The college scam in the U.S

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZtX32sKVE[/youtube]

Bzuh! Where are these min wage people making more than $35 thousand a year? They certainly aren't in Georgia.

Can I telecommute to one of these jobs?

I've seen this before. It's sad, but everything else is overpriced as well.

Let's see... $35,000 divided by $7.25 per hour yields 4827 hours, 35 minutes, and 10.34 second per year ... divide this amount by 52 week yields 92 hours, 50 minutes, and 17.51 seconds worked per week.

A 92-hour work-week?

Of course, this assumes straight time only, and no payroll deductions.

Hmm...

$7.25 times 2080 hours of straight time per year (40 hours per week) yields only a $15,080 yearly wage.

$35,000 minus 15,080 yields $19,920 still to be earned.

1.5 times $7.25 yields $10.875 per hour of overtime pay.

$19,920 divided by $10.875 per hour yields 1831 hours, 43 minutes, and 26.90 seconds ... divide this amount by 52 weeks yields 35 hours, 13 minutes, and 31.67 second of overtime per week.

Summary: A person earning minimum wage ($7.25/hour) in America would have to work for a total of 75 hours, 13 minutes, and 31.67 seconds each week to earn a gross pay of $35,000 per year, before payroll deductions.

People are discovering that colleges don't have much to offer anymore. I hope more people just skip college and make their own jobs. That or live in a self-sustaining community.

As a Computer Science major, I feel a college degree is worth the time and effort. I am not happy being around $17,000 in debt when I graduate though. Especially since I work a part time job alongside taking a full course load.

College is NOT a scam. It's just that some people don't do it correctly.

1) They pick a major which is not very marketable.
2) They do poorly in college and get a bad GPA
3) Their unemployable because of factors not having to do with the college
4) They don't use their downtime to increase their credentials for their resume
5) They add unnecessary costs (expensive private schools rather than public colleges, driving rather than bussing, dorming rather than commuting, studying abroad)

And what's the alternative college? Working at a factory.

At least until you read Rich Dad Poor Dad, sell some nutrilite drinks and become a millionaire.

This.

It's all about networking these days. I wish I had known that before going to college. Even Johnny Lawbreaker, with tons of felonies on his record, can get a good job if he is buddy-buddy with a bunch of people. But for guys like me who don't have a lot of friends and don't really want any, it's really hard. Hell, I just got rejected for a job at Gamestop despite having the qualifications. They turned around and hired a guy who was fresh out of the army and had no work experience (in comparison I've had 3 years of retail experience).

This is the criminal enterprise known as "higher education." The REAL LESSONS you need to be learning in college/university are all about social networking and skills in that regard. It is not about your grades or job skills (although they are not unimportant in their own right).

For people like us, and the naive NTs who think they just need good grades to get a good job, the important lessons are not in the curriculum. Learning/improving these skills is a chance happening. Those who are naturally social get a lot out of their education experience because they grow in both regards and have the social network connections to open doors for them. Everyone else who believed everything they needed would be taught in class wind up with a very rude awakening when they graduate and can't get a job.

If I had the means, I'd start a college with a "real life" twist on it. Some things it would have....

1. A no BS policy. We won't sell you a bunch of hype. Getting a good job is hard, and we assure you that if you don't bust your butt since day one in your freshman year, you likely won't find a good job when you graduate. If you want to skate by doing the least possible in school, we'll take your money, but don't expect to get a good job when you finish.

2. No professors allowed who do not have proven "real world" experience doing the subject they teach. Some exception might be allowed for classes that, by nature, don't have much "real world" opportunities (e.g., mathematics). In those cases, professors are expected to regard students as if they are producing a product. No "touchy feely" attitudes towards grading. If you don't do the work...on time...correctly, you don't pass.

3. Mandatory classes in social skills and skill building. Includes how to "network" to build professional leads for later opportunity.

