- Is college necessary?

College will do nothing but help you in securing an ideal future. Chances of having a successful career after not going to college are fairly slim. Without a degree their is a lot you can't do, but their are still some good opportunities out their.

 

Back in the day, going to college gave you a leg up on the competition, when you would apply for a job, you and the other 3 people with degrees would get picked over those with High School Diplomas all the time. Now, almost everyone goes to college and earns a degree, so now when you apply for a job, you better have a degree on your application or else you and the 3 people without degrees will get rejected immediately. Checking for degrees is one of the first steps HR departments take when eliminating potential new-hires. It's not that a college degree automatically makes you smarter, we all know there are dozens of millionaires without them, but if you're sifting through a hundred applications, you have to eliminate 99 of them somehow. Most employers won't hire people with degrees just because of the sheer volume of applicants they get.

And yes, college costs a fuckton of money, you will most likely be in debt for at least 2 years after your graduate, but at the same time, most colleges not only prepare you to get a job, but they will hook you up with employers to get you employed right out of college. And those loans will disappear in no time.

People people people, I know you think your job where you make a high hourly wage is the shit, but those jobs tend not to have much room to grow, that $20 an hour may seem to be awesome right now, but that's because you're young. If you want a job with real potential you better get off of hourly wages and into a yearly salary.

Is a college education necessary to succeed? No. Does it help? Absolutely.

 

Be careful with this way of thinking. My Dad decided to skip university for a job in an electronics shop; he's been on ~£25k for most of his life (he's nearly 46), a salary just over the average starting wage for a lot of university graduates. He had a £45k job for a few years but the company made him redundant and he couldn't get anything else so had to take a job paying £20k less. He has no qualifications past A-Levels (equivalent to high school in the US?). In the UK anyway, a lot of employers are unfortunately putting degrees before experience.

Go to college. If you don't like it, at least you can drop out. Otherwise you'll get a great qualification, more life experience that you'd initially believe and at the end of it a better job.

 

This.

 

The education system is definitely warped though. It's very one sided and we have no way of regulating the information being taught in it. You know in many states high schools across the South the regulated History curriculum deviates tremendously from the Northern counterparts, one of the guys who writes the curriculum for Texas was on John Stewart a long time ago and he was saying some shit that had John so angry he could barely contain himself. Just kept asking him "And you really believe this?" in the extended interview. And thats the guy that WRITES the shit our kids learn :-\

And as far as Higher Education loans go they are definitely for profit, where do you think the federal loans come from? That budget is for all intensive purposes bottomless, if they get more applications they just "print" more money.

END THE FEDERAL RESERVE!

 

Sure there could be. But you are talking about one individual. Check out the entirety of the program. Part of the reason they are always wanting to cut the program is because it costs taxpayer money out of the budget that we usually don't get back. No one wants to cut the profitable programs.

 

You're theories on why your businesses will be successful tell me that you should stay in college. It's not only about demand, and by staying in school you'll learn all of the stuff you need without your financial situation hanging in the balance. Did you get a C on that marketing test? That's alright, because you're just learning and you'll have the opportunity to display what you've learned later on. But if you take that same stumble and apply it to your own business and it could be much more devastating, it could be the reason you go under and owe the bank more then you have.

Not to mention, most colleges work towards giving you that experience you talk about. In my school, you cannot graduate unless you have completed at least 2 internships in your field (some majors like engineering require up to 5). There's no doubt that actual experience in your field is valuable, but so is what you can learn in school, and most of the time your professors are respected names in their fields, they're teaching you not only the theory out of textbooks, but they also disseminate their experience unto you. You're 4 years of hands-on experience won't compare to the decades of distilled information you'll receive in class.

Considering it won't cost you any money, stay the fuck in school. You can always work part time if you want to, but if my education was being paid for in full, I wouldn't even think twice about leaving school. Do you know how many people don't go college after high school, only to return later in life because they've learned degrees have become the standard for hiring? So not only do they have to go to school and work full time just to stay afloat, but they have to pay through the nose for it. Do it now, you may not see the value in school yet, but that's because you're over simplifying things.

 

Lol you got the game all fucked up bro. To start a laundromat you need MONEY. To start a good barbershop you need MONEY. And most people don't go to new barbershops. At least i don't.

And to start a headshop you need guess what? Money. And most smokers don't buy a lot of smoking accesories. 20 dollar pipe. Pack of papers. Maybe a vape. You won't see them for a year.

Real Estate is boring as fuck. And it hard to learn. But how much you make is dependent on your work ethic. At the same time nobody is going to buy a house from an 18 year old. So yea you could learn real estate for four years and not make any money. Or you could go to college for four years. Not make any money. But have a step up on the competition when you get out

You can't expect to make money with no money man. If you want to seriously start businesses you need the money to basically support them yourself for the first few years. And no offense but your ideas aren't really great. You should try to think up ideas with very low start up costs. OR that you have a lot of experience in.

If starting businesses was easy then everyone would do it. But it takes a lot of money. And the less money you have the more of your time that it takes. Stay in college. Get a degree that will put you in high demand. Work. Save. Invest. Invest. Invest. And maybe one of your ideas will workout.

Either way you need a base to start from in life. And real estate isn't the best base. Especially not in 2011. Plus your age is a deciding factor. Would you buy a house from a 10 year old? Probably not. Same way those 30 year olds feel.

 

It's is for me I get a vehicle.

