2013-04-02, 08:59 AM
It's not a scam, but it's still a business that seeks to be profitable; and doesn't always mind exploiting consumers. As an example, colleges turn down credits on transfer that are the same exact course and follow the same curriculum simply because they want you to take the course at their school. It makes partial sense if the school specializes in certain subjects, but a majority of the time students end up completely having to review exactly what they've learned and pay for the same course 2 times over. Or setting degree requirements that are absolutely terrible just for the sake of milking more money from students (physical education course as a requirement in my college, no joke).
I'm certain that the 53% of the umemployed college grads under 25 didn't all seek out useless degrees (though I won't deny there people do seek out lousy degree choices). There's far more that goes into what's wrong with the current state of college than students getting degrees in worthless subjects, and it's rather shallow to believe that that's the major issue here.
Although a lot of parents are stuck on the mindset that a degree in anything is good as long as you actually go to college, and pressure their children to go even if they're indecisive. A lot of those getting degrees in horrible fields probably weren't even prepared for going and only went because of strong social pressure. "I'm not sure what I want to do, but I'm interested in games so I'll get a game degree so that I can get something."
There's a lot of factors that go into it. The blame doesn't solely fall on the colleges, nor the students, nor the government, nor the parents. It's a combination of those, each contributing something into the nasty pot.
You can do fine in college, just go prepared. Have it thought out, evaluate if your career path is worth the investment, try to get as much financial support as possible aside from government loans, look into internships while you're in school to get experience (which is more important in the current job market than a degree), try to network out if you can through your professors, etc. Don't just go because mommy and daddy are telling you that you absolutely must and that you'll amount to nothing if you don't go. Don't go just because you can't currently get a job and you feel like you need to busy yourself with at least school and don't have anything in particular you're looking for out of it.
I'm certain that the 53% of the umemployed college grads under 25 didn't all seek out useless degrees (though I won't deny there people do seek out lousy degree choices). There's far more that goes into what's wrong with the current state of college than students getting degrees in worthless subjects, and it's rather shallow to believe that that's the major issue here.
Although a lot of parents are stuck on the mindset that a degree in anything is good as long as you actually go to college, and pressure their children to go even if they're indecisive. A lot of those getting degrees in horrible fields probably weren't even prepared for going and only went because of strong social pressure. "I'm not sure what I want to do, but I'm interested in games so I'll get a game degree so that I can get something."
There's a lot of factors that go into it. The blame doesn't solely fall on the colleges, nor the students, nor the government, nor the parents. It's a combination of those, each contributing something into the nasty pot.
You can do fine in college, just go prepared. Have it thought out, evaluate if your career path is worth the investment, try to get as much financial support as possible aside from government loans, look into internships while you're in school to get experience (which is more important in the current job market than a degree), try to network out if you can through your professors, etc. Don't just go because mommy and daddy are telling you that you absolutely must and that you'll amount to nothing if you don't go. Don't go just because you can't currently get a job and you feel like you need to busy yourself with at least school and don't have anything in particular you're looking for out of it.