And Just How Am I Supposed To Pay For That?

For the past 3 decades the rate of college tuition inflation has been about double the amount of standard economic inflation.  Meanwhile, the importance of a college degree to obtain work has increased exponentially in the job market, particularly for young adults (as discussed in our earlier post "Creativity: Education's Lost Art," Sir Ken Robinson refers to this as academic inflation).  Additionally, according to the 2009 research from Sallie Mae, the average undergraduate holds nearly $3,200 in credit card debt alone with graduating seniors having an average over $4,000.  And that doesn't even count actual tuition debt, of which the national average is $21,000.  Some students may try to cut down on costs by commuting from home, but even then some colleges and universities require that students live on campus for at least their first year of school.  In a poor economy, jobs are hard to find and most companies are looking for people with experience.  How might someone who just graduated college even have experience?  Through internships, of course!  But the problem with internships is the fact that many of them are unpaid, a legal issue that has gotten stronger as companies who've been hit by a bad economy look for ways to reduce costs.  So after all of that, we're pretty sure the question on everyone's mind is "And just how am I supposed to pay for that?" 

It's not impossible to receive financial aid, but much of that is just loans that add to debt and can be hard for young adults to manage.  The only real way to do it is planning to the best of your ability.  Start saving for college in your high school years, regardless of where you think you may go.  Some students attend classes part-time as a more affordable method while others simply take the hit.  The problem with this set up is that to advance in the job market, students don't have much of a choice.  To get a decent job you must have a degree, but having a degree doesn't necessarily guarantee a decent job.  The money students spend paying back massive loans their first few years out of school takes away from investing in 401Ks or other forms of savings that cut out on years of interest.  It is evident that while the job market is making tuition harder and harder to pay, they're really cutting into society as a whole.  If social security and health care funds seem hard to come by now, how's it going to be when everyone is so busy getting out of debt that they are barely feeding into the system.  Trade schools and better on-the-job training could be a great opportunity to promote advanced education for a particular field without necessarily mandating a four-year or higher degree (which is more commonly taking 5 or 6 years these days).  This could allow students who may not afford college the opportunity to be making money rather than being completely barred from an education or way of advancement or somehow obtain an education resulting in extreme financial consequences.

But enough about us, what do you think?