College is Not an Investment

In this time era, more and more students are going to college which means more and more people are acquiring degrees. Soon some menial jobs (i.e. janitors) will soon need to have a degree to have job. If you know some basics of economics, you know that scarcity equals value; therefore, the more degrees there are the less valuable it is. Unfortunately. students are forced to look at degrees that are potentially value in future instead of studying a major they love. This transforms college from being a place of enlightenment to an investment.

For those who are looking to go to college, I want you to profoundly think about what major you are going to study. Then, I want you to look up how many of those majors actually acquire a job that relates to that field. Also, I want you to look at what the job actually wants you to do because more than likely your job will have no relation with what you did in school. There is one final barrier to cross if all these prior questions were satiable; that is to make sure your college debt is less than your annual potential salary. 

Now you may be wondering what majors that will get the most out of the college investment. If you are planning on going into STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), I advise to checkout engineering. Engineering is physical outcome from the others fields: math and science. There are many lucrative careers outside of STEM; however, most of them require a masters degree. The only problem with that is that you will at least need two more years of schooling which means more debt, and you start your life (at least) two years later. The path is up to you, but if you want the best investment, find a major that is lucrative with a bachelors degree. I just want to reiterate. Make sure you do research about the salary of your major!

For those who are still convinced that college is a place for learning and not for accumulating money, I just want to say this. If you're passionate about learning a subject, you will find a way to learn it. Many people have this false perception that the only way to adequately learn something is by going to college. This is completely false! There are so many resources other than college that can teach you about what you want to learn (i.e internet). Even colleges recognize that people are not going to college to just learn because they are giving free lectures online to people. Prestigious schools--UC Berkeley, Stanford, UC Irvine, MIT, etc.--give this free information to those who really love to learn. People are now going to college to gain a physical skill, so they are more employable in the job market!

College is not for everyone. It may be beneficial for you not to go to college at all! Just think about your future--not the present.

I hoped you guys found some of my advice helpful! I'll see you next Thursday.