Financial advantage: college or work/apprenticeship?

[mark_egp]

I've added a new article to our family site, financially analyzing the earning/saving of 4 years of college vs. 4 years of working as an apprentice. Homeschoolers tend to think more counter-culturally so this may be of interest.

From the introduction:

The unchallenged cultural assumption is modern America is that "you must go to college" or be forever lost as a second class citizen trapped in life long poverty. Let's put a pencil to this assumption and see if your typical college student is really better off... You may be suprised to learn that an entry level worker could own a $125,000 home at age 22 free and clear with no mortgage while the typical student would need to borrow over $100,000 to buy the same home. The young entrepreneur has 4 years work experience, owns his home outright, and is already saving for retirement while the new graduate ponders 30 years of mortgage payments

http://www.everygoodpath.net/Economics101_CollegeVsApprenticeship

[Theodore]

Practically speaking, you can skip the first year through standardized testing, the second year through community college, and a lot of the remaining two years through portfolio review, so you may actually only need as little as one of those years for a four-year degree. There's also the possibility of scholarships.

Sure, college may not be a good idea if you do the whole four years on-site at full cost, but there's no reason why you have to.

[Mark]

It is something to consider though.

I suspect my son will be going for 4 to 5 years though since he intends to
be complete a multiple woodwind performance degree, with a minor in
who knows what.. lol

mark

[StellarStory]

I'm not at all sure there are enough apprenticeships available or that the article itself doesn't have some built in prejudices that colored the facts.

As I see it, my job as a parent is to make sure my kids have as many options as possible.

Should they decide to not go to college that is on them.

An apprenticeship could be great for certain kinds of jobs. Most of the jobs I can think of though would not likely be things my kids want to do.

*shrugs*

[Theodore]

Playing the devil's advocate here, it ought to be possible to find someone to apprentice yourself to (if not a formal apprenticeship program) for just about any vocation / interest. While on the one hand I do believe that a degree is useful as a passport to better things, most of what you have to do to get that degree is totally worthless, and in terms of job experience it may be better to just follow around someone who already has the job you want.

[StellarStory]

One thing the article talks about is borrowing money to get your degree. If you don't have to do that, it makes a big difference as well.

[Theodore]

Not really. If you have money to spend, that money could instead be invested, so you really have more or less the same cost-benefit tradeoff as if you took out a loan. In fact, spending your own money is even worse, since you can get student loans at a very low interest rate, but the return on even a safe investment is significantly higher. You lose more money spending your own money than taking out a loan.

[StellarStory]

Well it depends on a lot of things what is best for an individual. I suspect most jobs don't pay as highly as the one detailed in the article for instance.

Also, you do have to do some things that are not useful and which you may hate to get a college degree but I suspect the same would be true of any apprenticeship, assuming you could find one for the career you wish to have.

Who is to say that if you can arrange an apprenticeship you will like or get along with the person you find. Who is to say you will be able to continue long enough to be a journeyman or professional?

I just think they are potential problems with most things. It's up to the individual to decide the best path for them, stick with it and make it work for them even when things are not ideal. Of course that doesn't alway happen.

For the most part this generation knows nothing about a work ethic or sticking to anything. There are a few exceptions of course but this is what I see in the so called work force today.

[Theodore]

Technology is distracting, education is lousy, and a lot of kids have the imagination beat out of them by the time they finish public school. On the plus side, that makes it extremely easy for homeschoolers to compete in the job market

[Mark]

Technology is distracting, education is lousy, and a lot of kids have the imagination beat out of them by the time they finish public school. On the plus side, that makes it extremely easy for homeschoolers to compete in the job market

*choke*
*sputter*
*cleans monitor*

*steals that line*

LOL