Are college graduates short-changed today?

Question

When I graduated from a top 50 university, the cost for my four years of education totaled $16,000 and I got an entry level accounting job for $14,000. In other words, if I had had no expenses and no taxes, I could have paid for my college education in 14 months.

Today my university charges $160,000 for the same education which means that a graduate would have to start a job at $140,000. I have a feeling that college graduates are forced to pay much more for an education but don't have the same payoff as graduates of my day.

Any comments?

Answer 1

When you graduated from college only about 15% of American students received college degrees. Today about 60% of all HS grads are attending college. The competition for top jobs is much stiffer than it was in our days.

For the best students there are still golden opportunities - if you were a pharmacy student at a state university, for instance, you could get through most state schools for well under $100,000 and your starting pay would be over $100,000. And the same is true of engineering students at top schools or finance majors from competitive schools.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said of the 100,000s of students who get out of mediocre colleges after having spent a lackluster four years of sleeping in class and majoring in beer.

The opportunities are there but many students do not seize them. I think the % of kids who go through college and seize the day is about the same as it was 35 years ago.

Answer 2

These days it is expected to have a diploma for any decent paying job. It is virtually impossible to succeed in this world without being in debt well into your 30's. A little unreasonable if you ask me, considering the people who are charging us all this money, probably paid less then a 3rd of what we paid for the same education.

Answer 3

Our education vallue is decreased for some faculties. But one can earn much more from some faculties also.