[tazman9r]

Originally Posted by Hooman

I think this really depends on what school you're talking about. If you're talking about a research-oriented university or a private university, then yes, some of these points are valid.

My college experience was targeted to aviation, perhaps other institutions are different, but based on my own experience going to a "private university" was far more directly targeted to a specialty than going to a state school. In fact, there are two reasons I chose Embry-Riddle over UCSJ specifically:

1. Embry-Riddle would allow me to cover flight training with my student loans, which, by the way, effectively doubled my cost for school. The cost of the degree courses and books by themselves would have been comparable to yours.

2. Embry-Riddle had a more closely targeted curriculum.

Now, I graduated from school almost 10 years ago. I hear that tuition has tripled in that time. I doubt they have changed their curriculum, which means students are paying roughly $150,000 (without flight training) to up to $300,000 (with flight training) for a degree that has the same holes in it that mine had.

I don't know where the $400,000 amount comes from, but I would encourage people to do their own cost analysis before choosing to go to college to see if the benefit will out way the expense. I think the decision to go to college anymore IS a business decision. Just remember, compound interest of 5% - 8% will significantly increase the repayment amount. Your $50,000 to $100,000 dollar investment could become as much as $100,000 to $200,000. Factor that into your analysis.

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Originally Posted by thumpsky

what you're talking about are the periphery benefits as opposed to the raison d'être. I should have been more specific. I just find it hard to justify my tuition costs when I'm basically sitting through one boring power point presentation after another, when I would rather go to the business section at Chapters and read that.

Why do you consider the periphery benefits not part of the equation? Didn't you even get your start in business with a company you formed with a few classmates? Would you have been in that situation without attending college?

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Originally Posted by thumpsky

i have a 3.8 GPA if that answers your question.

That doesn't answer my question at all. And in fact, it basically points to the problem. If you're just concerned with your GPA and getting a fancy piece of paper with your name on it, and view these things as determinations of what you're "putting into it" for the purpose of maximizing what you get out of it, you're missing the point.

[Ahern & Brucker]

Originally Posted by jmenq2

Didn't you even get your start in business with a company you formed with a few classmates? Would you have been in that situation without attending college?

I agree with you there, the social aspect of college is probably the single biggest benefit of the whole thing...

that's the part that will (can/could) pay off big time... commorodordy, connections, and a sort of good ol boy network that's built into the system... while you can get all of this in the real world, it's not as easy... it's not a given that you can get in to the inner circle of things... where as college, just flash your secret handshake and your in.

a regular guy has to prove himself daily, he can't just lay back and enjoy a smooth sail through it... (unless he has connections that are passed down to him) he usually has to have something tangable to offer...

The regular guy just doesn't walk out of class one day and say, ok, now i'm worth 60k a year or whatever the going rate is... he has to generally start with what he has and go it alone... make the first dollar, than make the second dollar save the 3rd dollar and put that back into making more... craw before you walk, get your knees scraped and than baby steps, fall on your ass every single day for a while and stumble around and get up and do it all over...

You know, some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth and things come easy... some people have to struggle...

I enjoy a little struggle myself... if things are too easy, they are often times less valued.

[Ahern & Brucker]

Originally Posted by tazman9r

I don't know where the $400,000 amount comes from, but I would encourage people to do their own cost analysis before choosing to go to college to see if the benefit will out way the expense. I think the decision to go to college anymore IS a business decision. Just remember, compound interest of 5% - 8% will significantly increase the repayment amount. Your $50,000 to $100,000 dollar investment could become as much as $100,000 to $200,000. Factor that into your analysis.

did you also factor in the amount of money your not making those years as an expense?
$100 or 2 per day for 4 to 6 years adds up pretty quick.

[pentupentropy]

Yeah, akula, I have to say that's a pretty lame statement, but I have to say that I agree in some part too. I don't want school, but I want to see follow-through with people. That's what school is about.

Uni is the first real education you get in life where you can decide whether your learning things is about regurgitating information or actually using what you read in a book to think about your own ideas then reform them according to the new things you absorb, as well as getting some great experience just in classroom participation.

I mean c'mon. Everyone had to have at least on eprof who totally tweaked their mindset everytime they had a discussion. Mine was my first psych prof - Dr. Robins. He failed everybody on everything. All the time. 17 people started the class, 3 of us finished. No one passed anything. Ever. Until the final which was a take-home. I got a C just for finishing the class. It was my lowest grade, but it was the class I learned the most in.

The thing is, if you decide to go to school, follow through with it.

[thumpsky]

Someone interviewed Fedor Emelianenko recently (MMA champion) and asked him if he should be concerned about revealing his training regime or certain techniques he used in the ring. He said no, "knowledge doesn't make you a master."

This is what I'm driving at. There's a time for peace, a time for war, a time to keep your mouth shut and listen to others, and a time for ACTION.

Benjamin Franklin only took two years of formal education and his life was full of exploits. By 15 years old he had his own newspaper and was RUNNING SHIT in his teens, and went to Europe twice on his own before he was 18. There were signers of the Declaration of Independence who were only 23 years old. Hell, the ancient Hebrews considered a 12 year old a man already. Nowadays, instead of valuing enterprise and adventure, we tell our people to sit in an institution till the minimum of 22 years of age and that becomes a badge of honor.

that's my paradigm: action vs education

[thumpsky]

Originally Posted by pentupentropy

The thing is, if you decide to go to school, follow through with it.

you gotta know when to hold em and when to fold em

[thumpsky]

Originally Posted by tazman9r

I don't know where the $400,000 amount comes from

opportunity cost of lost income.

I work at a grain elevator in the summers and I make $32/hr, and Sundays are double. We've got guys straight out of high school who are doing this as well.

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Originally Posted by Ahern & Brucker

if things are too easy, they are often times less valued.

True. Or less fun. Or less rewarding when accomplished. Still, there's no reason to make things harder on yourself just for the hell of it.