Is it worth going through years of studies and debts to get jobs that pay just a

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   lucas84posted 10 years ago

   Is it worth going through years of studies and debts to get jobs that pay just above average?

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2. 88

   suzettenaplesposted 10 years ago

   I can see how you would feel this way.  I paid my way through college with a part time job thirty years ago, but I know it is not possible to do that today.  I am stunned at how the price of higher education has sky-rocketed.
   
   I am a retired teacher and I can still see the worth of an education.  Pricey as it is, no one can take it away from you.  Will you be able to use it to its full extent and worth in this crazy economy?  I don't know.  Perhaps the economy will improve in the coming years and maybe it won't.  I would still choose today to get an education even if I had to start out life with a huge debt.  The degree is one piece of paper I think is important and says something in this world.  You are more than just a typical unskilled laborer or blue collar laborer.   You have knowledge and intelligence, not that the other's don't, but you have put yourself into a different category.  Is it worth it?  Only you can determine that through your life and how you choose to live it.

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   CraftytotheCoreposted 10 years ago

   I have a friend who went to college and majored in biology.  She worked for a company that seeded oyster beds.  She decided to go on for more college to become a pharmacist.  What a shock she got.  The price to go on was far more than the pay she would have received (according to her).  So, I guess it all depends.  Around here a lot of pharmaceutical companies have closed up....all those scientists with education are out of work.  There's only so much to go around.  I think the major is an important factor.  Like right now, medical careers seem to be booming.

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   lucas84posted 10 years ago

   thanks for your answers, I think the only thing unchanged if we want to compare this with the past is the personal value that education can give you. You acquire a set of skills and experiences that really change you life and open you mind, from this point of view I don't regret all these years of sacrifices. However one thing that changed is the competition, now almost everybody has a degree and having one is not enough to be able to find a good job (in the past it was easier). In my opinion we lost a bit of equilibrium for example in UK you can be a lab technician or a post-doc and get almost the same stipend, the difference is that the latter had to study 4-5 years more and has only 1-2 years contract with a lot of pressure and deadlines. This just makes me think..

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   Rebecca Furtadoposted 10 years ago

   No and this is an ongoing problem especially for students who enter for profit career schools. I know lots of students who are exceeding twenty thousand dollars in student loan debt for degrees in Medical Assisting, Paralegal, Dental Assisting, and Vet Tech. The problem is these jobs start at about ten dollars an hour in my state. The state technical school make these programs so competitive that many students go the private career school route. These programs should be more widely available in the community colleges and high school vocational programs.

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      RobinBullposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I work at a technical college. We are here for students that couldn't make it in a traditional environment. I place more than 80% of my grads. I have one of the toughest paralegal programs in the state.

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   RobinBullposted 10 years ago

   I make more than just above average.  While getting an education doesn't guarantee a job that pays well, it does open up more opportunity.
   
   It also gives me something no one can take from me...knowledge.

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