Student Loan Debt?

[milkman636]

You guys have said a lot about the sports program but almost nothing about the academics

Like which area of study and how that part of the school actually performs.

College job placement statistics are useless. Just marketing crap.

I would tell your kids start freshman year finding internships and peruse them. Get in with an employer early. If they like them enough they may pick up the college bill even

My son is not an academic. He varies by week in what he wants to do, and I would not be surprised to see him ultimately become a high school Phys Ed teacher and varsity basketball or football coach, or possibly joining the military after football and college are done. Or, maybe doing all 3 of those things. He's adamant about not pursuing anything that might chain him to a desk or computer. He's all motor and needs to move. The quick outline of his goals are to challenge himself at the next level of football, continue to build his body and capabilities, and attain a degree will that help him land in a decent paying job that he'll enjoy. All the schools he's applied to are reputable and offer applicable degree programs for any of possible jobs he's mentioned pursuing after college.

On a personal note, I've learned way more in life than in college. For almost 2 decades I've been making a living in a field that I did not study in school. School provided a ticket for the entrance gate, after that aptitude and interest led me to the correct path. It took working a few different roles at a few different companies, and interacting with experienced people in different fields, to find my niche. I honestly cannot think of one thing that I studied during the first five years out of high school that has been useful to me in the last decade+.

 

[MossRoad]

...I honestly cannot think of one thing that I studied during the first five years out of high school that has been useful to me in the last decade+.

One thing I learned in college was finding out what the teacher wanted to hear, which was not necessarily the correct answer.

Another thing I learned was how to research.

I did much better in electronics in technical college.

IF
THIS
THEN

is a lot easier to understand than the Oedipus complex.

 

[jyoutz]

My son is not an academic. He varies by week in what he wants to do, and I would not be surprised to see him ultimately become a high school Phys Ed teacher and varsity basketball or football coach, or possibly joining the military after football and college are done. Or, maybe doing all 3 of those things. He's adamant about not pursuing anything that might chain him to a desk or computer. He's all motor and needs to move. The quick outline of his goals are to challenge himself at the next level of football, continue to build his body and capabilities, and attain a degree will that help him land in a decent paying job that he'll enjoy. All the schools he's applied to are reputable and offer applicable degree programs for any of possible jobs he's mentioned pursuing after college.

On a personal note, I've learned way more in life than in college. For almost 2 decades I've been making a living in a field that I did not study in school. School provided a ticket for the entrance gate, after that aptitude and interest led me to the correct path. It took working a few different roles at a few different companies, and interacting with experienced people in different fields, to find my niche. I honestly cannot think of one thing that I studied during the first five years out of high school that has been useful to me in the last decade+.

I guess that varies by what you studied in college and what you’re doing now. I use my college training every day. So does my son with a Masters in business finance who is doing financial management for his company. So do engineers, medical field people, teachers, etc…

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I wouldn't say you learn exactly what your going to do in it in college, its more learning how little you really know in a field and how to learn it.

atleast in engineering. The electrical engineering world is so big and the skills can be applied in so many ways that school barely scratches the surface of most of it.

I've never actually been in a formal "electrical engineer" job since getting my degree.

 

[jyoutz]

I wouldn't say you learn exactly what your going to do in it in college, its more learning how little you really know in a field and how to learn it.

atleast in engineering. The electrical engineering world is so big and the skills can be applied in so many ways that school barely scratches the surface of most of it.

I've never actually been in a formal "electrical engineer" job since getting my degree.

That’s true I think for all degrees. But the fundamentals of any field learned in college gives you the basis to start in the career field and gain knowledge and experience over time. It’s often not possible to start or gain knowledge without having knowledge of fundamentals.

 

[milkman636]

I wouldn't say you learn exactly what your going to do in it in college, its more learning how little you really know in a field and how to learn it.

atleast in engineering. The electrical engineering world is so big and the skills can be applied in so many ways that school barely scratches the surface of most of it.

I've never actually been in a formal "electrical engineer" job since getting my degree.

