Paying for college
Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,550
Likes: 5
From: Lancaster County PA
Originally Posted by don_79f250
This is becoming less and less true. A degree is no longer a sure ticket to success.
Many white-collar fields are awash in people. IT, accounting, etc. jobs are going offshore. It's well known that the closest thing to hell on earth is middle-management, where most people with degrees will end up, overworked and under-paid. 50 years ago you could at least argue that you were trading in job excitement for job security, but when employers adopted the "employees as consumable resource" attitude in the eighties, that was lost too. On top of this, about 90% of women who enter the workforce go into white collar jobs. Not only do they bloat the market by their numbers, they change the environment such that traditioanl male work characters are less valued than they were before.
All in all, the professional white collar work market is hardly the paradise it once was.
On the other hand, there is a frightening shortage of skilled tradesmen. The pay is excellent. The work is varied. It's a mix of physical and mental. It gets you out of a cubicle. And there's a large segment of women out there who go ga-ga for a man who can handle tools. More and more young men are rejecting the old-school train of thought and blazing new trails.
I have two degrees - on technical and one business - and gave it all up about 8 years ago to split my time between consulting in my previous field half-time and renovating homes the rest of the time. I expect the renovation work to force me to drop the other in the next two years, and I will make more than I could ever have hoped at my old job, with fewer hours, as my own boss, and with a lot more personal satisfaction at the end of the day.
Many white-collar fields are awash in people. IT, accounting, etc. jobs are going offshore. It's well known that the closest thing to hell on earth is middle-management, where most people with degrees will end up, overworked and under-paid. 50 years ago you could at least argue that you were trading in job excitement for job security, but when employers adopted the "employees as consumable resource" attitude in the eighties, that was lost too. On top of this, about 90% of women who enter the workforce go into white collar jobs. Not only do they bloat the market by their numbers, they change the environment such that traditioanl male work characters are less valued than they were before.
All in all, the professional white collar work market is hardly the paradise it once was.
On the other hand, there is a frightening shortage of skilled tradesmen. The pay is excellent. The work is varied. It's a mix of physical and mental. It gets you out of a cubicle. And there's a large segment of women out there who go ga-ga for a man who can handle tools. More and more young men are rejecting the old-school train of thought and blazing new trails.
I have two degrees - on technical and one business - and gave it all up about 8 years ago to split my time between consulting in my previous field half-time and renovating homes the rest of the time. I expect the renovation work to force me to drop the other in the next two years, and I will make more than I could ever have hoped at my old job, with fewer hours, as my own boss, and with a lot more personal satisfaction at the end of the day.
I agree whole heartedly on the opportunities for tradesmen as well. The operative word however is "skilled". You will likely not walk off the hs graduation podium into a $25.00 an hour job. 1-4 years of tech school and/or apprenticeship program is need to obtain journeyman status and the accompanying high pay. Please, I know there are always exceptions, but they are rarer than their proponents care to admit.
The fact is that it is the possession of knowledge, skills, talent, and work ethic that make a person employable. There are innumerable ways to obtain these prerequisites for employability in well paying jobs.
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 147
Likes: 0
Well, I worked thru High School and saved 75% of my paychecks for college. And, I joined the Army National Guard to pay for a lot of it too. In some states, state universities offer free tuition to people in the Guard (some may argue that the military isn't as great of a deal as it once was, but I won't get into that subject ;-)). Plus, I went to a state school, where the tuition was very affordable.
It's worked out fine for me and I make what I consider a good living.
Really, you have to seriously look at getting into that kind of debt, since it will affect you for years to come.
It's worked out fine for me and I make what I consider a good living.
Really, you have to seriously look at getting into that kind of debt, since it will affect you for years to come.
Elder User
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 584
Likes: 0
And AGGIE. HAHAHAHA sorry, I go to Texas tech, I had to. 
But like the above have said, try for scholarships. there are some here at TTU that are categories as Mass Comm scholarships but the people giving them dont really care what your major is and many of them go unapplied for. So dig and dig some more for as many scholarships and grants as possible. And take out college loans and if you dont end up needing them just invest themoney in something and gain interest on it and then pay them back when you graduate and pocket the interest.
But like the above have said, try for scholarships. there are some here at TTU that are categories as Mass Comm scholarships but the people giving them dont really care what your major is and many of them go unapplied for. So dig and dig some more for as many scholarships and grants as possible. And take out college loans and if you dont end up needing them just invest themoney in something and gain interest on it and then pay them back when you graduate and pocket the interest.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 147
Likes: 2
From: Iowa
I am a sophmore at ISU in mechanical engineering and can say that there is a very large demand for mechanical engineer's. For over the last two years, 98% of the graduating ME's had job offers before they graduated. Money advice, try to get a job for the school. The hours are very felexable, the pay is decent, you meet lots of other students, and they will usually limit your hours a week so still have time to study/party!!! For schollarships, you can't get them unless you apply (except for some school schollarships, but that might just be a ME thing here at ISU). The best thing on schollarships is being active in clubs. A good place to find schollarships is online google fastweb, its 100% free.
