College

[BlackCat]

I love college. Anyone else? BM? Have any rants to share?

[Pause]

I can't wait to go back!

[BlackCat]

Are you going to CMU?

[Zorro]

How's your education being funded at the moment, BC? Did you manage to get some scholarships? Are your parents paying for it? Or are just just racking up debt like everyone else is?

[Bullet Magnet]

Well, I think the thread three spots below this one sums up my first two years - a complete waste.

It's starting to get much better, though, since I took a minor in computer science and am getting to actually start some programming. The problem with programming is that it's not something you can just do straight out of high school. EVERY job listing out there wants 5+ years experience in this and 5+ years experience in that. About 3/4 of the listings I see want a bachelor's in computer science, IT, or similar.

[BlackCat]

How's your education being funded at the moment, BC? Did you manage to get some scholarships? Are your parents paying for it? Or are just just racking up debt like everyone else is?

I have some scholarships but nothing outstanding. It's hard to get a really good scholarship being a white male born in the US, haha. I'm paying for it all. It's going well so far since I'm on my 2nd year at a community college. I'll be able to pay the remaining 2 years off at the university but books just kill me. College textbook prices are ridiculous.

I swear I will never take out student loans; some of the stories haunt me but I think taking out loans that big require confidence, which is great if someone takes out student loans with confidence (belief that they will be paid back ASAP after college given a new, rewarding career), however I think the reality of this is not absolute (or not being able to find a job after college). Therefore, sometimes being optimistic or having too much confidence in the system or paradigm will screw you over big time.

Zorro, kudos to you for having a very successful career while never attending college. In high school, every teacher stresses that you must go to college to be successful. What's sad about this is the students then go against their gut instincts and blindly enter college only because society pressures them to.

A lady at a former church I attended said she's overwhelmed with student loan debt (she's mid-30s) and that she would have been much better off working at McDonald's, "Much better off," she said. That hit me. She was an English major.

I do believe that the best fields to get into are that dealing with math, science, and technology as they require more analysis than say someone who majored in art history.

BM, that's good that your classes are focusing more on your major. That's really kewl. It's funny that a former CEO of Yahoo! got let go because he deceived people into thinking he had a major in computer science, lol. Poor guy. The new Yahoo! CEO is really good looking though.

My bro majored in Networking & Network Administration and now he's an IT Technician at an engineering firm. Crazy.

Sorry for the rambling. I think I'll write a book now.

[Zorro]

BC, I'm very glad you have avoided the route of taking out loans to pay for your education. Community colleges are much more affordable, anyways (and often a lot more convenient). I'm not kidding when I say this, but one of the reasons I got the job I now have is because I do *not* have a college education. I was actually told that when I got the phone call telling me I'd been selected for the position I was interviewed for. It sounds completely absurd at first, but once you look at it from an employer's perspective it makes perfect sense. If I was an employer in the same career field I'm currently working in, I would sooner hire someone without a college education who freelanced and/or held a full-time job for the past 4 years than someone who just spent the past 4 years in college with no real-world job experience outside of flipping burgers part-time at McDonalds. This is one of the reasons why I personally find community colleges more attractive and beneficial than their doomed dormed counterparts (humor intended).

My brother has a friend who is one month away from getting his masters degree in Criminal Justice and Forensic Science in an attempt to eventually get on with the FBI; two years ago he was $250,000 in debt. I'm not sure where his debt stands now but it's probably a lot more than it was. He's still working a low-paying job completely unrelated to his education, and I can almost guarantee you that even with his masters degree within a month's reach, in another two years his overall career status isn't going to be any different than it is now.

We can try to blame all of this on the economy or on whoever happens to be running Washington at the time of our plight, but the simple fact of the matter is the true blame lies within the structure of society itself. We've been brainwashed with a false notion that a college education is required to obtain a high paying job, attain a high standing in a perverted social ladder, or as a means to personify the essence of an intelligent individual who is above the fray of his/her cohorts. I reject this notion entirely and strongly believe it is one of the biggest contributors to the erosion of our society, causing the dissipation of our family structure, moral fortitude, and economy.

To re-iterate what BM said in his previous post - for the vast majority of individuals, attending college will end in regret and will turn out to be a complete waste. If such individuals eventually end up with good careers, it will *not* be because of the degree they obtained and wasted their time and money to get. As I've repeated over and over again to numerous individuals over the past several years, a college degree is nothing more than a single line-item on a resume, and it's often one of those lines that potential employers will not even read.

[Zorro]

I just got an update on the debt status of my brother's friend mentioned in my previous post; his student loan debt is now $390,000. Again, he has a month to go before obtaining his master's degree, and is still working a low-paying job at this time.

[Bullet Magnet]

The dude should drop out.

[Zorro]

Too late for that. With $390,000 in debt and only one month left till he gets his degree, what's another $10,000 going to matter? *chuckle*