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Go to College for 4 years, and what do you get? More

Go to College for 4 years, and what do you get?

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  • I'm King of the World!

    Besides - I have a somewhat regular supply of clean socks, and get about $80 a month. More if I bang a few fat chicks.

    Now offer me a job that pays me 6 figures to to nothing but troll slashdot all day and not do any real work. Otherwise you're just browbeating me.

    CALUMNY!
  • On what they want to do---where I work, certain PHB's will not even consider a candidate unless there is a degree on the resume*. You want to be a physician or educator (one of the few careers that may be left in this country in a few years) bet your ass you need the expensive bit of washroom paper they hand you in four years and several years salary.

    *The wisdom of that is another story. Some of the people that have survived from the previous regime never set foot in a degree-granting institution and can
    • *The wisdom of that is another story. Some of the people that have survived from the previous regime never set foot in a degree-granting institution and can run rings around those who did.

      Something else to consider: In the UK, you used to be able to become a barrister by clerking (ie working as an "assistant" to a lawyer) for a few years and then taking the Bar exam. Now, the Inns of court won't accept anyone to the Bar programme unless they have an LLB (Law Degree). I don't know how that works in ot
      • Yes, there was something similar here in NJ---you could teach yourself or otherwise learn the law and then sit for the bar exam. Then it was changed that you had to have a Juris Doctor/JD degree from an accredited institution before you can take the exam. Im not sure if it is the same in all US states, but I would assume so.

    • A relatively cheap way is to go to a community college for your 4-year degree and then to a better college for a 1 or 2-year Masters degree. If you choose the "right" field, they'll pay you to get your Masters degree (as long as you also teach a few classes and/or do research).

      Masters degrees are not that hard to get (IMO), and if you're just looking at dollars and cents they make a lot of sense.

      • If you choose the "right" field, they'll pay you to get your Masters degree (as long as you also teach a few classes and/or do research).

        I keep hearing this- but I've never met anybody who has actually done it. All the Master's degree programs in Oregon seem to cost $17,500; which oddly enough is also the maximum you can get in a student loan.

        As for the Community college, that's the way I went, but that was a couple decades ago now. Tuition has shot WAY up in Oregon even at the community college level.

        • If you're getting a degree in a technical or scientific field, you can almost guarantee that the $17,500 will be paid for by an assistantship of some kind - probably a teaching assistantship. When I went back for an MS in Astrophysics, I fully intended on paying out-of-pocket since I was going to do it part time, and I was working for a company that was paying me pretty well. However, the school (Georgia State) practically begged me to be a TA (they had a shortage of native English-speakers in the program),

  • ...living as a "starving student" has been forgotten:

    During the five years that most members of the class of 2007 needed to work their way through college, they watched annual tuition and fees climb 21 percent -- from an average of $4,148 to $5,031. The increases forced students to borrow more.

    Darren Boerl, 21, who'll graduate Saturday from Portland State University with a degree in criminology, worked summers plus 25 hours or more a week during school. Even so, he racked up $35,000 in debt.

    Unless this fell

    • I think one big difference *might* be standard living expenses. A "Cheap" apartment in the PSU area is $950/month for a studio. And also books- books have shot WAY up in the last few years. I never got by even back in the 1990s without $500 a term for books. And I've heard prices have about doubled since then- I could easily see him spending $1500/year on books alone.

      But I will point out, this is Portland State University in Oregon- a stupid place to go if you expect to graduate without debt in the 21s
      • I gave him a grand for books. That apartment translates to $475 or $317 with roommates. Even less for the first two years if you live at home and go to a local junior college.

        The problem may very well be in "standard living expenses". As in, when I was in college, me and my friends all lived the sub-standard lifestyle, with commensurate low expenses, and maybe today's college kids aren't. Then the boo hoo I'm in such debt what a burden is crocodile tears. It's a choice. And thus greatly alters the "is a deg

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ces ( 119879 )
          Hey, don't forget those of us who are older who are either returning to school or starting for the first time. Most of us even if we don't have a family to support aren't willing to do the starving student thing.

          I mean I could sell all my crap and live like a monk to keep expenses down, but I've been there and done that in my 20's and I have no intention of doing so again.

          For those with families the challenge is even greater.
  • I remember when I first got online (95), I thought "swell, in a few years when this thing really takes off even more they'll be cheap or free college educations online! Yahoo!"

    Hasn't happened yet near as I can see. There are online courses that won't lead to any degree, and a few others but they still cost a lot. MIT and such like freebies are cool to go learn stuff, but you get no cred from it. I think it is the biggest disappointment with the net I have seen. For me anyway.

    Most of our spare loot is going
    • I think in the USA in the future the only guaranteed jobs will be those you create yourself and maintain. For instance right now if I was a young guy I would just jump full time into the alternate energy business, completely skip college, just get a contractors license and be done with it. Get a truck, tools, incorporate so you can buy wholesale and start doing solar installs and such like. heck, I might still do that if this farming jazz peters out, say bird flu hits hard or something. I have *some* expe
  • College is great for broadening, but real depth is borne of an internal quest for knowledge.
    College is also great for networking. It's an experience-rich (in both good and bad senses) time. I, myself, went to the un-college, http://www.usna.edu/ [usna.edu], and wouldn't hesitate to repeat if in the some circumstances.
  • Those who got bachelor's degree think whether it was necessary. Those who didn't go to college think it was necessary.

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