College...was it worth it?

[daygo]

Yes, it was absolutely worth it. Had less than 10k in debt from my nursing degree. My hospital has a loan payoff thing where you agree to work for (at least) 3 years and in return, they pay off your loan. So, zero debt and I make very good money for my area of the country. In fact, I am actually working a regular full time position at my ‘home’ hospital and I’m working as a ‘travel nurse’ at a local hospital. I’m doing this to have a nice chunk of $ set aside. Plus, I need a new bathroom…have some water issues, so it’s a must. This way, I can pay cash. Only owe on my house, pretty much…still have two (small) hospital accounts to pay off, which I should have paid off next week.

I was actually paid when I did my nursing qualification.

 

[JamesSuth]

I think university has become a self perpetuating cycle--producing grads in fields that will now ONLY take university grads, and the university only hires their own production line to teach with--those who went on to get masters, then doctorates.

It started with the notion that a good general education and 4 years of hard work meant a better employee, so employers looked for university grads. But as university dumbed itself down along with the rest of society, those degrees became a dime a dozen.

The emperor has no clothes, and very few will challenge the monopoly that university has on modern life. It's hard to get a job without a degree, and university is involved even when it's churning out teachers for schools and colleges.

They are a gatekeeper for modern society. The ones who make sure everyone thinks the same.

Except for the trades. They are interested in how the job gets done. Not in how politically correct the graduate becomes. And they don't take as long to turn people out with an employable trade.

And the self made entrepreneurs or in other words, the engines of commerce. The owners of businesses who have built them from scratch and hire a lot of people.

But those are the MAGA types that the university grads look down on. The blue collar people, the self made "wealthy" who create most of the jobs.

@athenasius, you are always right on the mark! What you said really resonated with me.

I work for a university in the UK. The proportion of kids going to university has increased from small some decades ago to almost half the population. It happened because they said it was 'elitist'; which means they don't like some people doing really well and being elite. But the truth is some people are really smart, and should be at university, the rest of us can do far better without it. A successful society relies upon us masses working hard, and the elite driving the nation forward.

Universities have become a self - serving gravy train. Many of the staff couldn't do anything else so they keep pushing the agenda that you need to go to be successful, in order to serve their own careers. So, I would say:

- if you want to be a doctor, or a scientist, or a lawyer, you should go to university, and that is only right.
- other careers don't need university, but the system often requires it in order to feed the machine. So you either join in and do something that isn't needed, but is a requirement, or find it harder to get opportunities. And if you do so you will accumulate debt, which is really unwise. This needs serious prayer.
- Really successful people are smart, open businesses and are the people who drive the economy. But they don't go to uni, and they don't need to.
- Universities churn out graduates who quickly find out that the real economy isn't impressed to have them. So feeling entitled, and that they should have something for all they spent, they chase around for all the graduate openings and try to join the gravy train themselves.
- Be careful if you do go; it is an indoctrination factory. Socialism, islam, anti - Christian, it is all there. It is the WORLD in all its fullness.
- Opt out of the student union, employee union or any other kind of union. They are just using your membership and / or subscription to push for their anti - Christian, worldly, socialist agenda.

Universities are like any other bubble - eventually it bursts. Here in Scotland, even our socialist, university - loving government seems to have slowed the steady increase in flow of funds to us. Whether it is sudden or slow, the tide will turn against universities. Ten years ago there were lone voices of graduates asking if it were worth it. Now it is an open conversation with the masses, and universities can feel the pressure is on - that is why they are working extra hard to extend the requirement for a degree to more careers and increase propaganda that they matter.

And just as an aside I saw an advertisement for a professor a few weeks back. They were looking for a 'world expert' to lead their department - the salary - £42k. I thought to myself 'well, you're really not a world expert then - that's what great plumbers earn!'.

 

[Mommasince99]

I was actually paid when I did my nursing qualification.