And if you can get your business up successfully and make more then someone that finish school. Go ahead but remember when work for people u can get raise and benefits work for ur self u pay for all your luxury dental doctor everything

 

are you certain that financial aid isn't a loan? there is payback "aid" better check.
WAKE UP!!! WHEN YOU ARE 18 THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER!
You will make it with drive, ambition, hard work, long hours and determination.
And sometimes you will think it isn't worth it but if you look around and be grateful for your blessings you will definitely find less difficulty.

also if you are in college and take real estate too and take college courses that will complement the Real Estate. Then hook up w/the rich kids who's daddy pays for everything, (it's just as easy to be friends w/rich kids as it is w/middle class or poor ones, they're just as screwed as everyone else sometimes more so) they will be looking for apts and houses when they get out because living w/the parents isn't so very attractive any more.
As a younger guy too you may be able to work for one of the "Big Horrid Corporations" that give people jobs all over the world, and support them in their housing needs for transfers. (that sounds fun to me)

The real estate mkt is the shts now but that will change and people will still need housing. You can also specialize in leasing. If you have carpenter skills, in many towns you can buy 30,ooo run down homes and fix them (if you have backing), then lease them until the mkt improves. Also if you fix a 30,000 home to value say 50 or 60 thou and live in it 2 years then sell it, all profit is tax free.
Being a real estate desk jockey @ 20 isn't a bad gig you do a lot of research on properties and find good deals not everyone sees. Most people in Real Estate are well connected and have access to good deals they can work to their advantage. I wouldn't go for it in a completely dead taxed out town but there are places where it is all good.
Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.

 

OP if you wouldn't have to pay much you should definitely go to college. In four years of college you meet plenty of people- and lots of them could be potential business contacts to help give you a leg up.

You list that you want to open a barber shop, headshop, and laundromat. But why do you want to do those things? Are you truly passionate about cutting hair, beautiful glassware, or the smell of laundry detergent? Because if you work your ass off just for money it probably won't be satisfying in the end. I want to a film director and there's a good chance I'll never even make it in that industry, but I'm going to take the chance because I'm passionate about it. You might not know what you want to major in but that doesn't matter for shit, just take classes that seem cool to you (i'm taking a class in existentialism next semester just because it is interesting to me, not for any graduation requirements).

My current situation is that I'm a sophomore in college and I honestly don't like it at all and I'm super stressed out. I constantly question what I want to do with life after I'm done, I feel like I don't need college, and the only reason I feel like I'm in classes is because I am on a tuition scholarship. So if I still don't like it next semester I'll take a year off, try to save up a little money, and hopefully come back with a more focused mind set.

College isn't necessary but the truth is a college degree regardless of the discipline can make it so much easier to get any type of job these days- and you might find out what you're really passionate about. If you end up not liking it than stop going (because you don't have to worry about wasting money on tuition).

But hey just my two cents

 

how much is college in the US? (out of interest)

 

Rough estimates but Community college is under like 3,000 a year (only 2 year schools, cant get a Bachelors), average university around 10k a year, above average 20k, ivy league or equivalent 30k+

 

Ivy league or equivalent is more like 45k+, and that's only after you factor in charitable donations and endowment and subsidies, etc. The real cost of educating someone at a good school runs about 70k+ in the states. Luckily the attendees don't need to shoulder all of that; most have enough debt or workstudy to deal with as it is.

 

I didn't read this whole thread but I don't think it's necessary, I mean shit, I didn't go to college (I'm 21) and I'm the only one of my friends that has his/her own place. I gets mah money and pay mah bills like a boss. I work full time in a warehouse.

So I just decided to make this a little longer. In this day and age, a lot of people are going to college simply because they can't find jobs, what with the declining economy and all. Well, I know a fair share of people (ranging from 22 years old to 35) that went to college, got their degrees... and can't get jobs in the field they studied because there are no jobs. To me personally, I'd rather make my money and live than get student loans and all that bs and be in debt in addition to trying to survive. It's like, a lot of people around here spend a LOT of money on school and end up working shittier and less-paying jobs than I do.

 

Private schools are around 60k.. Cal State schools (if you're an instate resident) is something like 10k. But almost everyone qualifies for legitimate financial (not loans) aid due to the FAFSA. But even then, college is pretty damn expensive..

 

ah is that what your college counselor told u. My dads been on a hourly wage his entire life making 70k a year if not more depending on side jobs he picks/gets, I mean fuck i think everyone in my family survives on a hourly wage not everyone is a special snowy flake. 20 bucks a hour is awesome depending on area, u can bring home the bread with that for 2 kids if u budget right.

Saying those kinds of jobs do not have to much room to grow thats generalizing to much for my taste you do not know what jobs these are, and fuck who cares if there is not room to grow say the owner dies gives the company to his son his son is a fuck up realizes he cant do this trys selling the business and u take out a small business lone. There is to many situations in life that can take u somewhere you cant live by statistics and percents all the time you really never know were life can take u.

I am not applying for those 100k position jobs fuck those HR departments i do not give a fuck for them i am not qualified nor will i ever be probably or even want to be. Some people really are just not meant for college man my point i was trying to make as a whole is that it takes all kinds to make this society run the way it does everyday it takes all sorts of duties/jobs/nonprofit organizations

You do not always have to be at the top to be happy in this life. I am a fucking meat cutter i am fine with that right now im happy i can have my cake outside work and eat it is it a large piece of cake? no does it have a hot tub with bitches in it? no but i am fine with that i have my hobbies i have my love in my life. Maybe i will take a few classes like in financing/ law etc you know important things that help me in life that i can use straight away not metaphysics or some stupid shit lol. I am not attacking u in anyway btw its just my collective opinions on things and how i feel.... ok maybe the beginning sentence is a little condescending but i couldn't resist lol.