Is College a Ripoff and Scam - 20/20 ABC News Report

[Sexter]

I don't like this video at all. It's very biased against people who actually go to college and succeed.

It really depends on what your major is in college, and how marketable your degree is. If your degree is engineering/finance/accounting/nursing, your degree is marketable and will have a decent paying job(given if you are persistent enough)

if your degree is psychology/art/cake major, then you are wasting your money because those degrees aren't very marketable.

Again, the video is VERY biased and takes on the biased perspectives

Fact is, college isn't a WASTE OF money or time. If you have the right degree, you will be making more money than a guy with just a high school diploma.

This video assumes too much without providing examples on the specifics. A person with a college degree in accounting for example, WILL in-fact make more money than a person without a college degree. DUHHh! whY?! becaues that accounting degree will open doors for him in the accounting fields(white collar jobs) therein, will give him a decent salary.

Compared to a person wtihout a college degree, he/she will probably be a blue collar worker making considerably less than the "white collar accountant".

Again, IT DEPENDS on the degree, it depends on the school, and it depends how persistent you are on finding a Job. A person with a college degree in finance who is very persistent at finding a job who went to college in UCLA will probably have more opportunities than a guy with just a high school diploma. FACT FACT FACT. Lets compare statistics shall we?

A typical high school graduate, who works as a "truck driver" probably will make 30,000$ a year
a typical college graduate, who has a nursing/accounting degree, probably will make 60,000-80,000$ a year

There is a 30,000$ difference between the truck driver and the accountant. In a 30 year span, the accountant who has a salary of 60,000$ a year will make 900,000$ mroe dollars in 30 years than the truck driver who made 30,000$ a year. Subtract another 100,000 on student loans, the accountant made 800k more dollars than the truck driver who just had a high schol diploma. I'm just using this as an example, im not taking into account the benefits, the raises, etc...

the video is only depicting national averages. What if the person went to a community college first? Then transferred? worked ap art time job, and barely owes any money? THe video is VERY biased on depicting the negatives, gives BIASED numbers, gives biased statistics, and gives a lot of bullshit.

[S_Parc]

What if the person went to a community college first?

Yes, this is the best strategy from a financial planning p.o.v. One can drop out of high school, get a GED, take community college classes and have an associates degree before even becoming an adult. Then, after some internship experiences, to round out the resume, transfer those credits and complete a bachelors degree within two years. That's a marketable individual!

If I had to do it over again, this would be my strategy. And no, I wouldn't choose engineering. I'd get the credits in community college and transfer to a 4 year PharmD program. Then, working as a pharmacist, I'd take those online classes and get an MS in chemical engineering (~$20K) and sit for the Patent Agent exam. Then, I'd make a lateral move into Patents/Trademarks and settle into a comfortable six figure lifestyle.

[Winston]

odbo showed me this video about college that makes an interesting point about the fallacy in college that "learning, knowledge and intelligence = MEMORIZING" when the truth is that intelligence = thinking, which they don't teach you.

[leavingusa]

I'm glad to have my college degree even though it is in humanities.

A lot of us got certified in things like IT and paid them off.

Now that it's paid off it looks good with my 11 years of experience and I know it opens doors. I have a six figure salary now.

But if I had to do it again...no way.

[newlife]

I always knew it was a scam from the start. Which is why I never went to college after high school.

I did take a few years of college a few years later. HUGE waste of my money. Although I do appreciate some of the stuff I learned. But it never benefited me.

[notfeelinusa2]

Im not trying to sound like a pathetic whiny little baby, but I am really screwed right now, and some advice would be greatly appreciated.

Im 22 years old. I got an Associates in Criminal Justice and a Bachelors in Social Sciences. I knew Social Sciences was a joke degree, but I was positive I was going to be working in law enforcement. I got hired with a law enforcement agency recently, but I ended up resigning. Law enforcement isn't for me period. All these years I was trying to follow in my father's footsteps instead of doing something that actually matched my personality and talents.

Now I am back at home unemployed living with my family. Its terrible. Im a good looking kid with a social sciences degree. Thats about all I have. I have no real experience, because when I was in college I was working as a hotel valet and at a golf course. I don't really have any skills either. The good thing is I don't have any debt because my grandmother paid for the degree. I was spoiled.

I have been applying online for jobs the last two weeks and I am 0-41 on getting an interview. I have applied for like 15 bank teller jobs and havent gotten an interview on one. They all want cash handling/banking experience and I don't have that. Ideally I'd like to get into insurance claims but so far no luck.