PS.
Feb 12, Men's BB, ISU - 81, Texas Tech - 68
PS.
Feb 12, Men's BB, ISU - 81, Texas Tech - 68
Elder User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 836
Likes: 2
From: Shreveport, LA
Try looking into the ROTC program there at A&M. You'll become an officer when you graduate, get paid up to $400 a month, get your books and classes paid for, AND some of the programs even cover housing.
Can't beat it.
I did it, although my program didnt cover housing at the time, so I wound up taking out a few student loans to live off of.
Oh, oh..I have some insane HORROR stories about student loans. I have one through Well's Fargo, and my wife has one through the same company (as well as a few others in her case).
Well, in addition to losing plenty of paper work, reporting us up to 6 months late to credit (while we were in grace period) and loosing all of our personal information on a computer that was stolen, they've been very, very rude to us when we call to talk it over.
The information that was on the compupters that were stolen? Well, since then, both my wife and I have applied for a dental loan, a Chevy, a Dodge, and 9 credit cards...all without knowing about it 'till we checked our credit scores and saw all these pings!
3 of the credit cards went through before we put a fraud alert on our accounts. One had a $2500 transfer to it!
Well's Fargo says that how my stolen information was used is none of their problem.
My advice is avoid WF at all costs.
Can't beat it.
I did it, although my program didnt cover housing at the time, so I wound up taking out a few student loans to live off of.
Oh, oh..I have some insane HORROR stories about student loans. I have one through Well's Fargo, and my wife has one through the same company (as well as a few others in her case).
Well, in addition to losing plenty of paper work, reporting us up to 6 months late to credit (while we were in grace period) and loosing all of our personal information on a computer that was stolen, they've been very, very rude to us when we call to talk it over.
The information that was on the compupters that were stolen? Well, since then, both my wife and I have applied for a dental loan, a Chevy, a Dodge, and 9 credit cards...all without knowing about it 'till we checked our credit scores and saw all these pings!
3 of the credit cards went through before we put a fraud alert on our accounts. One had a $2500 transfer to it!
Well's Fargo says that how my stolen information was used is none of their problem.
My advice is avoid WF at all costs.
Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,043
Likes: 4
The ROTC program Psychlopath is referring to is the scholarship programs offered by the military. ROTC also offers classes you can take that don't offer pay.
1 suggestion I have is First, figure out what degree you want. Then get the list of courses in that degree. Find out which on that list the college will accept as transfer credits and the schools they accept transfer from. Then take the basic classes at the cheapest community college that will transfer. I know a guy who got several degrees from MIT on the cheap that way. At tens of thousands of dollars per semester at an ivy league college, every semester you can transfer in saves you big money.
2. Find a job (preferably part time) that offers tuition assistance. I had a job in the early 90s that offered tuition assistace to any employee working more than 20 hrs/week. So there are companies out there that offer this. I've heard an ad for Home Depot offering tuition assistance as one of the benefits.
3. Join the military and get your GI Bill money. Real world experience and a chance to mature a little before going back to school can really help focus your efforts.
4. Take a job and go to school part time. Pay as you go. Just make sure you stay in.
Anything you can do to reduce or eliminate debt aquired during school is a load off your back you don't need when you start. 'Cause after you get out of school you're going to be wanting or needing new housing, a new car, a new wardrobe, etc. And you don't need loan payments on top of the rest at a time when your going to be making the least amount of money you will earn during your career.
1 suggestion I have is First, figure out what degree you want. Then get the list of courses in that degree. Find out which on that list the college will accept as transfer credits and the schools they accept transfer from. Then take the basic classes at the cheapest community college that will transfer. I know a guy who got several degrees from MIT on the cheap that way. At tens of thousands of dollars per semester at an ivy league college, every semester you can transfer in saves you big money.
2. Find a job (preferably part time) that offers tuition assistance. I had a job in the early 90s that offered tuition assistace to any employee working more than 20 hrs/week. So there are companies out there that offer this. I've heard an ad for Home Depot offering tuition assistance as one of the benefits.
3. Join the military and get your GI Bill money. Real world experience and a chance to mature a little before going back to school can really help focus your efforts.
4. Take a job and go to school part time. Pay as you go. Just make sure you stay in.
Anything you can do to reduce or eliminate debt aquired during school is a load off your back you don't need when you start. 'Cause after you get out of school you're going to be wanting or needing new housing, a new car, a new wardrobe, etc. And you don't need loan payments on top of the rest at a time when your going to be making the least amount of money you will earn during your career.
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