Further Considerations

I know quite a few of my recent posts may make it seem that I'm trying to talk people out of pursuing a college degree.  I'm really just trying to present some of the "cons",  since so many people have been "con"vinced that the only path to personal success is via a four year degree.  It's important to look at what you hope to attain by entering a specific program at a specific institution and whether or not your choice will meet your expectations.  As Charles Murray, author and WH Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute said in a speech at a Cato Institute event in September 2012:
     Here's the reality: everyone in every occupation
     starts as an apprentice.  those who are good 
     enough become journeymen.  The best become
     master craftsmen.  This is as true of history
     professors and business executives as of chefs
     and welders.  Getting rid of the BA and replacing
     it with evidence of competence - treating post-
     secondary education as apprenticeships for every-
     one - is one way to help us to recognize that 
     common bond.
Post-secondary education which makes you competent to work as and for what you want in life should be your goal.  

Since many of you have decided to proceed on to college and it's almost time to send in that May 1 deposit, these are some things you may find of interest.  An article in the Wall Street Journal of Saturday/Sunday, December 22-23, 2012 was entitled, "Playing the College Game - Soaring Costs and Confusing Aid Packages Are Making the College Selection Process Trickier Than Ever."
As part of what the author,  Ruth Simon, suggests you do is:
     Settle on a budget as early as possible.
     Concentrate on the 'net price'.
     Consider the school's graduation rate.
     Focus on schools where you'll stand out.
     Aim for grants, not work-study awards.
     Beware of aid offers that taper off in the future.

These are all worthwhile tips and have been discussed in previous posts.  There was also an article in the Wall Street Journal on March 12, 2013 entitled, "Colleges Latest Offer:  Deals".  Doug Belkin and Melissa Korn write about the fact that certain private schools are offering creative enticements to a dwindling number of prospective students.  According to the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center the percentage of students at private four year schools dropped from 22% to 20% between 2006 and 2011.  At Nebraska Wesleyan University, students who maintain a certain grade point average but don't graduate in four years will get the fifth year free.  That's appealing since federal statistics show that only about 15% of students do graduate in four years. (Refer to my archived post, "The Six Year Undergrad" 3-21-12) Belkin and Korn report that, "Spring Arbor University in Michigan agreed in February to pick up a portion of the tab for future students who land low-paying jobs after graduation:  that offer will apply to those working 30 hours a week and earning up to $37,000."  Indeed, a recent news report said that there were 20 class action suits against law schools whose grads say misled them into thinking there were jobs when a lot of legal tasks can now be accomplished online or without a lawyer.  See if any of the schools you are interested in are making deals.  As with housing, some colleges see it as a buyers' market.  However, I wouldn't expect too many of the Ivy's to offer discounts, even though, sadly, their reputations often far exceed their production.

In "College's Harsh Lesson",  on 3-24-11, Michael Graham wrote on BostonHerald.com,
     The average private school now costs more than
     $40,000 a year, while the Bureau of Labor
     Statistics is projecting that most of the jobs
     created in the next decade won't require 'much
     more than on-the-job training'.  Princeton economist,
     Alan Blinder, tells the Los Angeles Times he 'won't
     be surprised years from now if a carpenter in
     the U.S. earns more than a college-educated
     computer operator.'

In the best of all possible worlds, you should know what you'd like to study before you choose the place in which to study it.  On Townhall.com there was an article entitled, "2012's Worst Paying College Degrees". (11-29-2012)  Not that earnings should be the only consideration.  However, if you plan to get a degree in "Child and Family Studies", you should know in advance that the job for which this degree prepares people has one of the lowest median salaries for "their respective career professionals".  Data is cited from the 2012-2013 College Salary Report from Payscale.com, another really good site.

