Poll: Is higher education worth it?

[SillyBear]

There is no such thing as yes or no answer with stuff like this.

It depends. I can assure you there are thousands and thousands of Americans right now busting their ass off and going broke over degrees that won't get them anywhere in life. On the flip side, the opposite is true as well.

I don't think you should be so concerned about what is "worth" it. If you feel a passion to learn more and to go on to university - go!

 

[Spinozaad]

Yes, of course it is.

Higher education trains you to be a critical thinker. People on the internets love to laugh/mock the various disciplines ("hur hur, try to get a job with philosophy, hur hur!", but all studies/disciplines can teach you important skills and 'tools' for your future career.

Also, self-improvement is the only thing which I think matters in this life.

 

[Xaio30]

Hell yes!
Higher education itself (University) is free here in Sweden as long as you've got the grades to get accepted. The expensive part is living and books.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

As many have said, it depends on what you do with that degree that makes it worth it. In my case, I couldn't have obtained my current career path without having finished college. So to me, it was worth it - plus I finished debt free so that always helps. ^_-

 

[PatrickXD]

It depends what the degree is. A degree in the sciences? Hell yes, every time it's worth it. A degree in journalism? Don't bother, just start building a resume of your capabilities as a journalist. There are other more middle ground degrees like English and History that can be hit and miss, but you can usually fall back onto being a teacher.

 

[TakeshiLive]

Bet most of you don't even have to pay international student tuitions >_>

I gotta pay about 300% of any university tuition fee cos the uni's in my own country are horse arse. And guess what? It's all going to be worth every penny.

 

[munx13]

I'm not paying for my degree so it's worth it either way.


It also depends on your field, job market, etc.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Unsure. I went for a year, but I never knew what I wanted, and with hindsight wish I'd picked a different course and seen it through.

But I also have a lot of friends who graduated within the last 2 years, not one of whom is in the job they want. In fact, they're pretty much all just working at jobs you could get fresh out of school.

 

[TallanKhan]

It can be, depending on the field of study and your desired career path. These days education for the sake of it is costly but if it helps you achieve long term aims then yes.

 

[Amaror]

Absolutely, but then again i live in Germany.
I don't only get supported a ton by the state, but barely have to pay something for my college education.

 

[Rednog]

Yes and no, if you plan on climbing the academic ladder going onto a masters or phd etc...then yes.
However the bachelor's degree means very little nowadays, I knew plenty of people with bachelor's degrees (myself included) who couldn't find anything to do with their major and had to fall back on a regular job that pretty much anyone out of highschool could do.

I honestly can only recommend higher education if you spend time researching exactly what you want to do after, and plan exactly according to it. The whole notion of oh you can go to college and really just fart around and take random classes for your first two years until you figure things out, really doesn't work anymore and is honestly just a waste of time and money. I really think the only way to really be a successful college student is by knowing exactly what classes you need and hit the ground running the first year.

 

[Yopaz]

Going into debt for the sake of maybe getting a job in your field? Well, If you're a gambling man.
Depends on the degree, and what you expect to get out of it.
I'm almost finished with my degree, and have not taken any student loans (even though it's taken me longer, I only took classes when I knew I could afford it), so I have high incentive to finish. I will then hang my certificate on the wall, admire it for a moment, and go back to the want ads.
I have no illusions about how much difference it'll make.

Well said, it depends a lot on what you're studying.

I am currently studying biology and chemistry taking some extra courses that will make me qualified to teach at high school level, this is the kind of education that is very likely to get you a job and it's the kind of job you can get almost anywhere you live so I can be flexible when I finish my education. The salary is above average. Since education is supposed to be free over here I pay something around 100 dollars each semester. My student loan is just to cover housing, food and such so it doesn't get that high in the end. For me it's most likely worth it to get higher education because my education offer me job security.

However if I had made different choices when I applied for which high school and choice that I would rather be an electrician then I could be finished with my education by now and already be working and earning quite a lot, but I wouldn't have the same security. Bottom line is that it depends a lot on what you study and how much you have to pay for it and what your options for a job is. Literature, history, sociology and art are perfect examples of what wont get you a job.

 

[Spinozaad]

Literature, history, sociology and art are perfect examples of what wont get you a job.

Is it really that bad in the States? Over here you'll get a job with those studies. Perhaps you won't get a job "in" history, but the skills you learn will get you a job, if only in the civil service.

People shouldn't see university as a place where you "learn" how to do "a job". But you will learn valuable skills and knowledge.

 

[Terminal Blue]

In this day in age with tuition cost on the rise would you consider the cost of obtaining a degree worth it.

That depends a huge amount on your personal circumstances.

Remember, it's possible to go back to education later in your life, but depending on your circumstances it might be very difficult. That's something to weigh up too.

