College Fantasy and Realities of College

It has always been understood that those who went to college were going to do financially better than their high-school diploma waving peers, around 1 million dollars better. This was based on taking a risk that higher education, instead of going straight into the labor market, would create a path for success. In a slow economy, many students are questioning if the prices are worth the end result. Even non-tuition such as textbooks and laundry can add to student debt. As the country's student loan debt reaches over one Trillion dollars, frustrated students and cautious high school graduates want to know if college is like a fantasy or if it's a cold and lonely academic pool of despair.

To measure future success of college graduates, the only factor being considered will be financial return on the investment. This will not include the loss of money that could of been accumulated by working instead of studying, nor does it factor the risk of not graduating. Ultimately, the future success of the college graduate or potential college student depends on the degree.

Sociology Degree:
The Fantasy: "I will get to help everyone!" I want to be able to help those and a degree in sociology will mold me into a Addictions Counselor, Corrections Officer, or Social Worker.
The Reality: Sociology coursework is easy, elementary simplistic and even the students know it. The average salary of a sociologist was $48,545 for a starting position. When comparing total tuition to the salary, this degree is hardly worth the four years, maybe six, required to obtain the job, in addition to any internships.

These brownies are special

As a high school graduate, if you aspire to be a graphic designer, painter, illustrator, or drawer, it is important to consider the cost of art school. Many techniques and training courses are available for free or for minimum cost on the internet. This offers the student time to strengthen their skills and also time to work, instead of being in debt for art school supplies, software, textbooks, and avoid the loss of time from a class schedule that prevents work. This also includes culinary arts and nursing assistants. These are all fields where a four year degree may be an improper decision. College being the wrong choice? Yes! Especially when all the variable are considered when it comes to getting a higher education. However, outside of these variables are infinite other variables that favor college regardless of starting salary because of the ability to network and create a group of friends.


Education Degree:

The Educational System Works

The Fantasy: Working as High School, Grade School, or lower-level teacher and helping children and young minds discover the world. Being able to teach and spread the most valuable gift of all- knowledge. In the fantasy, studying to become a teacher turns you into the coolest teacher ever.

The Reality: The public school system doesn't have such a great reputation for a reason. Teachers are known to be underpaid despite their importance to the country. The low pay also calls into question the lengthy amount of time spent in debt because profits are rarely seen for five years with these educational salaries.

Studying music, religion, philosophy, and other "softer" skills may not lead to the financial well being or comfort which students are desperate for during these economically challenging times. Now, the first two degrees showed very poor evidence supporting college education.
The following degrees and subject material are recommended by the blog to get the most out of college and in the work force.

Information Technology:

How Women View Information Technology Degrees

The Fantasy: Hours and hours spent in front of the computer while endlessly trying to memorize programming languages. Whether it's python, ruby, java, JavaScript,  Perl , MySQL,  or maybe the lovely C+, your life revolves around nothing but boring code and network errors.
The Reality: To say this area of training is in demand is like saying Dormer is kind of cool. India is creating information technology machines! Not literally, these machines happen to be part of the 80% of their population that has a degree in IT or Engineering and unrelated to the AOL machines. The coursework is also surprisingly simple, compared to the astrophysics and mechanical engineering requirements. So is it worth it? The starting salary is listed as one of the highest paying by Forbes, and it's literally the future of mankind. Not enough to convince even the most technically unsavy to enter the Information Technology field? Well their salary is one of the highest in the nation, and this is true throughout the global market, as a IT degree offers a grand $70,000 entry reward.