Is Going to College Worth It?
If you’re wondering if going to college is a good choice for you, I’ll break down my thoughts in this video.
First, let’s cover the basics. I’m in the US, so I will be focusing on cost and colleges and jobs here in the US because that is what I’m most familiar with.
Second, there are clearly some jobs that you need a college degree for: a doctor, lawyer, engineer, teacher, etc. So obviously if you want to go into a career path where a college degree is required, you probably aren’t wondering if college is for you and thus, this video isn’t really for you either. Please watch it anyway.
Alright, let’s get into it.
Why You Should Go to College
Just as college isn’t right for everyone, skipping it might not be right for everyone either, so first up, let’s talk about why you maybe should go to college. In a world where it is increasingly less necessary to obtain a higher education, there are still some benefits. I, myself, went to college because of them and got my associates degree. So what are the benefits? I’m glad you asked.
Degree
It’s a little on the nose, but the foremost reason one might want to attend college is obviously to get their grubby little paws on a degree. Surprisingly, there is a major shortage of college-educated Americans as baby boomers retire. According to a study done by Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, an estimated 65% of job vacancies require some postsecondary education and training. As many Americans are returning to the labor force, the majority of those who are hired have college degrees. According to a Washington Post article from April of this year, of the 916,000 jobs added back to the economy this year, only 7,000 of them went to workers without college degrees. So yeah, unfortunately if you don’t have a degree right now, the odds aren’t in your favor.
A lot of job requirements will have 2 or 4-year degrees as part of their minimum requirements for the position, so foregoing college entirely can exclude you from even being considered as an applicant. So yeah, that lil’ piece of paper can sure come in handy.
Networking
Depending on your desired field, the relationships you make in college can be invaluable to you in your future endeavors. This is especially true in creative fields. Anecdotally, most of the people I know who went to school for photography or filmmaking don’t have much enthusiasm for any part of their college education outside of the networking they were able to do at school. In Hollywood, in particular, many of the jobs you can get are often based on who you know, so building a growing network of peers in your field can make a hefty tuition worth it if you really want a chance to succeed. For example, Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson met at the University of Texas and then went on to make many iconic movies.
If you’re surrounded by people who are enthusiastic about your craft, who are willing to put in the time and energy to collaborate with you on projects, and who may be able to open doors for you down the line, you might want to consider college. This was true in my personal experience. I met one of my best friends while we were both going to school for recording arts, and we both moved out to LA to pursue careers in audio engineering together. I don’t think either of us would have pulled the trigger on moving out here on our own, so networking at college was sort of the impetus for that.
Not to mention the many friendships you can make throughout your time in college that can enrich your personal life as well.
Growth
I don’t think this one is necessarily worth the college price tag on its own, but it’s still a nice little perk of going to school. I’m talking about personal growth. Up until you graduate high school, you likely stay in the same town next to the same people you’ve known all your life, but when you go to college, you’re suddenly surrounded by new people from all over the globe. You’re introduced to different perspectives and backgrounds that help to shape your worldview and empathy as you’re becoming an adult. At a typical state school, you’re also uniquely positioned over somewhat of a safety net as your rent or dorm might be covered by your parents, scholarships, grants, or loans while you begin to exercise your independence. To an extent, you’re shielded from real world responsibilities and your main job is simply to learn. There may never be another time in your life where you’re able to focus your time and energy this way. Obviously, this isn’t the case for everyone. My wife attended an extension of Purdue University that was close enough to her parents’ home, so she continued to live with them while working a full time job and attending classes on the side in what was essentially a community college setting. That’s why she’s only 5’1. No growth. Actually, that proved to be a smart move for her, but more on that later.
The Education
If the most obvious reason to go to college is to get a degree, then the second most obvious reason is the education itself. Before I went to school for recording arts, I was passionate about audio engineering and knew my way around recording software (kind of), but I learned wayyy more in college. Could I have learned everything on my own? Honestly, probably not. My courses set me up with a solid foundation. I learned a lot of things that I probably would have skipped on my own. 1. Because I didn’t have the patience. And 2. Because you don’t know what you don’t know. I wouldn’t have even known to study half of the things my instructors taught me on my own. Now some education may be theoretical or outdated or even unnecessary for what you want to do, but it can help round out your knowledge as a whole.
Higher Salary
In an article from Indeed.com, The Bureau for Labor Statistics estimates that those with the highest level of education earn, on average, three times more than those with the lowest levels of education. Yikers. But let’s say you’ve got your high school diploma and are considering a standard 4 year bachelor’s degree. For high school with no college, the average worker earns $712 per week or about $37,000 per year. The worker with a bachelor’s degree earns an average of $1,173 per week or almost $61,000 per year. That’s an extra $24,000.
Internships
Oftentimes, the best form of education is hands-on experience in the field, and internships are a surefire way to get that. In America, we’ve got a little thing called the Fair Labor Standards Act that requires that students be compensated with proper wages or college credit. Many employers opt for college credit as it is no cost to them, so being in college can give you a leg up on getting that internship that’ll wet your little beak. There have been a few internships I was interested in, but since I was in college for only 12 months, I wasn’t eligible for them in my early twenties.
Why You Shouldn’t Go to College
Okay, now for the reason why you’re here. You probably clicked on this video because you wanted to save, on average, $107,280. So, let’s talk about why college might not be right for you.
Cost
There is no doubt that tuition costs have skyrocketed over the last several decades, up over 3,000% in 50 years. In 1981, a public in-state school would run you about $910 per year. Adjusting for inflation, that’s about $2,733. Now, 40 years later, that same tuition is $10,560 per year. Most families just don’t have that kind of money to pay their kids’ college tuition, and the federal minimum wage is still $7.25, which prevents many teenagers from being able to save enough on their own. This is one of the reasons why student loan debt in the US totals 1.73 trillion dollars. The average public university student borrows about $30,000 to attain a bachelor’s degree. And if you go to a private school, these numbers can get much higher.
