Master's as the New Bachelor's

[blessednxs65]

As a parent of a High Schooler who attends a College Prepatory School with the hopes of getting them into college better prepared, I shudder when I read this article.

Are we over-burdening our kids to chase these elusive acceptance letters while at the same time burdening ourselves/them with debt and a win-at-all-costs perspective? As the writer points out, it is a boon for the universities and the employers who get a better trained (at least in theory) employee at a lower cost.

Interesting read if you have the time.

 

[strife]

Both my daughter and her boyfriend have B.A.s and neither can find work. My daughter waits tables and her boyfriend works as a laborer mixing concrete and lugging cement blocks. Most of my life my collar was blue so I'm not belittling those jobs but considering I spent over $60,000 on her education I have to wonder if her tips will ever cover the expense. She has her teaching certification but the longer she's out of work the less chance she'll find a job in her chosen field. Very depressing.

 

[La Chupacabra]

My wife’s daughter is a speech pathologist has a Master degree in speech therapy along with $110,000.00 is student loans. $600.00 a month in student loan payments for the next 30yrs. I make more money a year than she does as a Teamster. Along with my pension and company paid health care.

 

[Alwayslit]

Kids now get slammed with unbelievable debt and no way to pay it off. It's insane.

 

[hdroadglide]

Kids now get slammed with unbelievable debt and no way to pay it off. It's insane.

it's to prepare them for what the government has in store for them!

 

[sean]

Yup... the dismal job market is what has inspired to keep me in school for another two years. Bachelors degrees are like a-holes: everyone seems to have them. I could take an entry level job in my field (which isn't over-saturated yet, thankfully) but why do that when I can pay off my debt faster with a masters? The added two years is being paid for by a research from the university, so it all works out in the end.

High School students shouldn't be worried about getting into "top schools" as much as they should be focused on establishing an "education path." Don't worry about where the Bachelors comes from as much as the Masters... What's worse is that I already see people who are getting PhDs just so they can "dominate" in the job market.

 

[TravelingJ]

Hey, thanks for the link.

 

[cvm4]

I have a bachelor's degree. Sometimes I wish I've have gone to a trade school instead.

 

[blooz4u]

Depressing indeed....

 

[ChazHollywood]

Now that's just crazy talk. Straight-up unadulterated crazy talk.

Kids need to make a realistic plan pretty much straight out of high school and run with it. Figure out what sort of job you want, chart out the requirements, and start executing.

Sometimes that path leads through college, sometimes even grad school and beyond, but sometimes it doesn't. It sounds like some of these kids put themselves through four years of rigorous, expensive study without a clear idea of where it was going to take them. Now they don't know what to do so they're tossing on some grad school to see if that helps.

They're wasting their time and money.

Education for the sake of education is a great, personally enriching thing to do, but don't expect to walk out of it with a set of job skills.

-Charles

 

[Fia]

It's like buying a car. If your loan will be too big, get a less expensive car. If the school you really want to go to will saddle you with big loans, is it really worth it? 17 or 18 year olds can't comprehend those large loan numbers as they never had to make a car payment, mortgage, etc.

I often see students not work hard to hustle for scholarships simply because they are lazy. Then they end up having to take on more debt.

I read an article about the college grads who had low debt had the best job satisfaction. They were able take jobs they liked rather than jobs they needed.

 

[KickinD]

I have a B.A. and I got laid off a few years ago. Actually, most of the people I knew at school got laid off. The ones that didn't varied from Masters to B.A. They all took huge pay cuts to maintain those jobs and I moved to pick up a better job. I came back and still have employment better and higher paid than them. It's not always the degree that matters, sometimes it's what you do with it that counts more.

My father-in-law likes to tell me that a college degree shows you have potential, but a strong work history shows you are capable.

That said, I wouldn't put my kids in a school that would require a higher tuition than they could make working the job it trains them for. Many core classes can be transferred from cheaper schools to the better ones. I wish I would have just taken the architecture and engineering classes that my school is known for. It would have been easier and better in the long run.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Depressing indeed....

I'll bring my bills to the next herf...

 

[Cigary43]

This is where Parents are supposed to be the smart one in the room. From birth Parents are there to guide their children as to how life works but most at this time are interested in only being their "friends" and don't want to disappoint them. Discipline is not a dirty word...it's supposed to be a training ground where you guide your child in how life is...how it works and most importantly educating them in how important character, integrity and honor is. The human brain is not fully functional in terms of judgement until one reaches 25 years of age...no wonder kids feel bullet proof and where they make bad choices and end up getting hurt or in trouble.