4. Mandatory pursuit of off-campus career growth projects. Holding a part-time job, getting regular internships, starting a small business, even a non-profit, where you must produce a product/service and sell it to the general public, etc.

The goal is for every student who wants to come to (A) recognize that education DOES NOT guarantee success post-grad but that most all of that rests on what they do to prepare over the next 2-4 years, (B) actively help EVERY student do the maximum they can to prepare themselves to face the "real world" with both technical and social skills needed to secure gainful and (hopefully) upward-bound employment, (C) impose a solid work ethic and understanding that nothing good is guaranteed or promised by society, but hard work and preparation is the best hope of obtaining things desired rather than just going through the motions society, up to then, has falsely promised to the young in society.

I don't know how to say this but college is and isn't a scam. To be unbiased, it really depends on a host of factors including the degree, employment rates in the area, etc. I also feel like scam is a harsh word and would prefer some other word such as rip-off to an extent.

I personally feel that admission into anything college-related relies way too much on grades and not enough on other factors. I might have a personal bias because I am attempting to get into a competitive program... but I still feel like I have a point to some extent. I am extremely interesting in any type of hands-on medicine (various surgical specialties, dentistry, etc) and I consider it an Aspie 'special interest'. At the moment I am a second year biology undergrad attempting to get accepted into a dental program although I feel like I might have some difficulty ONLY based on my grades and not on some of the other factors that are used for admission.

For example, in the biology labs which involve mostly hands-on activity, I have been scoring in the 80-90%s in terms of grades, however in the classrooms I don't always do so well, and the lectures are always worth more. The problem isn't that I didn't study hard enough or that I don't understand the material, because I feel like I have a general understanding of the material, but it's always something 'political' that holds me back. For example, perhaps the instructor doesn't like the way I worded an answer or something... and I'm not trying to blame everybody but myself because there are many instances where it is only my own fault that I f****d something up. Perhaps part of the problem is the fact that I have had to take classes with the same ego-driven teacher several times now =/

The point that I am trying to get at is for example for admission into a dental program, of course grades should always be used to help determine admission, but I wish such admission committees didn't rely basically 90% on grades. I wish a portion of the admission decision relied on grades, obviously a portion on the admission exam (DAT, etc) and a portion on something like one's personal profile. I wish for example that part of the admission testing including a test where an applicant is being watched by a committee and instructed to clean an artificial tooth with a set of instruments, all the while the committee taking note of his manual dexterity and quality of work. Such a test, along with grades of course, would be a much better indicator of how capable an individual would be in a dental field than lets say an interview and some grade overview.

The thing that irritates me is that an NT with slightly better people skills and grades along with a boasted life on Facebook has a much better chance of being admitted than a person like me who applies his special autistic interests to medical topics: everything from collecting medical instruments, reading about surgical procedures, building the skeletons of road-killed animals using plates and screws and performing dissections all extra-curricularly.

Though once again, I know I might sound like I have a personal bias and I wouldn't be surprised if there are people that disagree with me. And for the record, I have not applied to a medical/dental program yet.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I&feature=related[/youtube]

Shorter, edited version:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkPvSCq5ZXk&feature=related[/youtube]

Thanks for the vid!

Yeah I should have never gone to college.....but hopefully I will be dead before the IRS or whatever gets around to harrasing me about the fact i have no way to pay back all that college debt. I should really drop out but if I do that and get denied for SSI again then I will be screwed.

So yeah college is a scam for the most part.

A college education teaches discipline and is a social education.

Does it now?

In the United States, your already supposed to learn that before you go to college. That's what the SAT scores, college interviews, and grades are used for; to weed out the people who don't know yet.

For example, if you are not disciplined you will not get good grades, and you will not get into a college.

College is supposed to teach you more specialized, advanced knowledge and give you a professional network. However, the cost to value ratio is terrible in my opinion. It costs too much, and I sometimes wonder if I would do better if I dropped out and worked.

I'm starting to question the cost to value ratio myself...