Now imagine you’ve finally graduated after four years with $30k in loans, but the economy hit a rough patch or your industry simply isn’t hiring people fresh out of college. Regardless, you’ll be stuck paying off your loans on a monthly basis usually starting 6 months after you graduate – and as you can imagine, that can be tough if you can’t find a job paying as much as you anticipated.
And then there’s always the possibility you drop out – maybe you decide college isn’t for you. Maybe there’s other life events whether family, health, or otherwise that force your hand into leaving school before you graduate. You’ve still got to pay back what you borrowed, but you likely won’t be making nearly as much if you graduated as you originally planned.
You should also look at it from an ROI perspective. If you are taking out $100k in loans to go to film school and the majority of jobs you can get once you graduate pay $15 an hour… well, that may be a mistake. Let’s compare that to an entry level salary for a chemical engineer graduate where the average entry level salary is $105,000 per year – well, that might make a little more sense.
I would try and avoid getting slammed with debt to start off your career in your 20s if you can help it. If you do want to go to college, but aren’t sure what you want to study or you don’t want a ton of loans, consider spending a few years at a community college or an extension school. Get your GenEd credits, see what subjects and career paths sound the most promising to you, and then if you feel the need, you can transfer later to finish out your degree. Here on Marketwatch, let’s compare Indiana University – which would cost you about $81,000 after four years, to that of its extension school, which would cost you only $28,000. Well at least in 2016. But you get the idea. You’re saving a ton of money by going this route.
Rachel went to an extension of Purdue University for her degree. She saved money by living at home and working full-time while getting her degree, and she was able to graduate without any debt.
Not even using your degree
As my wife says, she has a degree in Literature and it makes a wonderful bookmark. What happens when you spend four years and a whole lot of money on a degree you’ll never use? Well, nothing. According to the Washington Post, only 27% of Americans have a job that pertains to their major.
Book learning vs. on the job learning
Even though I learned a lot in school, I learned way more on the job outside of school. For the first four months or so working at a recording studio, I made mistake after mistake and learned something new on a daily basis. My schooling gave me the foundation, but you can’t really beat on-the-job training.
Let’s take something like photography for example. Would you rather hire someone to shoot your wedding who has never shot a wedding before but has a bachelor’s degree in photography… or would you rather hire someone who spent the last four years shooting portraits and weddings. I think the answer is obvious – you’d prefer someone with actual, real-world experience. In my opinion, that’s a profession that’s better suited to learning through on-the-job and to me, the degree doesn’t mean much. When I’m looking to hire a photographer, I’m looking at their website, blog posts, Instagram, whatever. I’m not asking them for a traditional resume and asking about their GPA. So if you’re looking to go into business for yourself, it’s more about the work you’ve done – how happy you made your past clients or customers, as opposed to where you went to school.
And that’s not to dismiss book learning completely. I think if there’s something you’re making a career out of, you should be a lifelong student. You should learn the fundamentals, the history, the foundational elements.
Time
Another consideration is the time commitment involved with obtaining a degree. Like in the previous example, our two photographers chose different paths, and the one without college already has 4 years of work experience as a photographer. It’s possible that depending on your career path – especially if its in the arts – you may be better off spending four years developing as an artist on your own, without getting suffocated with debt. It can also take the pressure off by allowing you to earn less as you develop your skillset without feeling the need to take up a different career just to pay off your loans.
YouTube University
It’s easier now––more than ever––to learn everything you would in college on your own from places like YouTube, online courses, Masterclasses, workshops, etc. Over on our channel Mango Street where we teach photography and filmmaking, college students often comment to say that they’ve learned more from watching our videos than they ever did in college classes.
Photography and filmmaking teachers also often let us know that they show our videos to their students. And the kicker there is that neither my wife nor I went to school for photography or filmmaking. Everything we’ve learned has been through our own research, hands-on experience, online classes, in-person workshops, and one-on-one mentor sessions. Even though we didn’t go to school for photography, we ran a successful wedding photography business for several years as well. And it doesn’t stop there. When I wanted to learn how to create motion graphics, I didn’t drop $200k on art school. Instead, I spent much of my free time over several months learning the ins and outs of After Effects and Cinema 4D until I landed a video editing job that allowed me to continue fine tuning my skills for the next few years. I then applied for a full time motion graphics job where my reel––not a diploma––got me hired. The same goes for color grading, creating lightroom presets, and even learning how to trade stocks. If your job of choice doesn’t require a degree, you truly can get far by using free and affordable resources that are readily available to you.
When the company I was working at was looking to hire a second motion graphics artist, I really didn’t care where the applicant went to school or if they went at all. I cared about their work. That means a lot more to me than a diploma and I know more and more employers are starting to feel similarly, especially in creative fields.
Final Thoughts
There’s certainly no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to college, but I hope this video helped give you some insights into my thoughts and maybe help you decide the best choice for yourself. If you are going to or have been to college, do me a favor and hit the thumbs up button, and if you aren’t going to or haven’t been to college, go ahead and also hit the thumbs up button because the algorithm doesn’t care about your resume, it just wants to see those thumbs. That’s all for this video, I’ll see you in the next one. Oh, it’s also my last video here on this set since we are moving out of this apartment, so I guess I can now tell you this tiger is not actually real at all and I don’t have a cool backyard like this. Sorry to mislead you over the past year. Bye.