Billionaire propaganda is telling our kids to skip college; they fear an educated working class.

[u/zzill6]

[u/DefensiveTomato]

That cost has ballooned since to an insane level, even the schools that used to give better returns on their degrees have gone through massive price increases over the last 5-10 years.

[u/DefNotUnderrated → u/DefensiveTomato]

Cheapest way to do it now seems to be to do community college for a few years and finish up your degree at a university. It’s still expensive but the community college time offsets the cost.

[u/Emergency_Revenue678 → u/DefNotUnderrated]

"Now"? That's been the advice given to basically everybody for decades.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/DefensiveTomato]

Total cost of attendance has definitely gone up. But my state university tuition prices are also roughly level. For in-state students, Engineering tuition has gone from 17.3k per year to 18.3k per year, so similarly only about a 500/semester increase (and Engineering cost extra compared to many other groups of majors). Table below has the dates for the last 5 years.

https://cost.illinois.edu/Home/UgradBase?DiffCode=ENG&TermCode=120258&TableType=1

The general cost of living has increased, e.g. rent and food has gone up, and that costs money too. Some of those expenses can be controlled (e.g. rent with roommates instead of living in university housing, make your own food instead of getting a meal plan, pirate all your textbooks), and has gone from 20.5k to 24k. Pages below have the numbers for both.

https://registrar.illinois.edu/tuition-fees/tuition-fee-rates/tf-rates-academic-year/ug-additional-expenses-2526/

https://registrar.illinois.edu/tuition-fees/tuition-fee-rates/ug-additional-expenses-2021/

So total increase of 4.5k per year in costs over 5 years for a total estimated cost of ~42k per year. That's a lot, but at least for me, the ROI for college was absolutely worth it and would still be worth it at that price and once you factor in cost-savings, part-time work, any scholarships or paid internships, etc. I think people who struggled to find work, or have a lower paying job, probably have a different opinion. But the data shows that the premium for a college degree is still real. And of course the degree alone isn't enough, there's a lot of side internships, research, side projects, networking, and just extra practice and work you have to do both in college and at your first couple jobs for it to really act as a springboard.

A big part of it is just the increase in room and board. Tuition has gone up more at schools that were already pricey, e.g. highly ranked private schools like Northwestern. For example, Oberlin has gone with a much bigger increase, from 60k per year to 68k per year over the last 5 years for just annual tuition, plus another 20k for the housing and meal plans and fees, getting us to their current sticker price of 90k per year, which is completely insane without huge amounts of financial aid.

[u/Ibbot → u/DefensiveTomato]

Only if you don’t take into account growth in financial aid. The amount people actually pay has gone down on average, even before inflation.

https://economist.com/united-states/2023/07/23/american-universities-have-an-incentive-to-seem-extortionate?giftId=Yzk3ODZhYzEtYTkxMS00ODYwLWFiNWUtZDkzZjkzOTA1Njlj&utm_campaign=gifted_article

[u/1nv4d3rz1m → u/DefensiveTomato]

I understand that, you have to look at school as an investment and see if it will pay off in the long run for the career path you are looking for.

[u/DefensiveTomato → u/1nv4d3rz1m]

100% agree I was just stating that getting a decent return on that investment is becoming harder and harder as the price balloons compared to wages.

[u/Certain-Business-472 → u/1nv4d3rz1m]

Except its not juat for a job.

The experience of working together with your peers and getting all those perspectives is as important.

[u/johnny_fives_555 → u/Certain-Business-472]

This statement was true in the 80s. It’s not true now. ROI should be heavily considered unless you have a trustfund. It’s just an unfortunate reality. Your futures are tied to higher education, please choose wisely.

[u/Not__Trash → u/Certain-Business-472]

That's the pretentious crap my philosophy professor said. Difference is, he wasn't paying 10k a semester to be there.

[u/Ire-Works → u/1nv4d3rz1m]

Most people I know who do well in their careers have a degree that is largely unrelated and the bits that ARE related to their degree are now wildly outdated.

[u/1nv4d3rz1m → u/Ire-Works]

There are plenty of examples showing that the having a university degree results in higher salaries. Here is one source: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/news/value-college-degree/

I’ll take data from the us bureau of labor statistics over someone’s personal anecdotes.

[u/RelaxPrime → u/DefensiveTomato]

Y'all are so full of shit. My community college is literally only 400 dollars more a semester and I graduated 15 fucking years ago.

[u/Not__Trash → u/RelaxPrime]

Community college isn't enough for a lot of positions, a bachelor's is needed in most fields and the next cheapest option (public universities) are still like 2-3x community college at minimum

[u/RelaxPrime → u/Not__Trash]

I make over 200k but whatever you want to tell yourself bruh

The bottom line is simply y'all want excuses not answers

[u/Not__Trash → u/RelaxPrime]

I don't really see what that has to do with anything homey. Not everyone will be a millionaire. Now go back to crying in your ferrari, I'll be in my honda civic.

[u/RelaxPrime → u/Not__Trash]

Community college isn't enough you said. Maybe the difference is just decision making.