What is a nursing qualification? Is that a degree? I’m not familiar w/ that term. My loan was something like $7,500 that my employer paid off. Believe me, I’ve more than paid that off by all the nights I’ve picked up, which saved them from having to close even more beds. That’s pennies compared to what they make on 1 bed being open, or how much money they lose when beds are closed.

 

[daygo]

Mine was a diploma, was part of what was called project 2000, just another means of saying training to do for me a registered mental health nurse! RMN. Was paid by the NHS to do the training which was for me a little underwhat a grade d nurse got which was the lowest grade of nursing without any real responsibility.

 

[Mama Bug]

I don’t have a degree. I went one quarter and didn’t go back. I couldn’t afford it. Then I got married and just put that dream aside. My employer was going to pay for it but then said no, because it didn’t apply to the job I was doing. I’m looking for a job now and came across one for a receptionist. They actually want someone with a college degree or experience. Yeah, if I went to college that would be one of the last jobs I would apply for, unless it was a way to get my foot in the door. But I would not get a degree so I could be a receptionist.

I understand that college has its place. But some jobs should not require a college education when all they need is on the job training.

 

[Jojo4124]

I'll use my own career as an example. I think nursing would be better served if we went back to the apprenticeship hospital programs as they did in the world wars and a long time after.

I see some hope with colleges that offer a "ladder up" program for nurses, training as LPN's then qualifying, working as an LPN and taking courses till qualifying for the RN exams.

That's a good balance between book learning and on the job practicality. It means the nurse in training isn't saddled with a ton of debt. Learning practical on the job skills as they go along.

Back in the mid 70s in BC Canada when I did my training, they had just started making RN programs into college and university degrees, and were phasing out the hospital trained RNs. I trained at a college in an accelerated program for 2 years, while the hospital programs were 3 and uni was 4. My college soon went to 4 years after that as the 2 years was too hard for most to keep up to. It was intensive.

Once out in the work force though I noticed a big difference with the grads. The hospital trained nurses were better at their jobs. They talked a lot about feeling inferior to the book learning from the college and uni grads but in my estimate they were just fine, and I would far rather have one of them on a shift with me.

I would place my own training in the middle. We worked very hard, got thru all but some courses in statistics and public health that the uni grads did, but in half the time so we were used to a heavy workload. But we were weak on the actual bedside nursing. Once I figured out how to pace myself and stay focused and on task during a busy shift I did much better.

The university degree nurses liked to offload their own responsibilities onto the LPN's under them, often looking down on college or hospital RNs. They had a good grasp of the technical aspects but they were no good in actually getting the job done. The general feeling was that they didn't go for a university degree to deal with bedpans and vomit, and those were someone ELSE's job.

They were aiming for management positions, and nobody made head nurse unless they had a masters. Nobody was allowed to teach without a masters, and preferably a doctorate. Bedside care was a stepping stone along their path to a teaching or management career. A pretty expensive path mind you, and the payscale at the end was no pot of gold either. I could never figure out the appeal, but plenty of people took that path.

I considered getting a degree or two under my belt, but never in nursing. I'd originally planned to work as I took courses towards a medical degree. I couldn't see the point in the same time and cost but staying in nursing. If I was putting in the time, effort and cost I wanted a medical degree not a fancy bumped up nursing degree.

Contrast that with a college education in a trade or occupation that pays well. That grad isn't saddled with a lifetime debt to pay off.

Then there are the YEARS of social programming from university professors who adore breaking the faith in God along with other quaint notions the kids and their parents believe.

And that is another point. We have had GENERATIONS of kids going to university and losing their faith in God, raising THEIR children as agnostics. And we PAY for that privilege????

Where are the hot beds for indoctrination into Communism, leftist economic madness and things like global warming?

Where are people learning about critical race theory?

Where do the teachers learn that stuff when they teach it in elementary school?

When people learned well in schools, what kind of teachers did they have? What did those teachers feed them?