This has been a tediously long post - and I'm the author!  However, since many of you may soon need to reply as to your acceptance of a school's award package, I would advise you to read an article in the Weekend Investor feature of The Wall Street Journal of Saturday-Sunday, March 23-24, 2013.  It's entitled "Making Sense of College Aid:  Many school's financial aid letters are devilishly difficult to figure out.  Here's what you need to know."  Ruth Simon and Rob Barry offer some valuable tips.  They highlight two great sites that may be of help before mailing in your deposit check.  The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet can be found at collegecost.ed.gov/shopping_sheet.pdf.  The second site is graphics.wsj.com on which you'll find an interactive tool which will help you compare packages and how schools stack up re graduate salaries, debt and other measures.

PHEW!!! I think that's quite enough for one post!  I tried to fit everything in, as this is the last post of the 2012-13 school year.  While I'm beginning summer vacation early -  a benefit of being retired - there is much left for you high school students to do.  For  suggestions, refer to my archived posts of 6/8 and 6/22 of 2011.  Have a Great Summer!

Happy 2013!

It seems that at the beginning of each new year there is a plethora of lists naming the top 10 this or the worst ten of that from the previous calendar year.  There are a few categories and "winners" that might interest you.  Before we get into the lists - a word of caution.  Remember the recent dust up when it was discovered that George Washington University had "misrepresented" the data as to what percentage of freshmen in fall 2011 were in the top 10% of their high school graduating classes. (The Washington Post, November 9, 2012, "Data Errors Could Mean 'Slight Change' in GWU Ranking", by Nick Anderson)  As with any ranking it's important to know if the date on which the rank is based is accurate.  Basura in - basura out.  For you non-Spanish speakers - Garbage in (in GWU's case, inaccuracies) -garbage out.

On November 15, 2012, Colleen Kane posted "America's Deadliest Jobs 2012" on CNBC.com.  The statistics were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and used to rank jobs with the highest fatal work injury rates.  The number one "honor" fell to workers in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industries with a rate of 24.4 fatalities per 100,000 full time workers.  By comparison, the industry with the lowest fatality rate is education and health services with .8 per 100,000 workers.

On November 29, 2012, Townhall.com ran a post "2012's Worst Paying College Degrees".  They used the 2012-2013 College Salary Report from a great site - Payscale.com.  Payscale used data from its online salary database to produce a list of college degrees that go along with the "lowest median pay".  Child and Family Studies is lowest at $37,700.  Their analyst, Katie Bardaro, stated, "According to our research, people in these majors typically believe their work makes the world a better place."  Townhall is blunt in response:
    To translate, the people in these majors are perhaps so disconnected from
    reality that they do not recognize that the reason their trades provide
    so little return on their educational investment is because they really
    do not require unique ability, which is why society does not
    reward them with greater compensation.
The authors assert that higher education then "exploits" these individuals by having them pay nearly the same amount of money as students pay for degrees leading to careers that society values a lot more. This is a brilliant observation.  It would seem to take a lot more money to build labs for biomedical students than to man a program for most social work majors, yet the tuition is basically the same, perhaps with the addition of a nominal "lab fee" for the biomed students.

Paul Toscano and Colleen Kane also use data from Payscale for  their CNBC.com post of September 27, 2012, "Colleges That Bring In the Highest Paycheck 2012".  They posted the top 10 highest earning schools whose grads make an average salary of $122,500 at mid-career.  In contrast, the bottom 10 schools' graduates earn an average of $44,490 by mid-career.  A point of interest to the "earnest" student - "...the top party school by salary potential is University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign (UIUC) with a mid-career salary of $95,900."

The Business Insider published a post by Abby Rigers and Gus Lubin on November 20, 2012 entitled, "The Most Dangerous Colleges in America".  They used data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report. The ranking was based on a "combination of violent crime rank and property crime rank, with violent crime weighted four times higher".  The post can be found at www.businessinsider.com.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has praised seven colleges as "best for free speech in 2012".  They are:  James Madison University;  The College of William and Mary; University of Mississippi; Mississippi State University; University of Tennessee - Knoxville; University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania.  FIRE's president, Greg Lukianoff, has written a book, Unlearning Liberty:  Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate.