A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost’

[Bubba T]

The fact that college continues to cost what it costs is why I had little faith of the student loan forgiveness crap that was going on last year. That crap never addressed the issue in the first place: The availability of student loans and its role of causing tuition to rise exponentially over the last 30 years.

Take the for-profit witch hunt from a few years back. The government took away student loans from those schools for one year and they all basically went insolvent within the year. I’m certain wholesale changes will happen to the college and university system if the government reduced their lending by just 30%. Schools closing, schools restructuring their programs immensely, schools being much more competitive (and lowering their prices). Right now they have no incentive to because it has been pretty much been open season on loans with the students ultimately holding the bag.

 

[concise]

College in itself isn't a bad thing, it's the insane price of it that's the problem.

And it goes up every year.

 

[Formerly Black Trash]

Problem is a lot of shyt shouldn't require college degrees

Just like college isn't for everyone, I don't trades are the answer either

I don't know why men are falling behind, but high school education sucks for the majority of people, so I doubt anything we'll be done about it

As far as Black people in particular, there should be more initiatives geared towards Black men

 

[ogc163]

I wish jokers could provide stats instead of using personal experience/anecdotal evidence. It's one thing if the stats don't exist, but quite another when they are relatively easy to find.

In relation to the thread topic, there is also social capital that comes along with going to college.

Nepotism and prestige plays a huge role in American society and even if one doesn't have an elite network there is generally a big difference in being able to access influential institutions if you are college educate vs not being college educated. It goes beyond quality of life, stability, and avoidance of debt.

Network effects/Metcalfes Law has been studied and shown to play a major role in powerful institutions, and blue collar/non college degreed networks cannot come close to replicating white collar networks.

 

[Luke Cage]

Yes and no. Look at the average age of a LICENSED skilled tradesmen in this country. It is in the 50's right now I believe. There are a lot of old men who work these jobs to retirement just fine bro. It's mostly about taking care of your body in your overall life than just the work.

Nobody ever brings up the issues a sedentary lifetyle working behind a desk brings either.

You guys also need to take into account that alot of people don't wanna do that trade shyt.
The HVAC guy my parents hired last year had to clean out dead bats from their heater. thats nasty
Plumbers are snaking drains full of strangers pubic hair and emptying sewage lines, thats nasty
I might not want to sit in a truck cab all by myself for a whole day, or be out in the sun in 100 degree weather for a construction project.
alot of these trade pay well because they are less desirable to people at large. Maybe i want to just sit in an office drinking iced coffee and posting on the coli all day.

 

[MoneyTron]

1) get rid of the unnecessary shyt like SHOPPING MALLS on campus
2) stop building new dorms when the population isn't increasing
3) lower the salary of the administrators and the president of these schools
4)be transparent on the finances, on every level
5) bring grants to more students from working AND middle class families.

Neither of the two schools I've attended(Auburn and Georgia Tech) have shopping malls on campus.

You're in a competition for students. Most colleges have a nearby competitor in their price/education/location range. Because of that, you have to do things outside of education to make your school more attractive whether that's sports, campus amenities, etc.

Colleges offer tons of financial aid these days. It is conditional though and the scholarship process isn't easy for most.

As for the admin pay level, I can't say which schools are and aren't efficient with their uses of resources on the admin side. That's usually signed off by the board of trustees I think. Regardless, you lower the pay and you'll either have less people working there or a lower quality of worker. That's why they don't go down.

Regardless, I agree that tuition is too high. But just saying the schools can just lower them is simplifying the issue too much.

 

[SheWantTheD]

even tho I finished college, I feel like it was a scam. like 4 years and lots of money to do a job I could do without going to college since you end up learning most of your skills on the job anyways.

Every system and institution in the US is about money and capital.

If you go to other countries most people own their homes and cars. Something like car payments and mortgage payments don't exist. The US is built upon debt and keeping people indebted.