I think university has become a self perpetuating cycle--producing grads in fields that will now ONLY take university grads, and the university only hires their own production line to teach with--those who went on to get masters, then doctorates.

It started with the notion that a good general education and 4 years of hard work meant a better employee, so employers looked for university grads. But as university dumbed itself down along with the rest of society, those degrees became a dime a dozen.

The emperor has no clothes, and very few will challenge the monopoly that university has on modern life. It's hard to get a job without a degree, and university is involved even when it's churning out teachers for schools and colleges.

They are a gatekeeper for modern society. The ones who make sure everyone thinks the same.

Except for the trades. They are interested in how the job gets done. Not in how politically correct the graduate becomes. And they don't take as long to turn people out with an employable trade.

And the self made entrepreneurs or in other words, the engines of commerce. The owners of businesses who have built them from scratch and hire a lot of people.

But those are the MAGA types that the university grads look down on. The blue collar people, the self made "wealthy" who create most of the jobs.

Wow, excellent explanation of the differences!! Ty!! I hope that if I ever need nursing care, that I'll have nurses that are nurses because they love ppl, despite the messes, etc. You helped me to understand many negligent nurses' potential attitudes...some see patients as a stepping stone, thus no need to treat them like human beings. My sister who had cancer had awful tx on the hosp, they forgot to hook up her tpn one eve. My elderly parents visited her daily n caught the potentially fatal mistake!

Ty for having passion for the ppl you care for. Even ppl who are mean to others hope that their end of life carers will be kind to them!

 

[Jojo4124]

JMHO..but I think it's time our high schools became trade schools all over the country..spend the first ten years (K-9) learning the three R's.. History and science..and the last three learning trade skills..with a spattering of biology..chemistry and upper math such as algebra..trig..physics.. calculas and computers as electives..not everyone is interested in the upper math skills and to force algebra and such on someone who couldn't care less in my opinion is a form of abuse..if social studies is insisted upon..I believe every highschool student should have to spend three summers in a third world country and have to write a college type paper on the experience before they can get their diploma...my reason is.. Americas are the most spoiled rotten people on the planet, especially our children..they need to see what the rest of the world goes through...I also feel that we have no idea what to do with children..all kids before they can get their diploma ought to have to have so many hours of childcare classes and the experience of working in daycare for the last four years of their schooling.. personally, I wish I had worked in daycare a whole lot longer than I did before I had my children..I know it would have made me a much better mother..as it was..I learned many tricks of motherhood years after it was to late for my kids to benefit from it..I have to admit some of that learning has come from listening to very good preaching on the subject of child rearing over the years..teaching that I wish I'd heard when the kids were little..but I digress...I guess what I'm trying to say is..our whole school system needs a giant overhaul..which I know will not happen till the millinium..I could go on all day over what I think should be done with our school system..but I do believe it's time I got off my soapbox..so..I will..one other thing before I do.. college isn't for everyone..higher learning was always for those that wanted it..now they're trying to force it down everyone's throats..and why do parents think they have to pay for it? Unless the parents were very rich..most people got scholarships and jobs to pay for it..lived at home to save on cost or shared apartments with many roommates to get through..it just depended on how badly the individual wanted that degree...now the Government wants to indoctrinate everyone.. it's why one now needs a bachelor's just to change diapers..now..I will get my soapbox..

Amen! Later in life thought it would have been good if I ...and everyone else... after highschool had served in another country or with Peacecorps or something for a year or two...we Americans would then understand why the cost of freedom was so high and appreciate what we have in the US. I think serving like that could help kids to think of career goals and also maybe help to ground them in patriotism and morals before they went to college, if they chose to.

I totally agree! If I had nanny experience, more than just bbsitting n taking care of my younger sibs, I may have been more prepared for motherhood. Maybe anyone wanting to become a mommy could nanny for a few years...might help them decide if they can handle motherhood, lol. Seriously!

Great points! If Jesus doesnt come back n a new society is built, maybe these kinds of trainings can be set up!