Recently I have read several articles on whether a college education is worth the cost. I will wholeheartedly agree that tuition has been increasing at a rather impressive rate. Having been around universities a lot, I think part of the problem is that universities spend money like it is burning a hole in their pocket. They are always under construction and a lot of that construction is re-doing perfectly sound buildings. I'm not too worried about it, though. Eventually they will raise prices enough that enrollment will drop because students can't justify the cost. Then the universities will cut costs and reduce prices. In the interim, more high school students may choose to start a career first. I imagine some will discover that they wouldn't have needed college anyway.
That being said, I am all for higher education. I don't think college is for everyone, but lifetime learning certainly is. I for one really like structured learning. While I enjoy reading, there is something about the collaboration and exchange that college courses offer that is stimulating. I also like the feedback of being graded on my work.
I just received my Master of Engineering diploma in the mail today. Was it worth the cost? I would say yes. It will pay for itself in about 2 years. Even if I hadn't seen any financial benefit and all I walked away with was the knowledge and experience, I think it still was worthwhile. It cost as much as a car, but I can't think of anything else I would have wanted to purchase more.
That being said, I am all for higher education. I don't think college is for everyone, but lifetime learning certainly is. I for one really like structured learning. While I enjoy reading, there is something about the collaboration and exchange that college courses offer that is stimulating. I also like the feedback of being graded on my work.
I just received my Master of Engineering diploma in the mail today. Was it worth the cost? I would say yes. It will pay for itself in about 2 years. Even if I hadn't seen any financial benefit and all I walked away with was the knowledge and experience, I think it still was worthwhile. It cost as much as a car, but I can't think of anything else I would have wanted to purchase more.
Yay! College!
ReplyDeleteI do find it a bit ludicrous that some jobs (which shouldn't require a college education) require a college education. But it seems to be more because of the fact that they have enough people with a college education applying for the job that it becomes a way to easily winnow the applicants. Now, I can see some jobs requiring an Associate's Degree...
When I was at CU, some of the engineering professors liked to talk about all the ways the school wasted money (for example, the school paid extra to have wood imprinted into the concrete of the engineering building to make it 'look nicer'. All it really did was make it look like the construction crew did the wood forms wrong. AND it didn't make the engineering center look nicer. fail).