My most successful B.A. student only graduated with a 2.0, so ze is not eligible for graduate school or even for a teaching certificate. Ze is working at a $12/hour job that technically speaking, could have been obtained with less than a B.A. Ze has student loans to pay off. So, should ze have gone to college? Answer: definitely.
Ze is the first person in hir family to graduate from college, and one of the first to finish high school or earn a G.E.D. Ze is living on hir own in hir city of choice, working white collar, in air conditioning, with benefits and the possibility of advancement. Yet more importantly, ze:
– took a major which reconciled hir with hir cultural origins and also gives hir an entrance to the other major culture in hir country of residence;
– took a minor which led directly to hir present profession;
– discovered hir interests in documentary film and filmmaking;
– learned that ze, despite hir humble origins, could go to art openings of interest to hir and be welcomed there;
– is employed in a place where these interests in our second national language, in art, and in film can be nurtured.
Is this not a good argument for college?
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
I would say those things are an excellent argument for the value of college. The chance for advancement, particularly, is important (though I don’t want to discount the less tangible values). People tend to think in terms of starting salaries or present position, when they need to think about salaries five or ten years down the road. This is also true for women (or men, less often) considering staying home with their children: it might make economic sense now, but what about where you would be in ten years if you didn’t take the time off? College is a time for growth, but so is the rest of your life.
Yes, and I didn’t think enough along these lines getting into academia. Graduate school was good for now, assistant professor was good for now, tenure was necessary because on low salary you can’t afford to save for when you are laid off from your industry or when business just isn’t good.
Absolutely!
It’s a great argument for college, but it’s also a great argument to point out that you do not need to go to a really fancy, expensive, SLAC or an Ivy to benefit from the experience (no disrespect to your institution, Z).
Actually this student would really have benefited from going to a SLAC and graduated because I gave her SLAC style attention — otherwise ze’d have fallen through the cracks. But in a real SLAC, living on campus, it would have been a lot less precarious and ze might have had access to some scholarship money. Hir loans are pretty heavy and I am hoping ze can avoid default. Still, going where ze went and as ze went was far better than not going at all.
From what I’ve seen in my huge public grad school, outstanding students are noticed by professors and usually end up receiving the SLAC treatment. But it is true that it’s more of a lottery than at a SLAC, where professors are expected to do that.
I’m always for college and more education. However, I think there is a point where if your students loans debts are too huge, the benefits you obtain from college can be outweighed by the crush of those loans later in life (which are almost impossible to default on). Again, it’s a question of doing numbers. Sometimes, a SLAC can offer a better deal than a public university. But if this student in particular graduated with a 2.0 GPA, I don’t know if s/he would have been able to maintain those scholarships. All of this, of course, only points to how higher education is becoming a class system again.
Huge public graduate school, yes, but this student would have had to be outstanding. That’s where your point on the value of regional type or low end R1 schools comes in.
Student graduated with 2.0 due to 40+ hour work week and chaotic parents to support. I’d have loved to see her funded in a SLAC with more time to spend on classes.
I think it’s graduate and professional school where it’s really dangerous to owe too much money. Oddly I don’t know anyone who regrets their loans from undergraduate days — although I don’t know many who owe $1-200K the way you do coming out of medical and law schools.
But yes, if you’re not interested in cultural enrichment and so on at least, you shouldn’t go into debt for college.