# Is college worth it?



## zoogrl (Oct 21, 2010)

Well, I have to say I'm very frustrated with my school situation right now. I have completed 40 some hours and have taken out student loans to pay for it. I do have a ways to go yet, so more loans to take out to cover it. I have recently been looking to buy a house, but according to the mortgage lenders my debt to income ratio is too high and I cannot get a loan without an outrageous interest rate. I am not paying on my student loans and if they would think about it, I'm getting rent money somehow. Why wouldn't I be able to make a house payment that is half what I'd be paying in rent? It doesn't make sense. It seems like my education is now cutting into all other aspects of my life, no time for family or friends. I have put off having kids because I want to finish school first. I can't buy a house for myself and take advantage of the tax credits because of my education. And no matter what I do my work & personal relationships suffer because of the priority I've made school. But what is it getting me really? Lots of loans, holding me back from owning a home and starting a family. All of which are ok, if it's worth it in the end. So any thoughts out there from those who have degrees or don't? Would you do it all over again differently if you could?


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## RV's mom (Oct 21, 2010)

I would have stuck to my guns and finished things out when I was younger. Instead I played around, took 10 years to get my associates (think they were tired of me...) worked for far less than I could have made with my degree. I went back to school at 36 and stuck to it. And it was well worth it.


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## Torty Mom (Oct 21, 2010)

Hang in there, it seems like it's not worth it, but it is. I got pregnant 1/2 thru and now I don't have the time to go. My boss is pushing me to go back and get my degree, as she thinks I really need to be a Kindergarten Teacher. Maybe someday when the kids move out......my vote for all it's worth...stick with it!!!


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## Neal (Oct 21, 2010)

It's all about perseverance. My first semester of College was fall 2001, now 9 years later I am finishing up my final semester for my undergraduate degree. I chose to work full time and school part time right out of high school. I was making really good money, but I hated what I was doing. So I decided to quit and go to school full time. My first day of being unemployed my wife and I found out we were pregnant. Here we are two years later and in debt from our student loans up to our necks. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m telling you, going to school is hard enough, but with an infant to take care of itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s 10 times harder. 

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m optimistic about the future though, after all IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m not the first person to have thousands of dollars in student loan debt. I definitely sympathize with your situation and have often had the same thoughts that you do. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s hard to find peace of mind from those who tell you that itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s all going to be worth it, but what helps me is the thought of the reward that I will get when this is all done. Not so much financial in getting a higher paying job, but the feeling that I actually accomplished something that was hard and pushed me to my limits. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve never met anyone with a college education who ever regretted it, I hope to tell you the same thing in a few months.


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## pugsandkids (Oct 21, 2010)

I'm 31 and wishing I had much more college under my belt. I had my kids early and hubby has a good job that allowed me to stay home with them. Now the boys are 14, 11, and 9. I'm ready for a good job, but frankly my standards are too high! I need more schooling to get the jobs I want. Go back to school? No way, my oldest is a very smart guy and will be heading to college. We want to help him with school, something we can't do if we are paying for my own student loans. 

If I had it to do again, I'd be fitting college in!


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## dmmj (Oct 21, 2010)

I believe that is a question only you can really answer. I honestly believe far to many people go to college for the wrong reasons.


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## PeanutbuttER (Oct 21, 2010)

Totally worth it. I'm there right now. 1.5 years left of undergrad (its taken me a while...) and then 4 years of grad school and 4 or so years of post grad school training and I'm done. When I'm done I will be doing exactly what I want to be doing, I will be able to be my own boss, and I will have the skills required to directly change the world around me. I couldn't be more excited.

It is taxing, but as you well know it is a sacrifice that you and those close to you choose to make. I am also married. I have over 100 hours done, and can say that in the process of getting my education I have been able to do things that I never would have thought I'd do. School may not be for everyone, and deep down you'll have to decide for yourself whether or not it is for you and your family (future and present).


