Earning Half A College Degree Is Better Than None

Earning Half A College Degree Is Better Than None

Earning Half A College Degree Is Better Than None - Yahoo! Finance

 

I have a theory about this. Kids who go into college after high school have higher intelligence levels than those who don't. Intelligent people tend to command higher salaries. Some of us dropped out of college for reasons other than academic but graduated high school at the top of our classes and were involved in gifted programs and the like in school.

 

I'm going to look for the video clip that talks about how you could put bright kids in a box (as opposed to a college) for 4 years and they'd still succeed in life.

 

I've actually seen plenty of jobs that require a certain number of credit hours as opposed to a whole degree. The job I have now took criminal justice credits in lieu of experience. They're also thinking about setting up a pay scale based in credit hours/degrees along with experience.

 

I would recommend that someone with 1/2 a bachelor degree pick up an AA degree.

 

I'm with you. ;-)

 

I tend to agree. It may not be "PC," but a good bit of intelligence is innate, and you don't create geniuses by sending students of average intelligence to college. College provides an opportunity to move a little bit closer to your potential. If you are just not that smart, then college won't make you smart.

 

I agree! There is no such thing as "half a college degree!" An associates degree makes one a college graduate and 4 plus years of college and no degree, a professional student or a college dropout.

 

I don't believe it. It's inconsistent with every educational outcome report I've ever read regarding lifetime wages.
Median annual earnings of year-round, full-time workers 25 years old and over, by highest level of educational attainment and sex: 1990 through 2010

 

What is it that you don't believe? The chart that you posted shows that people with "some college" earn more than those with just a high school diploma.

 

Correlation does not imply causation.
I remember seeing on the news that men married to younger women live longer than men married to women their same age or older. One might conclude that marrying a woman makes a man younger but I do not. I believe that most men marry the prettiest woman they can and men who have more money and who are in better health can marry a younger woman because they are attractive to younger women.

How many 30 year old women want to marry an overweight and poor 40 year old man? Probably far fewer than who want to marry a physically fit and affluent 40 year old man.

So I always take these conclusions with a grain of salt.

 

Can I exchange my Bachelors for 2 Associates and my 40 for (2) 20's? :silly:

 

Yeah, who needs that love, kindness, integrity, dedication and commitment garbage? Just marry the prettiest woman that will have you and life will be good.

 

But how do we know if people with "half a degree" didn't learn valuable skills? In IT, for example, a degree is not always important. What if someone learned how to code or learned enough to earn a marketable certification with their "half degree?"

 

On most employment applications half a degree is some college. Whether you have 1 college credit or a couple hundred you still have "some college" if you don't hold a college degree!

 

Yes, I know that, so why is everyone automatically assuming that there is no causation?

 

Government jobs pay based on education level, tenure, and experience, not ability. So if you take government jobs out of the equation the numbers might come out differently as well.

I don't disagree with the findings but I think there are many factors and accumulation of college credit is one of them. Someone's reasoning skills and ability to learn are probably the most important factors in becoming highly paid, however.

 

But you also have to take into account that those with "some college" earn less than those with a degree. So what does that say? Are those with some college more intelligent than high school graduates, but less intelligent than college graduates? Or, does it say that those who dropped out of college don't have as much access to high paying jobs as college graduates? Yes, government jobs might have something to do with it, but private employers are increasingly using education as a screening tool.