Research documents that the average cost of one year at a state university is $20,770.
At a nonprofit private college or university it's $46,950.
That covers tuition, room/board, and fees.
Add-ons are the traveling expenses back home for the holidays, digital gadgets, and recreation.
So much for the financial nut for the so-called "college experience."
Traditionally, the "college experience" has been defined as residence for four-years at a college or university.
The learning is supposed to be holistic. That is, the human being will not only grow cognitively and pick up enough whatever to get a job.
There is also to be a formation of values. At least that was the mission of the Puritans when they started Harvard in 1636.
But the extreme financial investment entailed is not the only reason for re-thinking the college experience.
And, believe me, many are doing that re-thinking. Boston Magazine reports on the growing number of colleges shutting down in New England. Parents have questioned the assumption that college is necessary for their children to be able to earn a living.
The high tuition has often been the tipping point. An alternate to college has been the trade school. Welding, long-distance truck driving, cosmetology, plumbing, and coding currently are all ways of making a living made possible by training in an institution or through an apprentice program outside the college box.
However, according to the 2018 book "The Class Ceiling," offspring of lawyers are 17 times more likely to become lawyers than those from other kinds of backgrounds. Here are more details from Abovethelaw.com. So, lawyers, maybe from the get-go, you will be saddled with not only college but also law school tuitions.
However, there might be hope, lawyers. Another challenge to the college experience cuts right to its core. In this fast-mutating globalized economy driven by digital, can human beings "afford" to be put in an environment separated from "real life" for four years? Sure, there are internships. Sure, some student launch enterprises in the dorm. Sure, there are even paid jobs on and off campus.
But instead of being out there entirely focused on mastering the games associated with economic survival (and building wealth) the human being frequently is put on hold. Their understanding of how the work world really works is way off. For example, they hustle for top grades. Those might be necessary to be admitted to medical school or a top law school. But, come on, research and experience demonstrate that the "C" students become the bosses of the "A" students.
Another reason to push back against inflicting the college experience on anyone is that nutty bit of nostalgia: College friendships are forever and the networks created will be a long-term professional asset.
Actually, executive coach Henry Cloud's book "Necessary Endings" has been a sustained best-seller because he warns against that kind of bonding. The world changes. Human beings change. The world of work keeps changing.
In 2014, thrown off my usually successful game by so much change in my line of work and aging, I did a Hail Hail, The Gang's All Here. I reached back to acquaintances from the Class of 1967 at Seton Hill University. Incidentally, back then,the total nut for the annual package was about $1,500, including travel home for the holidays.
Negative learning is more powerful than the positive kind.
The attempt to restore something, anything with The Gang of Four (Kathleen Huebner, et al.) triggered a full-blown case of PTSD. Here is a chronicle of that horror.
This month I celebrate the 5th anniversary of the extreme pain of getting it that, as Cloud hammers, movement must be forward, never backward.
And, BTW, my college experience wasn't so hot, either. Here is that story, which I have a hunch isn't atypical.
Overall, research, the high cost of college, the continuous difficulties in earning a good living over a lifetime, and the existence of the dark side of human nature all will push America to declare this: The college experience, as we had known it, is counterproductive for achieving most goals.
Think about this: For April 2019, ZipRecruiter indicates that the annual median compensation for a long-haul truck driver is $71,817.
About 10 months ago, my Baby Boomer white collar colleague, laid off from a healthcare position, enrolled in a truck driving school here in northeastern Ohio. The cost was about $7,000, for which loans were available. He could have gotten free training if he committed two years to working for the company associated with a training program.
For about eight weeks, he had to study very hard and manage the stress of hands-on road experience. Then, he was on his way, again along a successful career path. Now that he is heading into a year of experience, he is in the position to negotiate compensation and what route he will do.
When my two businesses were slow, he encouraged me to also look into long-distance driving. More females, of all ages, are opting for that solid middle class wage. And, we can bring along our dogs for the ride. I took some preliminary steps about enrolling in program. Then, as often happens in self-employment, my businesses took off again.
Had I to do it all over again, I would have continued living at home, working part time at New Jersey Bell as a long-distance operator, and hustling for freelance writing assignments with the local town crier The Jersey Journal.
Instead, I went the academic route, including doctoral studies in literature and linguistics at the University of Michigan.
It wasn't until age 31 that I was on my way to developing a marketable skill: professional writing. And I figured out how to do that w/o enrolling in one damn course or going for a certificate at the local university.
In 2004, I got it that I had to learn social media. I hired a coach for a few months. No, I didn't take an extension course at the university.
More and more big name companies, ranging from Google to Apple, no longer require college degrees to apply for jobs. Here are those real-world facts.
Reflection: Employers such as Unilever are piloting recruiting programs bypassing resumes, cover letters, references, and visits to college campuses.
Instead they are leveraging approaches such as gamification and AI-monitored video interviews to determine what job applicants can get the job done the best, the fastest, the lowest-cost, and w/o social tensions. It's what we can do for employers in real time. Not a resume of academic credentials.
Question: Is higher education an addiction? And the elite brand a version of high grade heroin or cocaine?
I did also wind up a 1L at Harvard Law School when I was in my 40s. After I had been accepted, I felt compelled to go. That was even though by that time in the process of applying to law schools, I sensed I was too successful in communications to do that kind of career change. Also, given the complexity of law, I was too old. During the 1L year I high-tailed it back to the communications career path.
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