College is important..education is extremely important and it doesn't mean you throw money at these institutions because you want to impress your neighbors and friends that your kids go to such and such college. When they graduate high school they are barely ready to handle a credit card with a $250 limit much less make choices in regards to being away from home and then living in an environment that is not conducive to mature living. I sent my kids to a JC to get their fundamental courses at a much better tuition fee where we didn't have to struggle to pay the crazy costs...it's ridiculous. After 2 years my son quit and went to a trade school instead and was much better off...my daughter went to a University after she got her AA and she went on to get her BA...but she landed a job in something other than what her major was....judgement is not always on their side as I mentioned. Not many are mature enough to know what they want to do in life and end up falling into their careers later.

These outrageous student loans are insane...and people need to know there are other ways out there open to their kids.

 

[Burning Man]

Some people I have spoken to and friends of theirs have told me that they have had to list less education in order to get a job. One girl I know said after looking everywhere for six months listing her MBA she decided to list only a BA and got a job fairly quickly. Apparently it's cheaper to pay someone with a lesser degree to do the same job. Many recent grads tell me this and it's a bit disheartening now this? Guess we're just in for tough times unless we are willing to leave the country for work. :sadpace:

 

[The EVP]

I have an associates degree in my field (marketing), but I also have around 18 years sales and marketing exprience. I interviewed for one job and after a few mins I could tell that it was obvious I was not going to get it because the interviewer kept bringing up college degrees and trying to down-talk me. The interviewer asked me why I feel qualified when I'm going up against people with their master's degree. I told her to ask the next interviewee about all the theories they read about and chances are I helped develop those theories while they were trying to decide which Backstreet Boy or Spice Girl was the cutest. I wished her well with her interviews and walked out of her office.

I've been at my current job for 3.5 years and, though I took a pay cut to take this job, I love what I'm doing and have almost no stress at all. I work out of my house, see my boss maybe 1 day a quarter and as long as I don't fake any reports, they leave me alone. I have the respect of my peers and and am in pretty much a recession-proof industry. I think things worked out for the best as far as I'm concerned.

I wonder how that interviewer is doing now...

 

[Skitalets]

I got my degree in a pretty obscure field in the humanities -- one that gives you almost no practical skills. My folks were happy to see me studying something I loved, and people were impressed with my major.

Thankfully, I did have some technical skills from high school and got hired at a great company in a job that didn't require a college degree. I impressed someone there who hired me to his firm -- he's one of those rare bosses that cares more about ability and potential than credentials.

I did end up getting a master's degree, but the most important moment in my career was having a boss who didn't look at educational credentials in deciding what I was capable of. Wish that were more common.

 

[Kidrock]

I'm working on my masters of education right now. I work in a pizza shop making minimum wage. I was told the best chance to start teaching as soon as I graduate is over seas. I have accepted this and understand this is what needs to be done.

 

[tobii3]

It's not always the degree that matters, sometimes it's what you do with it that counts more.

Game.Set.Match

 

[gui_tarzan]

I didn't go to college right out of high school for several reasons but now I wish I had sucked it up and gone back then. In 1989 I went back to school for a semester and got hired by one of my teachers who was opening a computer retail store. I worked there for five years (never finished college) and gained a tremendous amount of experience. When I saw that business starting to fail for management reasons after four years of stunning growth I applied at our local school district as the yet-to-be-created IT manager. I got the job because of my years of experience, not because of a degree (which I didn't have anyway).

About five years ago I started wondering why I was (again) trailing financially so far behind my peers at other schools and started looking for other jobs. Every single job I looked at required a degree or they wouldn't even talk to you. I applied for one anyway and they wrote a nice rejection letter that said "despite your extremely good qualifications..." I decided that was that and took a huge gamble and signed up for online classes in business management with a focus on technology. The cost isn't cheap, but I don't have to drive to a campus and can work on it anytime I want. Next April I will be done with my B.S. finally and will either get a promised raise at work or I will be looking elsewhere. I've got 17 years in at the school but I'm sick of lagging behind from a pay perspective by at least 20-30%.

Yes I'm thankful I have a job, but at some point I need to do what's best for my family.