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## Terry Allan Hall (Oct 22, 2010)

What do you want to do, career-wise?...college is absolutely needed in some careers, not so much in others.[/u]


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## zoogrl (Oct 22, 2010)

I am a Biology major with an environmental health emphasis. But I'm worried about the job market & have thought of changing to an Art major with an emphasis in web or graphic design. I have interest in both and wonder which would be the better one to pursue do to a job market & demand. I have several friends that have gotten college degrees here and still work for the same pay they did before they graduated & now have student loans to pay for. I have another friend who got a degree and is a completely opposite field making good money. She isn't going to pursue a job with her degree because the benefits she gets at the current job she won't find at another company in our area. I do work for a good company that offers tons of benefits I will have troubles finding at another job, but I don't want to do what I'm doing now for the rest of my employed life. I will probably finish just because I don't want to pay on my student loans and have nothing to show for it, it is just very frustrating and worring me since I see those around me not using their degrees. What am I paying thousands of dollars for? A piece of paper that says I owe thousands of dollars? By the time I get my student loans paid off after college, I'll be about ready to retire!!!


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## hali (Oct 22, 2010)

believe me carry on - i at now 42 have just finished a four year epic (after children) to get my BA - do it whlst your young xxx


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## Cfr200 (Oct 22, 2010)

Everything takes time and effort, don't try and rush. I did not start college until I was 44. I was busy doing other things, mostly 20 years in the Coast Guard. I know you feel like you are missing out on what others have, but keep going and things will workout if you get your degree first. My last job paid well but I did not like doing it so I decided to start over. I entered college 27 years after I graduated high school, I am currently older than all my professors. I will get my associates degree in December and then on to a different school for my Bachelor degree. Then I will have to find a teaching job, which are in very short supply right now. 
If you would have asked me 20 years ago about getting a degree I would have said no, 3 years ago I said yes and started making plans to get one. I know I will never earn as much as I did as a military contractor, which is what I did after I got out of the CG. What I do know is I will be happier and not on the road 200 plus days a year. 
As for missing out on buying a house don't worry there will be more chances. If I would have listened to friends I would have bought five years ago and now would have been upside down by a hundred thousand or more.


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## Yourlocalpoet (Oct 22, 2010)

I absolutely loved my degree and although I had to make sacrifices to make it my number one priority it was more than worth it. I graduated with first class honours and I can honestly say I felt the most prodigious sense of achievement, satisfaction and genuine pride. Nothing in life is ever easy or what would be the point in doing it? It may seem like a challenge now but once you have it you have it for life to do with as you choose.
After my degree I decided to do another year training to become a teacher in further education and everyone told me that jobs were scarce in the FE sector and that I wasn't guaranteed to find something permanent, however here I am teaching a subject I love everyday. What's important to me is that when I wake up in the morning I want to go to work, I enjoy being there and nothing, not even money is as important to me as my passion for teaching my subject and it is that 'job satisfaction' that I believe I couldn't have found without my degree.
Education is the greatest of liberators!


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## PeanutbuttER (Oct 22, 2010)

Whatever degree you get, its up to you to make it marketable. My mother has an online art degree. Now she's a member of the national precast concrete board and owns a very successful concrete precast company. Its a totally unrelated thing, but she knew how to sell herself and works her guts out. In my mind that's the key difference between just graduating with a degree, and graduating with a degree that will help you be successful.

Side note, student loans aren't that bad if you end up doing what you want to do. Most likely my student loans will be in the 6 figure range. However, I will then have a solid job and can start working on paying that off then. I can wait the 10 or so years from now until then and not have a house right away.


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## Candy (Oct 22, 2010)

Getting a degree opens up a whole lot of doors for you. I always told my children to do it before they get married and have children because it is so much harder after that.  Good luck with your decision.


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## bettinge (Oct 22, 2010)

Absolutely! College grads make more money, get acknowledged for promotions to better jobs, and spend less time in unemployment lines.....these are facts.

