Financial advantage: college or work/apprenticeship?

Find out how to handle homeschooling through high school and college prep!

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mark_egp
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Financial advantage: college or work/apprenticeship?

Postby mark_egp » Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:31 pm

Mark - http://www.everygoodpath.net/ Homeschool ideas
http://www.everygoodbook.com/ Classic Book lists easy to search/sort for history, literature, and reading lesson plans

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Theodore
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Postby Theodore » Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:06 pm


Mark
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Postby Mark » Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:16 am

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

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Postby StellarStory » Sat Oct 13, 2007 8:17 pm

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*

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Theodore
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Postby Theodore » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:11 am

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.

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Postby StellarStory » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:35 am

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.

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Theodore
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Postby Theodore » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:15 pm

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.

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Postby StellarStory » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:45 pm

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.

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Theodore
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Postby Theodore » Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:10 pm

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 :)

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Postby Mark » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:15 am



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