Right now I can't even get an interview for part time retail job. This is crazy. I've never been this depressed in my life. Every morning is like a bad dream. Maybe I need to go apply in person so employers can actually see me because I have been told I am very good looking with a nice smile (foreign women especially lol). With family issues right now, its impossible for me to leave the country so teaching english is out. I just need some ideas from men who could help right now.

I may work at UPS this holiday season loading boxes until I can find something better. The one skill that I do have is officiating basketball which actually pays pretty good but it can't pay the bills forever.

To top it off I am a traditionalist catholic meaning I will refuse birth control and desire a large family. I would love a devout catholic wife overseas but I don't know if I 'll ever get married due to finances. This scares me because I really would like a wife and family. I may just have to work 60 hours a wk, 2 min. wage jobs, until Im 40 and then move to the Phillipines lol. But thats not plan A.

[Sexter]

@notfeelinusa2

first of all, the reason why you aren't getting much success in the job market is because of your degree. You went to college with a useless non-practical degree which is social sciences. If you majored in engineering/nursing/business (usually degrees that give you a decent shot at the job market if you are persistent), you would've had a fighting chance.

Lets assume you have a business degree, it's EASY to become a bank teller with a business degree compared to having a social sciences degree.

2nd of all, if you must stick to your degree and apply for jobs, have you thought about doing internships? By doing internships, it's a foot in the door for you and gives you much needed experience. If you have an internship, it also opens doors for you to network with people within that firm.

If you can't do internships, your 2nd best bet is to ask people (family/friends) to help you with your job prospects. this is how most people get jobs(hidden job market). Is when they are introduced to a referrer.

You are doing this the hard way, by going on the internet and sending in hundreds of resumes to not get called back. If I were you, i would follow up in EVERYONE of those leads and request an interview or ask for an interview. Simply sending it in, won't get you anywhere. A little bit of persistence will definitely help. There are also smarter ways to look for jobs online. You can make a linkedin account and use it to network with other people inside the firm. that way, you will have connections to the jobs you want.

Simply going on monster.com/craigslist.com and mindlessly sending in resumes isn't the smartest way. Try other options

[S_Parc]

@notfeelinusa2

first of all, the reason why you aren't getting much success in the job market is because of your degree. You went to college with a useless non-practical degree which is social sciences. If you majored in engineering/nursing/business (usually degrees that give you a decent shot at the job market if you are persistent), you would've had a fighting chance.

Lets assume you have a business degree, it's EASY to become a bank teller with a business degree compared to having a social sciences degree.

2nd of all, if you must stick to your degree and apply for jobs, have you thought about doing internships? By doing internships, it's a foot in the door for you and gives you much needed experience. If you have an internship, it also opens doors for you to network with people within that firm.

If you can't do internships, your 2nd best bet is to ask people (family/friends) to help you with your job prospects. this is how most people get jobs(hidden job market). Is when they are introduced to a referrer.

Without getting into the which degree is a better thing, I'd say that the biggest problem here is that for the most part, those who've gotten jobs from let's say accounting or finance backgrounds, have already interned at those companies (or like companies), prior to their entry level assignments. Thus, there's a narrow pipeline from which young analysts get hired, esp in a tight market like today.

For notfeelingusa2, at this pt in time, you'll need to generate your own experiences, even if it's part-time & pro bono, to be able to make a lateral move into a corporate setting. Thus, here's my suggestion... if it's palatable for you, take up driving a cab 15-20 hours per week. Then, do some bookkeeping a/o marketing brochures, for a friend's company, for a few days a week. Then, take part-time courses in accounting at your community college or some cheap online place like the Univ of London, since they offer admissions for 2nd BAs rather easily, vs the 1st one where you need to be dean's list.

After let's say 1.5-2 years of the above, you'll have enough to be able to go to job fairs, etc, and apply the old fashion way. Right now, you're in the underemployment category and what you don't want is too many copies of your resume floating around, as it could bite you in the future, when your experience base is more solid.

[BigDug]

Im not trying to sound like a pathetic whiny little baby, but I am really screwed right now, and some advice would be greatly appreciated.

Im 22 years old. I got an Associates in Criminal Justice and a Bachelors in Social Sciences. I knew Social Sciences was a joke degree, but I was positive I was going to be working in law enforcement. I got hired with a law enforcement agency recently, but I ended up resigning. Law enforcement isn't for me period. All these years I was trying to follow in my father's footsteps instead of doing something that actually matched my personality and talents.

Now I am back at home unemployed living with my family. Its terrible. Im a good looking kid with a social sciences degree. Thats about all I have. I have no real experience, because when I was in college I was working as a hotel valet and at a golf course. I don't really have any skills either. The good thing is I don't have any debt because my grandmother paid for the degree. I was spoiled.

