What's the Value of a College Degree?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Bruce, May 6, 2012.

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  1. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    What's the Value of a College Degree?


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - How much is that college degree really worth? That depends on your major. It turns out that some undergraduate and graduate diplomas are worth a lot more during a lifetime of work.

    In fact, the difference in earnings between one major and another can be more than 300 percent, according to recent research from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. Researchers there crunched U.S. Census data looking at 171 majors in 15 categories.

    What's the Value of a College Degree? - Yahoo! Finance
     
  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I'd like to highlight another difference between those that go to college and those that don't. I have a certain amount of exposure to people (usually guys) in the skilled trades, especially welding. Because all of these trades/professions involve a certain amount of manual labor these guys inevitably collect aches, pains and a host of injuries. These can add up over the years and can lead to a lot less happiness. For example, I know a man who can't do things with his kids (like play baseball) because of injuries. College degrees, especially certain majors, have a strong tendency to lead to office jobs where the biggest injury you might expect is a paper cut. I know it's not typically something that people think about, but there's not many people who want to be carrying 100 pounds of welding wire into the hold of a ship when they're 55 or 60 years old.
     
  3. NMTTD

    NMTTD Active Member

    My ex father in law did drywall until he turned 50, and he literally cannot move. He did it for 35 years and it really took a toll on his body. He had to stop working and cant do anything else. He never went to college, has no other skills to fall back on, and has been at home miserable and flat broke for almost 6 years now. He is a perfect example to me of someone who would have benefitted from knowing SOMETHING else. So I firmly believe that, no matter what the stats may say, almost any degree is better than no degree at all.
     
  4. mcjon77

    mcjon77 Member

    Seems like many of us have similar stories. In my case, I have a buddy who is (was?) a stone mason. The job paid fairly well, but by his early 40's his body was completely shot and he could no longer perform the only job he was trained for. Not only that, but he couldn't do a lot of "normal" blue collar non-skilled labor jobs because his body was in such bad condition. He can't stand for extended periods of time, can't walk too far (bad knees), and he can't carry anything heavy. He can't even get a job working at McDonald's or Walmart because they involve more standing than his knees and back can take.
     

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