Technical College vs a 4 year college

[Mjenn]

My kids are still young so not sure how this will change but here goes anyway

1. How many of you, or people you know, are sending/have sent your child to college for prestige, not for the actual need of a 4yr degree vs just sending them to a Tech College?

My kids are still young. Growing up I came from an area where everyone went off to a 4 year school. If you didn't it was really odd. But then a lot of people dropped out if it didn't suit them. They pursued other types of careers. There was some stigma involved. I wouldn't say people went for the prestige, people went because that was what you did after high school. The stigma was because you couldn't handle it.


2. Did they pick their degree to justify that level of college, or did they want into that a field that required a 4-year degree? Basically, which came first? The Degree to be in a 4yr college, or the field to need a 4yr degree?

I hope my kids pick a school because they are curious and or passionate about something. Be that a tech subject, the arts, a traditional degree, I would support it.

3. Did they go to a local college, or a far-off college? Was the location based on educational necessity or just preference? Basically, did you spend more because you liked it better, or because it was needed for the degree?.

My kids are European citizens which means they can attend school in multiple countries tuition free. I would probably support them going to any one of those before going to a US school -- but will cross that bridge when we come to it. We live in Europe, but they can go cost free in a wide variety of countries that will still take them far from home. We live in a university town, so they also have the option to stay here. I hope they spread their wings a bit for the experience.

4. I have a hard time comprehending the amount of money some of you have stated you've paid for your kids to go to college. Why did you pay it, and how much did it end up costing? (not looking for a justification, just curious).


See above

5. Be honest with this one. Would you have been ok if your child really wanted to go to a Tech college to do what they really wanted, or would you have been embarrassed to tell people about it?

Yes. It honestly would be. If they were interested and passionate. Their cousin just finished a carpentry trade school to build and design furniture. Their uncle paints trucks for a living. We are a pretty diverse family even if dad has a phd and I have grad school.

6. At this point, do you think it would have been a better investment to put what you spent on college into an investment fund for retirement, and picked a different career path?

I don't think college is just about getting a job -- it is truly about learning for the sake of learning. If that is about learning a trade or about learning about the history of the western world --- I would try to get behind it. But it is, of course, much easier to relate to something you yourself have gone thru -- which is traditional 4 year college experience.

I think some things cannot also be calculated -- it isn't just about having a job with a reliable salary. It is about having a job you enjoy and having options. In my family we have academics, blue collar workers, etc. I can't calculate the value of my education just in what I have earned based on investment. What would I be doing without my degree? Would I find it as satisfying? Even if the salary is exactly the same, would it tick the boxes for what I want out of life?

[~bs]

The problem is that college was a differentiator. Now that everybody goes to college, there is a big pool to chose from and a college degree doesn't mean much .. it's the equivalent of what a high school degree used to be.

Now we as a society can continue to play that game and now have a master's degree be differentiator.. or we can go back to learning how to earn on our own.

Even if you want to work a 9-5 for the rest of your life.. you should at least find a way to earn on your own or have an out just in case. If you have the means to earn on your own , you have more leverage with your 9-5.

Leverage is power.

This is my opinion as well. All the mantra of "everyone needs a degree" did was raise the bar so the 4 year degree is the new high school diploma.Rewind 30-40 years ago, and ANY degree meant something since fewer people went to college back then. I think nowadays though, the cost of college is spiraling so high and the rewards more uncertain so people are starting to question the "education at any cost" mantra that was so prevalent a decade or two ago, which is a GOOD thing.



If I had to do my college days over again, I'd probably have started off at a community college for the 1st 2 years.

[Smallsteps]

I do think that colleges have become more focused on revenue and less on students. A lot of degrees are very broad and hence not marketable. Generally speaking, the more specialized you are, the better chance you will have obtaining high paying employment. Sometimes, a trade school is the best place to go depending on your field of interest. College can be valuable for certain career fields. Law, medical, computers, engineering. I know several people that have associates degrees from trade schools and are making 6 figure salaries. College and a 4 year degree are often sold to kids and parents alike, but it might not be the best option.

I agree with this statement completely.
While I have a degree I went to a local CC and finished in an online setting while working a fulltime job. So I guess I did not have the "college experience" that from what I gather is the reason to pay 10s of thousands of dollars.
We wanted both our sons to attend a tech school to learn the trade that their dad has been making a good living off for decades. One chose an expensive MBA route now making half of what he would have doing the path we suggested.

[disneysteve]

We wanted both our sons to attend a tech school to learn the trade that their dad has been making a good living off for decades.

Is that what they wanted?

One chose an expensive MBA route now making half of what he would have doing the path we suggested.

Meaning what? Are they doing something meaningful to them? Is the only goal in life to make as much money as possible? I'm not sure what your point is here.

[TexasHusker]

My son is graduating high school Saturday. He has a very good friend who is extremely gifted musically. He can play different instruments and sing like a bird.

He is attending a major university in Texas. He was over at our house a couple of weeks ago and I asked him what his major would be, and he said "business, but that's not what I really want to do."

