The Good Old Days
Creeping up on 30 years ago, I made a valiant effort at attending college for the first time. It was a whirlwind ride of sometimes learning new things, sometimes going to class, and all time just enjoying my new found freedom. Although I wish I could invent a time machine to go back and slap the shit out of myself for being a lazy knob, I probably skipped the class on how to build a proper flux capacitor to make said time machine. Oh well, such is life. Even though my first foray into higher learning was unproductive (don’t worry I wised up and buckled down, sort of, and got not one but two degrees from different colleges), the cost of it wasn’t something that felt like a life sentence of making loan payments.
Today’s Harsh Reality
Fast forward to the present day and I have my own son about to take off to his first semester of college in the fall, and it absolutely feels like it is going to be a life sentence for either him or me or both. The cost for him to go has more than doubled what it was for me to go almost 30 years, and he is paying in-state tuition. I paid out-of-state. The crazy part is the amount of financial aid you can receive from the government has changed very little from the days I went to school even though the average cost of tuition has quadrupled or something like that (please feel free to fact check that), but who knows it could be more. Despite not having the exact numbers you get the idea and it’s readily apparent to any parent or potential student thinking about next steps after high school that the rising cost of college tuition has far outpaced the increase in wages.
Is It Worth It?
Whether it is worth it based on cost is not an easily answered question. It depends on many things, including but not limited to what you are going to college for. Are you a history major, or ancient literature major, or have a penchant for creating art? Good luck with defaulting on your loans and bankruptcy. Just kidding, but maybe not. The wages outlook for those degrees is fairly low when compared to the STEM majors, and when considering a four year degree for each area of study will cost you the same. So does that mean we should have a world full of Devops Engineers (that’s what I am, and ostensibly no we do not need anymore of us socially awkward weirdos), Doctors, and Dentists and no theater directors, musicians or artists? No, but when considering the cost it does make it a fairly daunting task to take dive into something you truly are passionate for but know that it is going to be a tough road ahead for you financially.
How Will We Pay For It?
Short answer is I don’t know. The long answer is also something along the lines of I don’t know. It’s going to be tricky, but we will get some financial aid, parent plus loans, work study money and hopefully scholarships awarded for him. I’m cautiously optimistic that we will somehow pull this off. Then in two years we get to do the same thing with #2 son, and then three years more, son #3. YIKES! Some of you have been on the ball and started saving when your kids were young or before they were born. So, if you have the money already set aside, you shouldn’t have to sweat this at all. If you are some of the lucky few that make cartel level money then congratulations, you asshole, I hate you! Kidding, mostly. We don’t fall into either of those categories so money will be tight for a while but it is still doable for sure. And I will always recognize the importance of a college education, or even a 2 year tech degree or other vocational training. I told my kids any of those options are on the table and get them far in life, but you just might have a little more to pay off in the end. Or perhaps my kids will be gifted with a loan forgiveness from Uncle Joe.