I have been applying online for jobs the last two weeks and I am 0-41 on getting an interview. I have applied for like 15 bank teller jobs and havent gotten an interview on one. They all want cash handling/banking experience and I don't have that. Ideally I'd like to get into insurance claims but so far no luck.

Right now I can't even get an interview for part time retail job. This is crazy. I've never been this depressed in my life. Every morning is like a bad dream. Maybe I need to go apply in person so employers can actually see me because I have been told I am very good looking with a nice smile (foreign women especially lol). With family issues right now, its impossible for me to leave the country so teaching english is out. I just need some ideas from men who could help right now.

I may work at UPS this holiday season loading boxes until I can find something better. The one skill that I do have is officiating basketball which actually pays pretty good but it can't pay the bills forever.

To top it off I am a traditionalist catholic meaning I will refuse birth control and desire a large family. I would love a devout catholic wife overseas but I don't know if I 'll ever get married due to finances. This scares me because I really would like a wife and family. I may just have to work 60 hours a wk, 2 min. wage jobs, until Im 40 and then move to the Phillipines lol. But thats not plan A.

Why not get out of the US for awhile? You've got a bachelors degree and no debt. Get any kind of TEFL or CETLA cert and move somewhere overseas. Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam all provide a decent standard of living, decent income (you can save money), and a great life experience.

A major disadvantage of The Philippines is the lack of jobs for expats (especially teachers). But you can go to non-english speaking asian countries and work as an english teacher.

Do NOT lock yourself into multiple minimum wage jobs in the US just to stay afloat. First of all, that kind of job experience won't help you on any resume. At least years of experience in ESL provides you a higher paying job at the next ESL job you apply for as years of ESL experience equals higher wages.

Consider this: If you live in a country where you don't need a car, you're saving around $10,000 per year (considering payments on a moderate car like Toyota Camry, insurance, gas, maintenance, tags, etc.) So if a country is going to pay you equivalent of 26k a year ($2200ish per month) and you don't really need a car to get around and transportation is cheap, you're essentially equaling $3000 per month in the states of wages. That's close to $18-19 per hour of equivalent US wages required.

And then it provides you with what you're looking for if you're even on this site. Getting the hell out of the US.

[MrPeabody]

If you go to college today, you better really plan it out and choose a major that is going to give you a marketable career. You have to treat it like a business. You don’t want to graduate with $100,000 in debt and a B.S. in basket weaving. A college education just makes you eligible for an entry level position. That’s it. The problem is that when the economy is bad there aren’t many entry level positions. When I was younger, I couldn’t get a job with a B.S. in Physics and Math so I just went one year extra and got a Master’s degree in Engineering which got me my first job. I was then able to take classes for the PhD which was paid for by the company. You have to really analyze your own talents and goals and choose something that is going to make you money. Don’t go to college to broaden your mind because that is probably the worst place to do it.

[notfeelinusa2]

Im not trying to sound like a pathetic whiny little baby, but I am really screwed right now, and some advice would be greatly appreciated.

Im 22 years old. I got an Associates in Criminal Justice and a Bachelors in Social Sciences. I knew Social Sciences was a joke degree, but I was positive I was going to be working in law enforcement. I got hired with a law enforcement agency recently, but I ended up resigning. Law enforcement isn't for me period. All these years I was trying to follow in my father's footsteps instead of doing something that actually matched my personality and talents.

Now I am back at home unemployed living with my family. Its terrible. Im a good looking kid with a social sciences degree. Thats about all I have. I have no real experience, because when I was in college I was working as a hotel valet and at a golf course. I don't really have any skills either. The good thing is I don't have any debt because my grandmother paid for the degree. I was spoiled.

I have been applying online for jobs the last two weeks and I am 0-41 on getting an interview. I have applied for like 15 bank teller jobs and havent gotten an interview on one. They all want cash handling/banking experience and I don't have that. Ideally I'd like to get into insurance claims but so far no luck.

Right now I can't even get an interview for part time retail job. This is crazy. I've never been this depressed in my life. Every morning is like a bad dream. Maybe I need to go apply in person so employers can actually see me because I have been told I am very good looking with a nice smile (foreign women especially lol). With family issues right now, its impossible for me to leave the country so teaching english is out. I just need some ideas from men who could help right now.

I may work at UPS this holiday season loading boxes until I can find something better. The one skill that I do have is officiating basketball which actually pays pretty good but it can't pay the bills forever.