I said "So what is it that you really want to do?" He said "My dream is to be a worship minister at a church, but my mom and dad won't let me do that because it doesn't pay very good."

So there was a Baccalaureate service a few nights ago for the graduating seniors from area high schools at a local church. This young man was the "worship leader" for it and he did a fantastic job. Afterward I went up to him, gave him a hug, and said "I think you should be a worship minister."

I don't understand parents.

[disneysteve]

He said "My dream is to be a worship minister at a church, but my mom and dad won't let me do that because it doesn't pay very good."

This happens all the time. Parents push their kids to do what the parent wants them to do rather than what the kid wants to do or is interested in. Sometimes it's for financial reasons. Sometimes it's to join the family business. Sometimes it's for status or prestige.

I totally realize that an 18-year-old may not really know what they want out of life but they are still old enough to be involved in the decision-making process.

My daughter did really well in science and math so her teachers and counselor kept pushing her to go into a field that involved those things - except she had absolutely no desire to do so. Just because she was good at it didn't mean she liked it at all. It just happened to come pretty easy to her (except for physics ). When we first started the college search process, she was looking at engineering schools because of this. After we visited several schools, spoke to engineering students and professors, and learned more about the field, she realized that wasn't at all something she wanted to do. So we switched gears and did a new search for liberal arts colleges.

It doesn't matter how good you are at something or how much money you can make doing it if you are miserable every day and hate going to work in the morning.

[TexasHusker]

We spent $800 for a two-day aptitude testing for my son with a company called AIMS. You only take the AIMS test after puberty, preferably within a year of high school graduation.

The test was so helpful because it separates that which you have an aptitude for, versus that which you have an interest in, and those can be very different things. The trick is to find something that you have an aptitude for that you also have an interest in. They help you explore that.

According to AIMS, aptitudes do not change throughout your life. They are hard-wired. However, interests DO change throughout your life.

They also separate you into "generalist" or "specialist", which is something very important to identify. A generalist tends to want to be involved in several things during a work day. Meetings, multi-tasking, multiple assignments. 80 to 85 percent of the population falls into the generalist category. Most CEOs and managers, as well as sales people and educators, are generalists.

A specialist tends to want to focus on one thing and do that one thing very well. He wants to be an expert in that particular thing. A concert violinist, a researcher, astronomer, many physician specialties (radiology, pathology), a historian, an epidemiologist.

But let's say you have a passion for medicine but you are a generalist. You are going to want to be a PCP, or perhaps an ER physician, or perhaps a faculty member at a medical school. Those areas are going to give you a variety of tasks and interactions, so that the generalist side of you is fulfilled.

My son has always wanted to be a pilot, yet pilots are usually specialists. They do one thing - the same thing every hour of every day. But since he is a generalist, he likely would have eventually been unhappy in that occupation because it would have grown boring. It's a moot point because he's color blind, but that's another topic.

[disneysteve]

We spent $800 for a two-day aptitude testing for my son with a company called AIMS. You only take the AIMS test after puberty, preferably within a year of high school graduation.

The test was so helpful because it separates that which you have an aptitude for, versus that which you have an interest in, and those can be very different things. The trick is to find something that you have an aptitude for that you also have an interest in. They help you explore that.

It would be great if our school systems would stop wasting endless time and money on standardized tests that accomplish absolutely nothing and instead incorporate this type of aptitude testing that would actually benefit the students and help prepare them for the future.

[TexasHusker]

It would be great if our school systems would stop wasting endless time and money on standardized tests that accomplish absolutely nothing and instead incorporate this type of aptitude testing that would actually benefit the students and help prepare them for the future.

I think that most school systems do provide at least a quick & dirty aptitude test. But it’s often something you have to ask for.

[jpham540]

I would like to chime in on my personal experience as a skilled tradesmen - HVAC. I started going to a 2 year community college in 2006 for HVAC while working full time. I graduated in 2008 without any student loan debt, and started working in government contracting/oversea industry and my salary pretty much took off as a skilled tradesmen.
Fast forward today and I'm currently 31 years old and my net worth is high six figure, almost 7 figures. Hopefully Mr. market will be nice in the next couple of month . I also owned 3 rental properties. My only debt is the 3 rental house mortgage. I'm not trying to brag but just wanted to point out that never in a million year would I imagine that I will be in this position today working as a skilled tradesmen. I'm still currently working oversea, but not only that you also get a good benefit for working oversea around $100,000 tax free!!!! . There is some requirement you have to meet though.
A lot of the guys I work with in the trade is way older then me and I barely see any younger guys coming into the trade. There is plenty of work for the skilled tradesmen HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing, and Carpentry. Most of the oversea job or paying north $100k - $200k +. I know there is a lot of trade shortage throughout the USA and in our industry.

So I definitely would recommend people to look into going into the blue collar trade especially oversea work it's very lucrative. Even today I move around different countries I still bump into guys that I have work with in a different countries in the past. So I hope this help and don't give blue collar worker a bad name.

I'm not against a 4 year degree but the 2 year worked out great for me. Also experienced different cultures, countries, and getting paid is always great.