51% of GenZ says their degree was a "waste of money" \ stacker news ~Education

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51% of GenZ says their degree was a "waste of money"www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/college-degree-value-generational-divide

276 sats \ 21 comments \ @Scoresby 17h Education

While only 20% of Baby Boomers consider their degrees a waste of money, that number increases by about 10% with each generation, jumping to 51% for Generation Z respondents.

Met my wife at school, so certainly wouldn't call it a waste. But the education was lackluster.

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204 sats \ 11 replies \ @Undisciplined 14h

That means about 40% of Zoomer grads haven't yet realized that their degrees were a waste of money.

55 sats \ 10 replies \ @Scoresby OP 14h

Same question to you: will you advise your children to go to college? If not, what will you guide them towards?

42 sats \ 2 replies \ @denlillaapan 13h

will definitely, strong, advise against -- lol. But there's some time and maybe there's a structure/intellectual shift by then.

Still, I'd rather give them the amount saved for college and let them decide wth to do (travel, start a business, buy/keep the bitcoin, go to college).

Wasting money is a valuable lesson, too

54 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby OP 6h

wasting money is a valuable lesson, too

Yes, but in my case it didn't sink in for ten or fifteen years.

let them decide wth to do (travel, start a business, buy/keep the bitcoin, go to college).

I'm not quite at the stage where kids are going off to college, but a lot of people around me are, and I'm being frequently reminded that "let them decide" requires a proactive approach that lays a lot of groundwork.

17 sats \ 0 replies \ @denlillaapan 3h

True true, need to have raised them well

102 sats \ 6 replies \ @Undisciplined 14h

I'm going to encourage and help my daughter pursue her interests. If college is the best avenue for that, I'll help her navigate that (lord knows I've spent enough time in college to offer some advice). If there are plausible non-college paths, I'll help her down those.

42 sats \ 5 replies \ @Scoresby OP 14h

plausible non-college paths

These are what I'm most interested in for my children.

Outside of credentialed fields, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to imagine what several years at a university could provide that the internet, ai, and actually trying to do the thing they want to do can not.

59 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 14h

Social networks

Guided projects

Probably two things that college is still good for at least

17 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 13h

I wonder how long it will hold an edge on either of those points, though.

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102 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 14h

Even for credentialed fields, depending on what you actually want to do, the credential might not be necessary.

For instance, I don't need a PhD in economics to run ~econ and write or talk about the subject. I probably could have gotten here faster by reading more, writing more and finding outlets to pay for my work. The problem is that I didn't really know where I was trying to get and college sort of let me follow a vague path forward.

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby OP 14h

Ah, here we get to the ineffable value of a college degree. I would also include as a benefit the network you develop in college.

How to help our kids build these things without college? I need to seriously put some thought into the practicalities of this.

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17 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 16h

Pick a random recent college grad off the street with an Economics major. I don't think they'd outperform ChatGPT in any of the tasks I'd have for them.

51 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby OP 16h

Ouch. Probably true. Tell them to dig a ditch.

17 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 14h

They'd be even worse at that

17 sats \ 0 replies \ @denlillaapan 13h

yah yah, not surprising.

I have a few things to say on the topic (#994746, #974877)

17 sats \ 4 replies \ @seashell 15h

People go tens of thousands in debt just to beg for some unpaid internship that doesn’t even lead anywhere half the time. whole thing’s a clown show.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Scoresby OP 15h

If you do/will have children, will you advise them to pursue a college degree?

102 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 13h

I think I still would. But I wouldn't help pay unless it's certain majors

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby OP 6h

This is a reasonable approach. Although, my memory of myself at the time was that I wasn't super reasonable about my choices. Perhaps your approach could help with that.

119 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 5h

I think it's still a big risk not to go to college. Fine if you really know what you want to do, but if you don't you could end up a lot worse off than if you just went to college and majored in something useful