -- then only take classes that will transfer. You might have to call the departments in those schools and ask. Don't just accept what they say though some advisors just want to get you off their back and say yeah it transfers when it really doesn't.

Take all the classes in C.C. that will transfer, and a semester or 2 before you finish those classes apply to the other universities. Once accepted you don't have to go immediately. Say I get accepted now (Summer) I can choose to start in january for the spring term.

Once there apply for all grants you can. I was able to save almost 20k off just grants alone.

Total cost of my schooling would have been $45,006
About 70,000 if I was living on campus.

I think the OP can also be seen from a different angle:

while we are bombarded by the brainwashing mantras of "US shifting to service industry", the reality on the ground is that we are shifting to a debt-ridden, lower class and uneducated society.

How can you possibly be in service industry if you lag in college education? How can you move science and progress forward?

The US is ruled by a ruthless elite who's willing to sell the citizenry to be processed into burgers, if it turns a quick buck. And I'm sick of hearing that it's all fault of some "big government". If anything, it's the fault of big special interests.

I do believe that there must be HUGE tax incentives for college education. In many European countries, university education is free. How the hell are we supposed to COMPETE with that, huh?

When our jobs are sold out to India and China, we hear it's for the sake of "competitiveness of American Business". When we don't get same services as elsewhere, it's because it would be "socialist".

Wake up and see the bloodsuckers for what they are.

Isn't the High School dropout rate like, 30%, nation wide? I know its higher in Detroit...

but when a third of kids can't finish high school of course the college graduation rate is going to suffer. And I think we need to fix the public school system first. No one forces anyone to go to college and they'll gladly take your $$ only to see you dropout

Suprises me actually. Without a degree, aka college, yuor technically not on a salary, a diploma saying yuo deseerve $40 or $50,000 a year, salary* not by the hour, which yuor hours will and can be cut.
I always thought by todays standrads, most of the problem wa becuase of things like spring break. college cuties going lesbo for the camera, bearing it all for your viewing pleasure. now i shouldnt complain lol, but...if your thier for education, it seems liek thier throwing lavendish orgy partys isntead, involving the teachers, like it wa mardi grass WAY outta control.
ANother theory, is that people have relaized, you have temporary work in business. Yuo WILL be laid off in about 8 to 10 years time, kissing yuor dream house goodbye, just after paying off a loan of debt that payed for your eduation. yuo will be replaced by some half english speaking outsourced laborer who is gunna take half the benefits and salary yuor diploma siad yuo deserve to sustain a quality lifestyle. maybe people have wised up?
another thing i know was very popularo late 90's..was going to college just to get a degree in something* then doing something entirely different with yuor career.. one guy went to school to learn interior decorating, then became some marketing analasyt. Another went to cullenary ats school, and became a travel agent!! ive heard of more than enough of poeple doing half assed things like this. I guess the ssystem dosnt care what yuo can do, as long as you have a degree in at least something* the rest is cross trained too you, and wether yuo can do the job or not, is thier descision then.