Video on College

https://youtu.be/EbkD9j19oKo

How much does the degree you gret affect how much money you make in the future?

source: qph.ec.quoracdn.net

Does the degree you choose affect how much money you will make in the future? According to the american council on education “On average, college graduates make 84 percent more over a lifetime“ However, a question that many people have is if their college major matters.  

According to the American council for education, not all degrees are created equal. They gave the example that “Counseling Psychology majors make an average of $29,000 per year, compared to $120,000 for Petroleum Engineering majors. That’s a difference of 314 percent—or $4.1 million over a 45-year lifetime of work.” This shows that employers will typically choose majors with a more rigorous course load. This is reiterated by the fact that if you have a masters in Counseling Psychology, you make an average of $79,000 a year a 272% increase.

A reason why employers do this is because the supply of people that have a degree in Petroleum engineering is very small, and the supply of people graduating with a counseling psychology degree is a lot. Also, there is a very high demand for Petroleum Engineers since their major is very specialized, causing employers to pay large amounts of money to attract graduates.  

How do student loans affect students post-graduation?

7 out of ten students graduated with student loan debt in 2014 and the total debt of collective students is over 1 trillion dollars. That is higher than credit card debt and is second only to mortgage. Part of the problem is when the average tuition of colleges has gone up by 28% since the 2007-2008 school year.

Most students will have to work for years to even make a dent in their student loan debt, which is a huge problem because that is money they could potentially save for retirement or college funds for their kids. Student loan debt follows students for many years after they graduate because there is no way to get rid of it. These schools will always find a way to take their money.

Another huge problem is For-Profit colleges. These colleges account for about 30% of student loan debt, and yet they only account for about 13% of student population. The cost of going to one of these schools is about 6 times more expensive than going to community college and twice the price of a 4-year university. You might be thinking that most of this goes back to the students by way of better professors, better equipment, and better facilities. However, you might be surprised to know that about 25% of all profits from the school go to advertising. These colleges prey on many veterans and uneducated to pay absurd amounts of money for an education that is equivalent to that of a community college, which I mentioned before is much cheaper to get.

• RESEARCH TOPIC/TITLE: Why college is so expensive (in the US)

• KEY ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE I’M ADDRESSING:  #1
• OVERALL RESEARCH QUESTION THAT CONNECTS MY TOPIC TO THE ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE:

How does economics relate to the expenses of College?

• 3-4 SUB QUESTIONS/TOPICS THAT HELP ADDRESS THE OVERALL RESEARCH QUESTION
• Breakdown on where all the tuition money goes
• Why it’s so expensive
• How we can “solve” this problem

Source: https://mises.ca/