[HN Gopher] Will that college degree pay off? You can see the nu...
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Will that college degree pay off? You can see the numbers
Author : insightcheck
Score : 21 points
Date : 2022-08-14 15:34 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (hechingerreport.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (hechingerreport.org)
| seahawks78 wrote:
| Colleges and universities as institutions were never meant for
| commoners. Most people forget that barely a few centuries
| colleges and universities were places that primarily catered to
| two distinct classes of people: first, sons/daughters of rich
| aristocracies who had plenty of time in their leisure to pursue
| intellectual ideas; and second, were the clergy where it was
| considered a pre-requisite for the job.
|
| Colleges and universities were never meant to be a way to riches
| and fortunes. If interested a degree is worth pursuing just for
| knowledge's sake regardless of the material benefits it may
| bestow upon the owner at some later point in their life. Hence I
| find the "college is so expensive" argument to be quite
| disingenious honestly. What exactly were you expecting may I ask?
|
| Also, for people who want to learn something as a way to earn a
| living - may I humbly suggest vocational training instead?
| fezfight wrote:
| Really? You wouldn't prefer that it was all free any everyone
| got access to it?
|
| I think it would be great to offer all these programs, for
| free, paid for by taxes.
| RandomBK wrote:
| Why should taxes subsidize the study of topics that have no
| economic value?
|
| Most "college should be free" proposals fail under scrutiny
| because degrees tend to fall into a spectrum of utility:
|
| On one end are degrees that impart skills that are needed and
| desired by the economy. By and large, graduates of these
| degrees _already_ enjoy sustainable wages, because the market
| recognizes and rewards those skills. Government subsidy for
| these degrees tend to have marginal benefits, because it is
| already a sound financial choice for students.
|
| On the other extreme are degrees that, like GP identified,
| were never meant to be economically sound. They focus on
| intellectual ideas and curiosities, rather than skills
| actively needed by the economy. Government subsidy here would
| be little more than subsidizing hobbies and other activity
| that do not provide economic returns.
|
| There _are_ specific degrees where there's a public policy
| interest in encouraging the study of topics not adequately
| compensated by market forces. Most of these are already
| covered by specific subsidies, such as scientific research
| grants.
| fezfight wrote:
| Because if they don't have to pay for it, theyll do it
| because it's what interests them and we will get more
| interacademic crossover ideas. Which is where innovation
| thrives! Also, because an eclectically educated mix of
| people is likely more pleasant to live amongst than an
| uneducated group. And since it would benefit everyone to
| have everyone educated it should be paid for with taxes.
|
| Plus it's simply good to leave the world better than you
| came into it.
| exadrid wrote:
| Because economic value is not the end all and be all of
| life. Have you considered social and cultural benefits?
| dahdum wrote:
| > I think it would be great to offer all these programs, for
| free, paid for by taxes.
|
| I'd rather fund economically productive programs with
| taxpayer money. You could fund a lot more that way.
| a9h74j wrote:
| > A bachelor's degree in anthropology from Ithaca College costs
| $132,656, on average, and two years later, graduates are earning
| $19,227. That's less than people in New York State earn with only
| a high school diploma and no college education.
|
| That's just one example, but in general I complement the article
| on emphasizing approaches using _current_ , not longer-term
| _historic_ data.
|
| One can overfit to a current bad economy, etc, but it seems
| insincere to promote college based upon 30-year past data,
| without acknowledging secular shifts in conditions.
| pukexxr wrote:
| Just here to point out the time i was downvoted by a bunch of
| tech bros for saying i was homeless while employed in the area i
| went to school for (which was the truth at the time; fortunately
| managed to get out of that situation, but have resented HN ever
| since).
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
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