http:\/\/marypilon.blogspot.com\/2010\/02\/how-much-is-your-college-degree-really.html<\/a> discusses the cost of a college degree and the projected earning power of those with college degrees versus those with high school degrees.\u00a0 Considering the time, expense, and lingering student loan debt, coupled with the projected statistical earning power of a college degree illustrates the possible diminishing ROI (return on investment) of a college degree.\u00a0 Is this really the case?<\/p>\nOne problem I see with comparing the salaries of college graduates to non-college graduates is the changing landscape of America\u2019s job market.\u00a0 Manufacturing jobs, which were once the main source of income, are continuing to disappear at an alarming rate. \u00a0When I graduated from college in 1972, I started at a much lower salary of my high school friends who were working in the local steel mills.\u00a0 They had better benefits and appeared to have a clear path of steady employment.\u00a0 By the 1980\u2019s most of the steel mills and related fabricating plants were closed, and my friends were out of work.\u00a0 In the meantime my salary continued to increase and my job security grew more stable as I advanced into more responsible positions.\u00a0 Although my displaced high school friends found jobs in other industries, it was for lower wages and less benefits.\u00a0 Now approaching retirement, most are depending on Social Security as their sole income. \u00a0Currently the country is in a even deeper recession than the 1970\u2019s and the re-employment predictions are for a decrease in wages and benefits when the recession ends.\u00a0 Without a college degree the chances of finding a job that will support a middleclass life style are not good.<\/p>\n
There are several skilled jobs such as electricians, plumbers, draftsman, computer specialist, etc, that have the potential to make middleclass wages, but these career fields are becoming over crowded.\u00a0 With the current economic downturn there is even more pressure on skilled labor professions to find employment.\u00a0 Even those who are self employed are finding it difficult to make ends meet, and the long range forecast is for more of the same.<\/p>\n
Although a college degree is not the ticket to a secure financial future that it once was, the path for the high school graduate is even less clear.\u00a0 A college degree is still a respected credential that can open the doors of opportunity.\u00a0 How to take advantage of those opportunities requires developing a successful career strategy.\u00a0 The saying\u00a0 \u201cEducation is never wasted\u201d is as true today as ever.<\/p>\n
Leave a comment, tell a friend.<\/p>\n
The Practical Mentor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are a lot of articles floating on the web questioning the value of a college degree.\u00a0\u00a0 Several try to answer the question of the value of your degree based on earning power versus cost.\u00a0 The rational is that as the cost of attending college rises, the financial burden may negate the benefits of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1,6,22,18,7,19],"tags":[209,5,9,33,34,37,213,15,3,25,208,27,35],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abundance","category-advice","category-career-challenges","category-challenges","category-mentor-advice","category-personality","category-success","tag-abundance","tag-career-advice","tag-career-strategies","tag-college","tag-costs","tag-employment","tag-goals","tag-mentor","tag-practicalmentor","tag-salary","tag-success","tag-tactics","tag-working"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}