Individual income in the United States hasn’t seen any increase in the last ten years. Yet, the cost of education has skyrocketed so much up to the point that many families are having a challenging time sending their children to a university to get a proper education.
With this exhaustive difference in income and education costs, no one can surely say that working their ass off to get a degree pays off. It costs around $75,000 in student debt to get an MBA. The fees are no different from other important or other totally impractical degrees like mass media or liberal arts.
Regardless of where you stand on canceling student debt, one thing is for sure— there are a lot of better ways to spend that money aside from pursuing an increasingly low-value degree.
But…does having a college degree truly boost earning potential?
According to universities, holders of bachelor’s degrees earn around $1.2 million more in their lifetime than those with just a high school degree. Obviously, this is what they would say to entice students to get into the MBA program.
However, if you center your focus on the actual market or if you look into independent studies, you’ll see that what most universities are claiming isn’t true. In fact, 66% of workers with a bachelor’s degree earn more than those individuals who have made an effort to finish their master’s degree. This only shows that higher education isn’t really linked to more money.
Not because you have taken a more paramount degree does not equate to an easier journey to riches. There are even master’s graduates who earn way lesser than mere high school graduates.
Student Loans in the United States
In the past, student loans have shown more value than today. It was introduced way back in World War II in order to help veterans attend college for free or for a meager price. As time passed, the government came up with Federal student loans with the aim of helping promising students attend college.
Student loans were considered a profitable investment in the early 90s. People who get it believe that they will get something in return that is way more valuable than what they have initially paid for.
Unfortunately, college became more of an experience in early 2000. Since student loads have become widespread and extremely accessible, students avail of loans just to experience what it’s like to be in college. It has become a student’s playground. Hence, student loans began building up slowly, costing about $400 billion.
In 2012, the $400 billion debt had grown to more than $1 trillion. Many students have regarded going to college as insurance that can back them up in case things go wrong in their chosen careers.
At the time of writing, student debt in the United States has ballooned to $1.6 trillion, and college is becoming more of a country club where students have to pay an increasingly expensive membership just to hang out with the so-called “cool kids.”
The value that student loans had when it was first introduced declined drastically. However, if you think having a student loan remains to be a good investment, it makes sense if you’ll pursue it.
You have another option, though. There’s a more promising alternative available for you aside from going into debt for a college degree— individual education in the right industry.
Two Major Forms of Education
- Organized and Conventional. This form of education includes high schools, colleges, and universities that begin and end at a particular given point. Education such as this is organized around the lowest common denominator. Thus, anyone can complete their studies regardless of their skill.
- Individual and Long-lasting. This form of education includes books, talks, trial and error, businesses, and side hustles. Education like this has no timeframe for when you should start or stop. You can dive into this education all throughout your lifetime. Individual and long-lasting education can be freely accessible or highly pricey. This type of education has a direct correlation with your chances of success. When you involve yourself in this type of learning, the further you will be able to go further in life.
As per the World Economic Forum, about 50% of all employees will stand in need of reskilling or upskilling by the year 2025. Hence, ironically, one of the most crucial skills for the future is education itself.
A lot of things are emerging in this modern era, so there are more and more things to do, while there are fewer and fewer individuals who know how to do them. This is why people are getting headstrong on self-education.
Keep in mind that no matter how passionate and hard-working you are— you are still not entitled to a big salary. Industries aren’t created equally, and they keep flip-flopping every five to ten years.
Currently, programmers get paid better than digital artists, but there will eventually be a time when programming will become just a commodity and creativity will take its place. In fact, creativity was placed on a higher ranking than programming for 2025.
There’s no way programmers would be an instinct career in three years. But you should take into account that the industry constantly changes, so you need to target the right industry in order to increase your chances of success.
If you plan to enroll in college just because your parents told you to do so, there’s nothing wrong with that. But give yourself a favor of pursuing your own self-education.
Now, here’s what you can do instead of getting a student loan:
- Find your industry. Feel free to go through trial and error just to find one that perfectly suits you.
- Look for thought leaders in your industry. Find those who preach— those who can mentor and lead you to success. Become their follower.
- Make these mentors your vessel of knowledge. Adapt the things they did to get into where they are right now.
Colleges have now become a security net, but the truth is, your college education does not carry a big influence on your earning potential. This is because industries continuously shift, and some college degrees just become redundant.
Traditional education will always stand below self-education because this is where you learn how to learn, which is a highly top-tier skill in the time ahead.