The job I'm doing right now.. I could have done out of high school if we being honest because I already had that knowledge.

I would say school isn't so bad if you are in STEM and use it wisely to network, get some experience, a couple mentors etc. I still wasted about 6 years in college when I could have been stacking up paper in those 6 years, probably bought some property and rented that shyt out.

 

[Robbie3000]

People with grad degrees are saddled in more debt, and not making that much more. Add the fact that you got IT coders, people in sales and using social media to promote they products, and crypto currency not touching a college classroom, really making men think twice of school.

Just lower the tuition to pre-1995 levels and this topic goes away.

I think we all agree that cost of college is to high. What's your advice to your family members graduating high school this year? Wait till the government lowers tuition to pre-1995 levels?

 

[GoAggieGo.]

But the Coli,said that all STEM majors are debt-free and making 200k per year.

No one said this.

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

@NinoBrown

Why are STEM majors, including posters in this thread, are buried in debt? I thought they should be balling? Why are they paying back loans 10+ years after graduation?

So you don't have a specific example?

I remember
Now I will say that I can easily find a job and I guess that’s important. Don’t get me wrong I’m definitely comfortable but because I basically got one foot out of my field I have my degree in.


STEM degrees have definitely been oversold as one of the only “worth it” degrees. Might not be just on the coli but definitely in real life.

On The Coli, when people oversell you on something, it's because they're on the outside looking in. Just get some certs, just get a STEM degree, just start a business, just join a trade. The only people I take seriously on these subjects are the people I see regularly in 6 Figures 6 Certs (with a handful of exceptions) because they're not just talking about it, they're actually being about it and keeping it all the way real.

 

[Wild self]

Neither of the two schools I've attended(Auburn and Georgia Tech) have shopping malls on campus.

You're in a competition for students. Most colleges have a nearby competitor in their price/education/location range. Because of that, you have to do things outside of education to make your school more attractive whether that's sports, campus amenities, etc.

Colleges offer tons of financial aid these days. It is conditional though and the scholarship process isn't easy for most.

As for the admin pay level, I can't say which schools are and aren't efficient with their uses of resources on the admin side. That's usually signed off by the board of trustees I think. Regardless, you lower the pay and you'll either have less people working there or a lower quality of worker. That's why they don't go down. Like many industries, I'd imagine the higher education talent pool isn't that large. You need a very specific type of knowledge in that field.

And That "competition" is killing the perspective men comong onto their campuses. That jacks up rates and now having many 4 year institutions on the verge of shutting down.

 

[Master Teacher]

Because college doesn't producer leaders, it producers workers

and just because you have a degree, doesn't mean you don't have to compete with other with the same degree for the same jobs or people over seas

 

[dark_magic]

Actually i was told in college that CIS wasn't a good a major. I don't remember exactly why, but i think it was something like people prefer Computer Science major over them because they have too heavy a business curriculum. or it was sort of a hybrid major and alot of people that do the hiring don't actually know what specifically they bring to the table over other majors. Some see it as sign you couldn't hack it in a more traditional major like CS, Physics, Math, EE, etc

don't trust online job statistics by major either, those number don't usually take into account it they found a job in their field. If you working at planet fitness with your degree that gets added to the tally.

Don't believe the hype.

Computer Science is tougher and a more preferred major (for some employers), however ...

CIS is just fine. Right now there is a skills and worker shortage in IT (which will persist into the near future). They'll take you with a CIS or CS degree.

If I had to do it over again, I would have done CIS rather than CS. Either degree, along with certs and experience, should get you on your way.

 

[MoneyTron]

And That "competition" is killing the perspective men comong onto their campuses. That jacks up rates and now having many 4 year institutions on the verge of shutting down.

So you're saying schools shouldn't compete for students? Pretty sure they've been doing that here since 1700's.

 

[MoneyTron]

Because college doesn't producer leaders, it producers workers

Where in America are these non-college educated "leaders" you speak of?