I enjoyed my time in college, and I learned a great deal. While I do think that the time helped me grow, I also recognize that I was always a good student and the cost of my working through that degree was far below what today’s degrees cost at many universities (even accounting for inflation). What’s more, I worked most of the time I was at university to pay for my living expenses.
These days I am torn on the value of a degree, especially when the total cost can easily exceed USD$50,000. Even more concerning is the fact that many people have to drop out with substantial debt and no degree. That’s the worst of both worlds. While it’s easy to point the finger at people for not finishing or working harder, it ignores the challenges of the real world, which can throw curve balls at all of us.
For a lot of my college time, I had to work to support myself because I didn’t have enough scholarship funding, and I was worried about loans. I was worried about post-college, and in the 80s, I was able to work 30+ hours a week and earn enough to pay rent and buy food. Later in my time, I was able to secure an internship that paid me, which was nice. Then I wasn’t spending 80+ hours a week trying to learn and support myself.
I saw a note recently about degree apprenticeships from Purple Frog Systems. The idea is that someone is part-time in university while working for an employer. This might require more than 40 hours a week of combined work, but I like the idea of someone learning about both the academic and practical views of an industry and getting mentorship from both co-workers and academics.
While many of us who work for an organization might get tuition assistance, it’s not always easy to work out school and work. Managers may or may not work with you, and there isn’t really continuous support to help you complete your degree. The quality of your manager often determines if this works. However, the bigger issue is that many people struggle to find jobs in the first place and not many organizations I’ve worked for have any programs to find people who might be suited for an apprenticeship program.
I don’t that our industry, or many industries, really need to require degrees. That being said, I do think there are things universities teach well, and they give a good perspective on a variety of topics. Employers can benefit from motivated individuals who learn their business, learn different skills in school, and bring about energy and fresh perspectives. Plus, employers learn how to train and grow new people at a lower cost. We all struggle to hire well and train people to be effective quickly. Working with interns or apprentices is a good way to embed regular mentorship and training into the culture of your company. That’s something everyone can benefit from.
I hope to see more apprenticeships in the future, not just in technology (or marketing as in the post), but in a variety of industries. I don’t know if we will, but I do think this might help us get better at finding and training new staff.
Steve Jones
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A college dergee today is not worth the price depending on the field of study. For fields that require professional licensure such as Legal, Medical and Engineering a degree isn’t going to be an option. In Tech related fields I’ve found that the brightest and best aren’t the college grads but the self taught hacker types who have an inate understanding of tech and how machines work and communicate.
Before the US Federal government increased the suply of guaranteeded student loans it was possible to do as you did b/c college wasn’t over priced as the supply met the demand. Like you, my wife also worked her way thru college getting a degree in early childhood education and ended up teaching the special needs classes; those with autism. It was the Federal governments getting directly involved in the student loan business that caused the problems today with costs.
Everything is subject to supply and demand. College was not intended to be for everyone, just the best of the best seeking careers that neccessiated advanced education. The few went to college while the majorty either entered the work force or sought trade like trainng at trade schools or community colleges. There was nothing shameful about not going to college until society, parents started telling/implying kids that they had to go to college or else they were the losers. With this fewer were inclined to enter the trades like plumbing, electrician, construction and so on. Today these trade’s people are inhigh demand because we have to few thanks to this “you must go to college” mindset.
In 1992 the Feds changed how federal subsidized student loans were handed out. Long story short, by doing what they did with making federally guaranteed loans (the kind the Colleges love most) more readily available the demand for college admissions went up resulting in a suply shortage. Unlike the past where it was the schools reputation and programs it offered that would attrack students these new students who many frankly shouldn’t have gone to college, were not enticed by programs or reputation but ammenities, recreational activities. .
To get as much of this new Federally guaranteed loan money as the colleges could they started adding crap that has no place in a college like rock climbing walls, jacuzzis, spa’s and other facilities traditionally asocited with recreational facilities and not a college. These weren’t cheap to build ormaintain so prices went up and up and up. This isn’t my assessment of the current situation but something I read about a few years back.
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First, I don’t know that being a college grad and being a hacker/or self-taught are exclusive of each other. There are some brilliant people in our industry who did go to college. I would say that the really talented people I know tend to be college grads, but that is more because companies have required degrees for jobs, not that the average grad is better than the average non-college grad that works at their craft.
The college loan thing is a bit of revisionist history, and it’s a bit of a guess. Supply demand somewhat works, but supply and demand are altered by various forces, and that is the government, but also colleges themselves and businesses. Lots of countries and places have a similar issue. It’s more visible in the US because we’re more $$$, but the fact that companies started requiring degrees for lots of jobs also changed things. Loans have made it easier for more people to attend college, but plenty of the problems come about from other sources.
I completely agree that college isn’t for everyone, nor is it required for lots of jobs. Certainly trades programs shouldn’t be discounted as “lesser” in any way.
Lots of the college extras are to complete with each other and attract more students. It’s a bit of an arms race to build better dorms, more amenities. Just like Google, Facebook, etc. trying to attract the best, whatever that is. In colleges cases, they are looking for high income people who can pay more, and they try to attract them.
I think that’s crazy, but each college acts in its own interest, but as a group, it is slightly crazy.
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