Is a college degree worth the cost? You decide.

This is not a discussion about facts, this is a discussion about public perception, and how the education community often misses the target on communicating to the general public. Before we start the discussion, please watch the following video Is College Worth the Cost? You Decide:





Now, look at this report, The College Payoff:  Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings .  This report gives facts and figures about how much more a college grad can make than others with lower or no degrees.

In these two examples we see how people are informed about the value of a college degree.  The examples also illustrate each one's power to form beliefs about issues that are widely disseminated in the popular press.  Example 1.  A higher education has lost its value.  Example 2.   The higher the degree the more money you will make.

In example 1, Mr. Schiff wanted to make a humorous point for his audience and he cleverly did it.  He went to an area where jobs are high pay, exotic jobs and employ young, healthy workers.  He knew the high probability that the people he would interview had some college and many had degrees.  He didn't ask the young folks he interviewed why they had not found a job:  if they would relocate, what they had done to win a job, what were their grades in college and if they were having fun working in the red light district of New Orleans with lots of other young, lively adults.

The other report has the quick appearance that if young people go to college, they will earn more.  Anyone that says that needs to go back to college and take statistics and re-read the report.  The stats in this article give you probability and averages not a guarantee.  The students in the Schiff report are represented in The College Payoff.  It is those nasty areas in the bell curve of life that folks miss.

At the end of the academic year, a faculty member came to me after visiting with a recent grad.  She had just spent a couple hours with the young lady who was weeping and distraught.  She had not found a job and was facing huge financial loans.  All the young lady could say was, "I thought if I got a college degree a job would be given to me."

College gives you opportunities.  Degrees come with no guarantee just opportunity.