To top it off I am a traditionalist catholic meaning I will refuse birth control and desire a large family. I would love a devout catholic wife overseas but I don't know if I 'll ever get married due to finances. This scares me because I really would like a wife and family. I may just have to work 60 hours a wk, 2 min. wage jobs, until Im 40 and then move to the Phillipines lol. But thats not plan A.

Why not get out of the US for awhile? You've got a bachelors degree and no debt. Get any kind of TEFL or CETLA cert and move somewhere overseas. Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam all provide a decent standard of living, decent income (you can save money), and a great life experience.

A major disadvantage of The Philippines is the lack of jobs for expats (especially teachers). But you can go to non-english speaking asian countries and work as an english teacher.

Do NOT lock yourself into multiple minimum wage jobs in the US just to stay afloat. First of all, that kind of job experience won't help you on any resume. At least years of experience in ESL provides you a higher paying job at the next ESL job you apply for as years of ESL experience equals higher wages.

Consider this: If you live in a country where you don't need a car, you're saving around $10,000 per year (considering payments on a moderate car like Toyota Camry, insurance, gas, maintenance, tags, etc.) So if a country is going to pay you equivalent of 26k a year ($2200ish per month) and you don't really need a car to get around and transportation is cheap, you're essentially equaling $3000 per month in the states of wages. That's close to $18-19 per hour of equivalent US wages required.

And then it provides you with what you're looking for if you're even on this site. Getting the hell out of the US.

I agree completely but I am facing 2 issues. #1 I am very close with my grandmother and she is sick. #2 Because of my religious beliefs i willl never enter communist countries like Vietnam and China. Especially China since they perform forced abortions on women who have more than child. Truly satanic stuff. That narrows my choices down to Taiwan and Korea. In all honesty I would like to go to South America but it looks very difficult to get an entry level ESl job based on what I've seen on daves esl cafe. Other than Peru, and I have no desire to go to Peru.

[jamesbond]

This is a good video discussing how you can achieve your dreams and you DON"T need a college degree to do it.

[jamesbond]

Good video by Stefan Molyneux where he goes into detail about whether or not a college degree is worth getting today. Employers will take a person with no college degree and work experience to someone with a degree and no work experience. Work experience trumps a college degree almost every time. Stefan goes into other factors too such as all the debt college graduates have.

[IraqVet2003]

Good video by Stefan Molyneux where he goes into detail about whether or not a college degree is worth getting today. Employers will take a person with no college degree and work experience to someone with a degree and no work experience. Work experience trumps a college degree almost every time. Stefan goes into other factors too such as all the debt college graduates have.

Jamesbond, that's an interesting video. However, did you know that some graduates with student loan debt are actually FLEEING THE US to avoid paying it. Here are a couple of links you may find interesting:

STUDENT DEBTORS FLEE COUNTRY
http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.co ... untry.html

[Adama]

Educational debt is another modern scam of the elites. You know, it is up there with NAFTA - theft by stealth.

The US government forces schools to raise tuition every year, or those schools will not be eligible for the student loan program.

Student loan debt is the only debt which cannot be canceled by bankruptcy. That basically ruins the lives of college students who graduate and can't find jobs, or who are underemployed. Wage garnishment is a very real possibility, and when you are already not making much money, that can ruin the incentive to even work, if nothing is left.

Ruined credit means fewer job opportunities (employers sometimes check credit), inability to purchase a home because of massive indebtedness which doesn't look appealing to mortgage lenders, and sometimes even inability to rent an apartment because of debt credit ratios and a poor credit rating.

So if a person were to graduate with lots of debt but only find a job paying very little, and they can't afford the minimum monthly payments, they will be living in their parents' basement for the rest of their lives. They will not be able to get married at an early enough age to have children of their own. And they may never get out of that hole, cause they promise to even garnish social security payments. All because the banks want that money.

It is not right to trick people who are only 18-21 years old. These people can't even legally buy alcohol, but they can sign their lives away to indentured servitude to bankers for life at the age of 20!

It is a massive scam. Just since it is legal and the news isn't making a huge fuss about the perpetrators, no one cares. Besides, we all know the Baby Boomers don't care about those who came after them anyway. It's also further proof for all the suckers who believe in voting, that the system is not influenced by voters. It is owned by the bankers. That's why it is so funny when these people think the counterintelligence agent Trump gets up to say something he's been scripted to say. Oh you believe the circus before you and accept it is real, despite the fact that every single time before the very same promises were made and every single time before, they lied about fixing the system. They do however make sure to eliminate the real laws set in place to restrict their powers.