When I was growing up, there was one mantra I’d hear over and over again: you’re going to college. The college or university itself didn’t matter. The goal was to get in, make good enough grades to graduate and get out into the workforce. How times have changed.
For my parents’ generation, the idea of having their kids go to college was the dream. Neither set of my grandparents had an opportunity for higher education. In my parents case, both had attended college with one of them having graduated. Not too long ago, college was for the rich. Although the history of our family was far from being destitute, we were also one generation removed from immigrant status.
Nowadays college is seen as almost a birthright for every American. It’s no longer inaccessible for the working class. If anything, it’s now more accessible than ever. Online degree programs are prevalent with many established universities offering long distance learning options for those who are unable to attend a main campus. All of this is a positive; however, is college really for everyone?
In viewing the average cost to attend, I’d have to say no. The cost alone is prohibitive. Let’s review the cost to attend an in state, out of state or private institution over 4 years (per educationdata.org):
- In state: $27K per year or $108K over 4 years
- Out of state: 45K per year or 182K over 4 years
- Private/Nonprofit: $58K per year or 234K over 4 years
Wowzer. Attending an in-state school is going to cost you over $100K. For those of you with 3 kids or more, I give you my condolences. That lake or beach house will have to wait. The crazy thing is, these are averages. There are plenty of schools that are quite a bit more expensive than what’s shown here. To be fair, there’s quite a few that are less as well, but they’re most likely on the lower end academically and from a prestige perspective.
What to do then? If you ask someone like Mike Rowe (famous for Dirty Jobs and founder of mikeroweworks.org), he’d preach the alternatives to a four year degree. Is he right? Perhaps, but not always.
Technical colleges are significantly cheaper than a 4 year college or university degree. One can argue the income earning potential is less and the type of job isn’t as “cushy” but you can definitely carve out a great life for yourself over time. You’d also be saddled with less debt. Taking two examples, there’s an argument to be made there are great options out there to a 4 year degree (median salaries are provided using AI generated data):
- Nurse with a 2 year associate’s degree: $67K per year
- Electrician: $60K per year
- Highest 10% of electricians make close to $100K per year
To be clear, this is coming from a person who went to college and worked in an office environment for over 25 years. Using my hands was never for me. Learning a trade wasn’t something I was interested in doing nor would I have been particularly good at it. There are obviously others who excel at hands on work and should be encouraged to pursue it.
My point is, as a society we need to move away from the notion that a 4 degree is the only option. I know plenty of electricians and carpenters that are far wealthier than I’ll ever be. Just because I have a diploma on my wall doesn’t mean I can build a deck on the back of my house. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to see that.
Debt is a dream killer. Attending college allows us to dream and I think that’s great, but we need to be careful we’re not living a nightmare instead. One saddled with college debt.
In the end, learning a trade may be a better option for financial and life happiness reasons.
Personally, I’ll stick to using my hands for typing.
The only trade I’m good at involves fantasy football, chicken wings for fries or some variation of the two.