The one thing I learned in college was that I’m a terrible predictor of the future. The job and career that I thought I wanted turned out to not hold my interest. Because of the limited exposure I had to different industries while growing up in a rural area, I had no concept of some of the different fields that existed. Nobody that I grew up around ever even mentioned the field I work in now. Even today my family would struggle to explain what I do for a living. After getting a job in the “city” my curious nature drew me into conversations with people doing work that was unfamiliar to me. The early 1990’s internet had tons of easily accessible information on any subject and jobs were plentiful. So, I started applying for different fields that seemed interesting and researching anything about a job I didn’t understand. My unconventional methods worked for me and I thrived. My work history is a bit of a 6 degrees of work type of story that is unlikely to reoccur in today’s workplace.

 

[paulsharvey]

Son (who is going into nursing, with the plans to become a Nurse Anistealogist?) was showing his girlfriend all the Eagke Scout letters from senators and all that, and mentioned that almost all of his friends who are going to college plan on engineering in one flavor or another.

Atleast in Civil Engineering, there is a pretty big demand currently. Don't know if that will change much.

 

[MossRoad]

I went to tech college for a dual degree program. If you signed up for both Associate Degree programs at the same time, you could get two degrees in three years. TV/Radio and Industrial Electronics.

The first year was basic electronics. The second year was TV/Radio(receivers, transmitter, etc.). The third year was Industrial Electronics (motors, controllers, power supplies, etc.)

My first job after school was working on power supplies for computer hard drives that looked like washing machines. That morphed into learning how to operate the computers that ran the hard drives. That morphed into I.T. for 25ish years, plus installing, upgrading, maintaining all the machinery involved with newspaper production.

The basic electronics got my foot in the door for a career I never imagined.

 

[jyoutz]

Son (who is going into nursing, with the plans to become a Nurse Anistealogist?) was showing his girlfriend all the Eagke Scout letters from senators and all that, and mentioned that almost all of his friends who are going to college plan on engineering in one flavor or another.

Atleast in Civil Engineering, there is a pretty big demand currently. Don't know if that will change much.

I can’t conceive of demand for civil engineers ever reducing. Society needs infrastructure, those are the people that design construction and repairs.

 

[paulsharvey]

I can’t conceive of demand for civil engineers ever reducing. Society needs infrastructure, those are the people that design construction and repairs.

So, the comment I've got from engineering companies is; 1) the old experienced guys are old, and retiring, and want $,$$$; 2) they don't really want to sink the time/expense into a fresh EIT (Engineer In Training; ie, fresh out of college; who no offense, are worthless for atleast the first 6 months at a minimum), and then once they have their PE, they move on. What I've been told is what they all really need are journeyman type guys.

Construction; and I'll admit I'm part of the problem; you are literally missing an entire generation. Lots of guys in their 60s; and quite a few in there 20s; but all of us that were in it in '08 and were kinda lower to mid levek guys then, got the heck out, and didn't come back. So, as the old farts die off, they don't have experienced people in the field. I'm still 'construction adjacent', and around it every day, but not really part of the active process. Look at superintendents (BTW, commercial or multi family supers are often making well over $100k if they are willing to travel), you've got guys in their 60s/70s (the experienced ones from '08 that survived), and guys that might be pushing 30, that got into it in fresh in '14/15/16.

I'm sure other professions have a similar issue; but I doubt many lost any entire generation of people.

Trucking is gonna get rough in 5 or 10 years; with the new CDL requirements; and smaller outfits not being able to put a new hire through 6 week driving school. Many lease truck dump truck and local haulers had in the past official or unofficially partnered with jails/prisons and could put new release in a truck with a trainer for 1 week, and then make money off him. If you're running, say, 5 or 10 trucks, you're not going to pay the $6k to get a new driver licensed, only for him or her to leave in 3 months.

With this, I'm not blaming the younger ones; there is a lot of forces at work; from the old farts gatekeeping, to requiring degrees that don't matter, to culture and work ethic, to new opportunities we never saw, it just is the way it is.