Hmmm, $40k loan for a diploma for jobs that make $30k/yr (entry level) - is it worth it?

[Deja Q]

Poll question: Hmmm, $40k loan for a diploma for jobs that make $30k/yr (entry level) - is it worth it?

(A.A.S. degree, BTW... not Bachelor's)

Cost of living is about $1kmo.

After taxes, net pay would be ~$1600/mo.

Cost to repay education would be $300/mo.

That'd be around 5 years.

[MissB]

1. I dunno. The real question is:

Is it worth it to YOU?

Now, if you were spending $100k for a $30k job, I'd just simply hit you upside the head.

[Deja Q]

2. Looking at examples of students' work, I could do the same thing now...

And I don't have a degree in that specific field...

Still, it is a degree and my IT background would get be a bit more than $30k/yr...

[Debi]

3. How long would you be @ $30,000 a year?

You'll continually owe less on your loans but (hopefully) earn more @ your job. :shrug:

[Deja Q]

4. Given an employment seminar whose instructor said the longest time at a job these days is

5 years, "stable employment" is a non-sequitur.

It's a pity I was never any good at chess... but that's okay, our society is based from poker anyway... pity I can't read faces... :rofl:

[Debi]

5. Tells you what I know.

I've had two jobs that didn't require use of a cash register (I had three of those) The first I worked at for ten years and the second I've been at for nine. :shrug: But then again, I didn't go to college....

[Nikia]

11. Well, sometimes that is because people move on to bigger better things

My boss at my last job told me that I should not spend more than 5 years with a company where I did not intend to retire if they were not continuously advancing me. Perhaps the person at the employment seminar meant something like that.

[matcom]

6. save your $$

30k is entry level. you'll get much more (especially in IT-related) from time put in. take a couple of online courses in the field you are in. i'm taking a VB.net course right now online for $89.

it WOULD have helped in my current job but i'm starting a new job on 04/02 that is graphic design and web development (self-taught).

on the job training beats a college ed any day of the week and in IT, they really don't give a shit.

good luck :hi:

[Deja Q]

7. I am jumping fields... so I can transfer some credits... and I was told

An actual degree means more to employers than a handful of certs - for those certs are no better than the breath freshener candy of the same name... :D And she was right, already having any degree will get me further than a handful of certs...

But I am thinking of jumping from IT to something more visual arts or advertising... ironic, but programming isn't my gig...

I will take some online courses and go from there, I do appreciate the advice.

[matcom]

9. if you have done some visual work....

and it's good. set up a web site to show-case it. then link the site on your resume.

TRUST me.

if they like what they see, you'll be hired

[datasuspect]

8. just be born into a rich family

that way you can do something silly like graduate work in flemish or something.

[gravity]

10. It really depends on how much you'll be making

without the education. If it will give you a large enough increase in income, then go for it.

[Orangepeel]

12. $40,000 for a two year degree? Sounds like a diploma mill

Go to community college instead.

[Nikia]

13. Is there another college that would be cheaper?

I don't know how expensive the community colleges are in Minnesota, but you'd be spending less than half that getting a two year degree here.
Also, what kind of loan do you plan to get, I am paying more per month for my Federal subsidized loans and I owed less than $40,000 and am still paying on them almost 7 years later. This will be the first year that I made above $30,000 per year. I have a Bachelor's degree. Still, I think that it was worth it. As someone who already has a degree, though, you might feel differently.

[july302001]

14. back in the day...

Back before Ronald Reagan RUINED education in California, community college was FREE. The tuition started out low...now it's multiple hundreds of dollars a semester!

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Hell, the CSU system was damned near free

A few hundred per semester, give or take.

I went to a community college ("junior college" then) in '74-'75 and back in '77-'79. All I ever paid for were books and some lab materials. Oh, and a parking permit; I think it was $7 for a year.

And this was while they were doing major construction on campus — many millions for new buildings.

[LSK]

15. can you take a bunch of stuff at Community College?