64 – College – Is It Worth It?

Today I’m going to talk about one of the biggest expenses a family ever has, and that is college, and the money it costs to send somebody to college. One of the big questions is, first of all: Is it worth it? Should it be done? Should somebody go? I want to discuss all of these.

Colleges are forcing graduates into major debt. Is is worthwhile or are there better paths in life?

Just an aside, colleges and universities are really in trouble right now. They’re bloated, and they’ve had rising tuition for many years, decades actually, and now they’re trying to figure out how to make things match for the students, because quite frankly, it’s becoming more and more difficult for people to go to school.

The solutions that are being proposed are usually: “How do we subsidize the kids, or something else?” The real problem is the colleges themselves have bloated administrations, and bloated faculty in many cases, with incomes that are really unrealistic for what they should be getting. I say “should be getting,” because really, they’ve been negotiating from the standpoint that they always get this money from just raising tuition or alumni donations, pleading and begging for additional donations. Those two sources are not like you’re really negotiating directly with the person that pays the money. Somewhat similar, in essence, to the government. That’s just a little backdrop to give you where the problem really starts and started; not your solution to it.

You have to make the decision. First, college costs $40,000 to $50,000 a year. I hear several that are over 50, a few that a slightly under 40, but that’s an awful lot of money. Think of it in these terms: What is the ROI? What is the return on that investment? Let me give you some comparisons. If you took that $40,000 to $50,000, let’s say you took $40,000, and that 20-year-old child (not an adult yet), that was put away in some sort of trust for them that could not be opened until they were 65 – they would have a retirement that would take care of them the rest of their lives. The second one could have been put aside for a house when they’re 30 or 32. All of these things, because of the compounding of interest, would be great investments.

Let’s get back to college. If a parent, you have to say: Why? Everyone says that you have to get to college, it’s the ticket to a good or better job. Some say that it’s just what the kid wants. Ask the question: Is it worth it? Second: Does Jack or Jill deserve it? Three: Am I doing it because of peer pressure? Remember the peer pressure episode. Peer pressure, even indirectly. Somebody might not be saying to you: “What school is your kid going to?” but you see everybody else preparing their kids, and everybody else is talking about where their kids are going to go, and when they’re going to go to college, etc., and that indirect peer pressure. “Is it really worth it?” first of all.

Is there a strong reason for a potential career that requires or should have college? The reason I say this is because I see so many people that finish college, and I meet them every day, and what are they doing? They’re working retail in Best Buy or someplace else, or they’re doing something else that doesn’t require or shouldn’t have ever required college. If they’re working as a waiter, waitress, or bartender, they don’t need to have gone to college. Many other things don’t require it.

It used to be that college was a ticket to show future employers. It didn’t really prepare you by teaching you, necessarily, the skills; although, it did the skill of logical thinking, etc., but also perseverance and determination. It used to be 30-40 years ago, three quarters of people were failed out of college. Then they started more and more needing students to stay in to pay the bills, and they started with student evaluations of faculty,