Misses the part where University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and others have no-loan financial policies and need-blind admissions.
Is College Worth It?
51–60 of 97 posts
Re: Is College Worth It?
#52If you go to an ivy league, the answer is yes
I went to Princeton, and the degree paid for itself in 2 years
Re: Is College Worth It?
#53This kind of BS analyses are exactly the root of the current problems with the higher education system (insane tuition, CS majors who can't do fizbuzz etc.) - because they are self-fulfilling prophecies . For comparison, let's imagine that some evil marketing genius decides to examine the corresponding statistical impacts of wearing a business suit. "Our data indicate that people who wear a business suit to work earn…
There are many students who have a choice between a state school and a private school, or an Ivy League school and a top school near their home, or an engineering degree and an arts degree. I think a detailed study of career outcomes and cost of schooling is incredibly valuable. Your suit analogy is flawed. Students invest in a program and later earn money in their chosen career. In your suit example, the ignoramus a…
>Students invest in a program and later earn money in their chosen career
And also they invest in a suit and later earn money when they show up at work wearing it. There are definitely professions in which nobody will take them seriously without a nice business suit. Conversely, I think we can agree that many if not most classes taken in college have little bearing on the eventual job.
Re: Is College Worth It?
#54If you go to an ivy league, the answer is yes I went to Princeton, and the degree paid for itself in 2 years
Did you major in Doing Evil Things For Money?
Re: Is College Worth It?
#55No.
All the statistical arguments are detracting from the actual issue. College is not worth it because it is expensive and time consuming but does not guarantee you'll be able to earn a living in the future. And unlike a skill or a business, you can't pass your degree to your children.
Re: Is College Worth It?
#56Re: Is College Worth It?
#57This kind of BS analyses are exactly the root of the current problems with the higher education system (insane tuition, CS majors who can't do fizbuzz etc.) - because they are self-fulfilling prophecies . For comparison, let's imagine that some evil marketing genius decides to examine the corresponding statistical impacts of wearing a business suit. "Our data indicate that people who wear a business suit to work earn…
I'm interested in your critique, but I don't see any research-based evidence in your comment that disproves the claims made in the article. Will you elaborate on your comment and provide links to show why the author's statistical analysis is flawed?
One flaw is the failure to control for intelligence. Or socioeconomic background. Or any number of other factors that influence lifetime earnings that also positively correlate with college attendance.
If you were to only look at people who grow up in a very-middle class household (a very ill-defined term I admit) and who scored in the X to Y percentile (not sure what good numbers would be) on some measure of intelligence then I am nor sure that the numbers would be clearly in favor of college.
Re: Is College Worth It?
#58Payscale subtracts the median wage of a high school graduate... This is a common mistake, and one which completely invalidates the process. The median high school graduate is someone who wasn't able to get into college, and many of the factors associated with that -- starting with low high school grades -- are also associated with lower earnings. You might as well say that purring results in pets gaining legs, becaus…
The article actually deals with this. "One recent study compared the earnings of students who just made the academic cutoff to attend the Florida State University System with those of students who fell just below the cutoff (and mostly did not attend college as a result). We might expect college not to be worth it for these students on the margins of qualifying, yet they reaped returns of 11%."
While this does not look at high school grades, SAT scores, etc., I think comparing just above the cutoff and just below the cutoff is a valid methodology to counter the effect. What do you think?
Re: Is College Worth It?
#59This kind of BS analyses are exactly the root of the current problems with the higher education system (insane tuition, CS majors who can't do fizbuzz etc.) - because they are self-fulfilling prophecies . For comparison, let's imagine that some evil marketing genius decides to examine the corresponding statistical impacts of wearing a business suit. "Our data indicate that people who wear a business suit to work earn…
You did not read the article all the way through, nor did the people who voted you up.
If you had, you would have encountered references to a variety of studies that attempt to control for going to college as opposed to other predictive factors using things like twin studies. They have found that the impact of college is less than simple analyses show, but the largest contribution to the difference between college graduates and non-graduates is college itself.
Re: Is College Worth It?
#60This kind of BS analyses are exactly the root of the current problems with the higher education system (insane tuition, CS majors who can't do fizbuzz etc.) - because they are self-fulfilling prophecies . For comparison, let's imagine that some evil marketing genius decides to examine the corresponding statistical impacts of wearing a business suit. "Our data indicate that people who wear a business suit to work earn…
Somehow I doubt Priceonomics is going to move the needle on anything one way or the other. I really doubt many people would forgo getting a degree based on any kind of statistical evidence. Going to college is often an emotional choice and not a logical choice.
Regardless, their conclusion seemed to me fairly tempered. They acknowledged learning through MOOCs, but talked about the positive externalities of physically being at college. They also said the price of college was far too high, so I'm not sure how your comment relates to the article.