I would say, in principle, any form of education is a very good thing because, even if it doesn't provide the instant job security it used to, it will bring all kinds of quantifiable benefits to you. You will think and reason better, you will learn new information better and ultimately you will be a person better suited for many jobs which require thought and intellect.

There is a delusion some people have that your degree subject or major will predetermine your final career path. For some vocational and professional degrees like medicine or nursing this is pretty much true, but for most of us it's not, and despite the preconceptions of students doing them, the STEM subjects are really no different in this regard. A BSc in Chemistry is not going to enable you to become a materials scientist, a BSc in economics is (probably) not going to get you an instant job at Goldman Sachs. Frankly, in both cases you will probably end up in a managerial position somewhere unless you are at the absolute top of the graduate pool.

What this means is that you need to look at your degree not as a way of gaining specific knowledge but as a way of gaining relevant skills which might help you long-term in your career. That's the real value of a degree nowadays.

That said, I would say unless you are dead set on them and know you can be absolutely brilliant, avoid degrees which are oversubscribed or which have traditionally fed professions which are now shrinking. Art, English Literature, Media Studies, Journalism, Fashion, that kind of thing. That said, I would say the most important thing is to do something you can be really good at and are willing to devote your full time to, because that's what will set you apart from other graduates in your field, even if your field itself is oversubscribed.

 

[Imper1um]

Yes, and no.
See, the thing is, I have no degree (just a few college credits), and I'm making $45k a year, because I have 7 years of experience in my field. I worked my way through EA, doing a crappy QA tester job, then working on higher things until I got noticed for an automation group that was very successful, then I got hired by another company that offered me more than double salary.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Well the cost of tuition in Finland is nothing at all (the required books seem to be more expensive than abroad though), and the surest way to get a job is to study for it (required learning ends in the 9th grade, after that you either go into high school or vocational school) so yes, unless you find school incredibly unpleasent for some reason it is definately worth it here.

 

[Yopaz]

Literature, history, sociology and art are perfect examples of what wont get you a job.

Is it really that bad in the States? Over here you'll get a job with those studies. Perhaps you won't get a job "in" history, but the skills you learn will get you a job, if only in the civil service.

People shouldn't see university as a place where you "learn" how to do "a job". But you will learn valuable skills and knowledge.

As far as I know these fields are hardly the kind you want to study if you plan to work with something relevant to it. I don't know about the states, but here there's always the choice to take an extra year and teach in these subjects, but the most recent statistics here show that those who study sociology rarely get a job relevant to their education and usually the ones that earn the least. Most of my education will be irrelevant for me if I end up being a teacher, but I will always be happy that I had the opportunity to learn about a lot of interesting things. I've learned how to genetically enhance microorganisms and how to make industrial explosives, neither is relevant, but both appeal to my interests. So you make an excellent point when you say it's important to consider the knowledge and skills, but the job is required to get value out of the money spent on the education.

 

[dimensional]

I would say its only worth it if you have a goal i.e you are aiming for a job/position whatever and you need the higher education to attain it just doing higher education for the sake of higher education is absolutely pointless.

Really though you dont need to do higher education if you are determined enough you can tutor yourself and increase your education that way in fact if you are the sort of person passionate and determined enough to do this you will likely end up just as qualified if not more so than those who went to higher education (except the really keen ones who self study and do higher education) but you wont get a piece of paper backing you up. That may nor matter though it depends on why you are studying to get a job? (need that paper) or better yourself (dont need paper) usually these two intertwine but one always takes precedent.

If you get higher education free then usually it would be worth it as you dont lose much even if its possible you wont gain much either otherwise you should think carefully before entering you wont always end up better off job wise because you entered in fact in some cases you may end up worse as people consider you over qualified or wont employ you because they want to teach you their way and prefer it if you were a blank slate as it were.

 

[Brodre]

Didn't vote because I do not pay for my education
I live in Denmark, so my education is free, which probably skews my view on this.

I always feel that education is worth it, since it gives you tools you can use and/or provides another kind of critical thinking and processing information. But you have to want it, you cannot start a higher education half-assed (assuming you mean university level), I have seen people not being able to cope and dropping out like flies during the first 6 months. So do not do it just for the money, you have to want it. Unless ofcourse you are mainly driven by money, in which case that might be enough. What I am trying to say is, you should be motivated for it to matter =)

If you want to look at it from at a cost/benefit perspective, then higher educated people are getting more and more in demand, since the hard-working middle-class factory workers and such really aren't needed as much anymore and the service sector is growing alot.

Even paths such as History has a purpose, since it gives you the ability to easily assort and process massive amounts of information, wouldn't be able to say this for sure about the US though =)
Also, it is highly advised to get a study relevant job some time during your education, it really helps alot when looking for jobs =) (or so I am told)


hmm, I think I managed to cut it down well enough, had a wall of text =D