Value of a college education
I was reading a forum on comcast.net about the value of today's college education. The person who started the conversation basically said that to some degree, it's not worth much. College costs so much in today's world that it's pointless for someone to get thousands of dollars in loans to pay for tuition, and spend the next 30 or so years paying that money back. I also got the impression that he particularly does not care for the "liberal arts" degree.
This got me to thinking about my education. Personally, I'm glad I went to college. I believe I got a good education and those years were so much fun for me. However, when I think about it, I'm not using my liberal arts degree at all. So did I waste my time? I have a BS degree in Spanish, and was planning to get a Masters in secondary education for Spanish. After school, I taught in Phila public schools for 1 year and I HATED IT! The experience made me turn away from teaching completely. Now I work in HR.
I've been thinking about going back to school for a masters (don't know what I want to study yet), but how am I going to pay for it? My parents are really on me about going back to school, and I keep telling them I don't see the point in racking up thousands of dollars more in loans. Of course, if I were given a chance to go to school for free, I would jumpt on it. But I just can't afford grad school right now. My parents' argument to that is, "with a masters degree, you'll make a lot more money". True, but will that extra money offset my debt?
What do you guys think? Is a college education worth it these days? Is it necessary to be successful?
|