With that said, college was not right for my nephew, I hope he does not regret!


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## Angi (Oct 22, 2010)

FINISH SCHOOL!!! I am 44 years old my kids are 11 & 16 so it would be great if I could get a part time job, but I don't have any job skills or a degree. I also live in a small town that does not have many jobs so I would need to make enough to pay for gas to drive down the hill. All my former jobs were low paying. A lot of my friends that have degrees and stayed home with their kids for the last 10 or 15 years are now working as substatute teachers or other jobs at the school that require a degree. I tried working as campus security ( yard duty ) and made very little money and it was 3 hours of hell. We didn't pay off my husbands student loans untill we sold our first house. Thank God he has the degrees. If he didn't he would not have gotten as far as he has in his career. Now he wishes he had a PHD, but it is too late now. Well maybe in 15 years when the house is paid off LOL. But really if you dont get the degree you will be sorry later.


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## terryo (Oct 22, 2010)

My youngest son is in his last year of college, and after that he's going to graduate school. Keep going...don't give up. It will get better for you and you'll be so happy that you did.


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## Madkins007 (Oct 22, 2010)

The reality is that for most students, college racks up huge debt that takes most of them a long time to pay off, especially in this economy. 

I saw an interesting article on-line you could probably relocate that talked about a different path than we are used to.

- Take some time to figure out a career path.
- Investigate the path, figure out the best way to invest money in this career. For a lot of careers, you only need an Associates, for others, experience is more important than a degree. For others, spending time with a volunteer program or taking a customized assortment of classes may be best.
- If you decide that college is right, and it often is, use the time to find the best ways to keep the debt as low as possible. Ideally, this would mean getting scholarships while in high school, but that is not always an option.

Just as an example, a close relative just passed the bar to be a lawyer, is having a hard time finding a decent job in that field and is looking for whatever job they can get to make the loan payments.


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## Stephanie Logan (Oct 22, 2010)

All of the statistics indicate that the more education you have, the more you earn. There are the occasional Bill Gates exceptions who drop out and still become billionaires, but even those people, when interviewed, encourage most people to get as much education as they can. 

In America, your opportunities are pretty much dictated by how much you invest in your education and job training. To me, education is the gift you give yourself, and it keeps on giving.

I don't know anyone who regrets having gone to college.


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## Candy (Oct 23, 2010)

Well put Stephanie.


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## zoogrl (Oct 24, 2010)

Thank you everyone for your advice and encouragement! I will keep going and worry about one semester at a time instead of 5 years or so from now


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## Madkins007 (Oct 24, 2010)

Stephanie Logan said:


> All of the statistics indicate that the more education you have, the more you earn. There are the occasional Bill Gates exceptions who drop out and still become billionaires, but even those people, when interviewed, encourage most people to get as much education as they can.
> 
> In America, your opportunities are pretty much dictated by how much you invest in your education and job training. To me, education is the gift you give yourself, and it keeps on giving.
> 
> I don't know anyone who regrets having gone to college.



I do regret it. I spent years in college and now work for a place that could not care less about my educational background. The lawyer in the story I mentioned is having strong doubts. There are literally millions of graduates out there who are working in a career that did not require a degree but have to pay it off. Look at the statistics for college grads living at their parent's homes.

While it is true that the higher your degree, the more you earn, that does not include your earnings to debt ratio. As an example, the typical dental hygenist makes more profit for much of their work life than the typical dentist does since the dentist has so much more debt to pay off.

This is not a rant against college, my wife is a professor- without college she would not have qualified for the job nor would she have a job to work in- this is just an alternate opinion that suggests doing your homework, just like we would say about getting a tortoise.

If college is right for you, and you have a plan- absolutely go for it!


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## jctu82 (Oct 25, 2010)

College is absolutely worth it. I wanted to stop midway, but my parents forced me to finish. I am still paying off loans, but I think I still have an advantage over people without a college degree. Just finish and you won't regret it in the end


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