This NY Times blog does have some new thoughts, in that it addresses the value of college as a public good. My only complaint is that, yes, in spite of wasting a lot of money and futures, you can still add up to an overall public good; but, you shouldn’t be so wasteful if you don’t need to be.
Also, I’m worried about what averages they use.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/the-return-on-college-around-the-world/?_r=0
Here is my comment:
Using “average” is dangerous in a country with such a wide diversity of schools – quality-wise, integrity-wise and otherwise. For example, if you enroll at Carnegie Mellon, and graduate with a computer science degree, you can expect, on average, to get $90,000/yr to start, and for an engineering degree about $65,000 – and, what’s more, you can expect to graduate. If you enroll at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and, are one of the 50% who actually graduate in Arts and Sciences, and, you are part of the 60% of those who have a full time job after one year, you can expect an average of $33,000/yr; or, if you are part of the 22% who get an average part-time job, you can expect $18,000/yr. (All of the above data can be found on the respective school’s website.)
And about those averages. One must be very careful. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported an average starting salary of over $40,000 in 2012. The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University reported an average starting salary of $27,000 for 2010. Why the difference? One asked employers what they paid. The other asked students what they got. Unemployeed is not an employer.
You can read more details on my blog inside-higher-ed.com
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