How To Make Attending College An Investment, Not A Debt-Heavy Mistake
With so many Millennials drowning in student debt (and I don’t mean“Duck Tales”-style swimming here), the basic cost of living is becoming more and more overwhelming than any post-graduate could have ever imagined.
I overheard a conversation just the other day where my coworker asked another fellow coworker, “What’s the craziest thing you have ever done for money?” My peer’s response? “College.”
Wow.
To me, that was an extremely powerful statement. From my friend’s attempt at relatable humor, an underlying truth surfaced: Every young adult has, at some point, felt exactly how I have.
To a certain extent, I still feel betrayed by my own education’s false promises.
The importance of education has been drilled into my brain since childhood, and I was one of the first people in my family to graduate from college.
To my family, it was as if a BA equaled a meal ticket to a better life, and, in a way, perhaps it does. It is the ultimate promise (and ideal) to have more opportunity and more money, but is it the truth?
Education can lift an individual from one circumstance to the next, and it can provide potential for continued achievements and success.
For so many years, that is exactly what it did; however, this is no longer the case. (Keep in mind, I am only referring to the effects that tuition, income and overall money management have had on middle-class America and how it postpones other aspects for moving forward in life.)
What do you get when college costs skyrocket, but incomes barely budge?
It’s yet another blow to the middle class, and we know the economy functions best only when the middle class thrives.
A ProCon report broke down the statistics and highlighted the exact percentages of median incomes vs. average college tuition rates.
It noted college tuition rates have risen 259 percent over the course of 41 years, and the average median incomes have lagged far behind.
Therefore, college is comparatively much more expensive than it was for previous generations.
Don’t get me wrong; education is a key ingredient that does lead to prosperity, but does education truly define skill?
Skill is exactly what the employment rate reflects the new generation is lacking in today’s world (especially because of the rise in college attendance vs. trade school attendance).
So, is education the guaranteed promise to a better future?
What most of us really want is the capability to provide the same lives our parents gave us.
We want what we are accustomed to: Stability. So, what’s the alternative or the solution?
The main problem of today’s economy is how it is structured. The government is more geared toward increasing tuition rates and rents than increasing productivity and stimulating real economic growth.
I know what you are thinking — did the elephant in the room suddenly reappear? I get it; I’m not enlightening anyone with the newsflash that college is expensive.
However, I have been trying to grasp how to reinvent the wheel rather than keep spinning it.
Since college debt isn’t slowing down for anyone, nor is there evident value for the trend to shift and encourage students to go on to alternative trade schools, today parents and their children need to be advised on how to manage this current debt.
The message isn’t to skip school because it doesn’t pay — it is to understand how to turn education into a real investment rather than have this debt give you and your folks life-long anxiety.
No one should feel cheated by his or her education. The resolve lies in educating yourself even further with the right tools.
Specialty education facilities, like The Henry George School of Social Science, are adding lessons on how individuals can overcome their college debt to their current curriculums.
With economic professionals dedicating their focuses to spreading and promoting the principals of economic freedom and social justice, there is hope to get society back on track.
By people learning and applying certain techniques that may assist them in their current predicaments (and in future financial endeavors), they can contribute to the general welfare of humanity, help others reform and remove involuntary poverty.
A variety of free seminars and classes are available, and they are recommended by the financial experts in order to specifically train Millennials on the ideas and convictions behind “Economics with Justice” and getting back what you paid for from your education.
Success is all about further educating yourself on the costs of education and learning how to begin to dig yourself out of an economic hole to rebuild your life (for free).
Wealth is possible through education, and so is economic equality.
It is time for Millennials to educate themselves on what matters: The skills, finances and economic management to set individuals free from this burden.
[“source-elitedaily.com”]