And here's a case where ignorance worked in your favor.
My spring breaks really sucked though!:smile:
Students at ISU unaware of cost of learning
- Thread starter cigaretteman
- Start date
My spring breaks really sucked though!:smile:
I don't remember signing anything except for a master promissory note at the beginning of my freshman year (don't remember having to renew the MPN later). The only loans I have direct experience with are the federal government loans. Signatures may be required for other loan sources.
You apparently missed the part where I said in many fields having a degree is better.BryceC said:
I have a pretty diverse set of clients. Most people have no idea what the hell they're doing running a business. And the number of people who fail miserably vastly outnumbers the people who succeed.
And like I said, there are exceptions (and everyone points to Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc.). They may have been "uneducated" but they were arguably the most brilliant people in their fields and look at the schools some of these "uneducated" people dropped out of. They aren't "uneducated."
I also know this year our business is going to assist in starting up a hundred or so new businesses. Next year at this time less than fifty will still be in business and the year after that even fewer. Most people don't have the means to just start up their own business for a multitude of reasons. Knowledge is probably the biggest one. After that acquiring capital. And after that building a sustainable business model.
I realize think that "any idiot with any idea of anything can work for themselves" thing is rather misguided. Barely over 10% of Americans in the labor force are self-employed, and many of them are "independent contractors" going from project-to-project (which really should be "job-to-job") for things like shipping or construction. Particularly given the demographic pattern of self-employment...
Self-Employed
It's really not a viable path for most people, without having some experience, contacts, or experience at the bare minimum to get you off your feet. You either have to be a rare talent, be extremely lucky (Gates), have access to familial capital that others do not (Facebook), or it is just not a glamorous way to be, if it is a way to be at all. Anyways, just my observations about freelancing.
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Back to topic at hand--college is a benefit-cost consideration of the foregone money, time, and experience versus the gained experience, contacts, and life enjoyment/fulfillment. It is (probably) still worth it for the most part, but there are certainly instances where there are better options out there for an 18 year old. It is just a "default" option for so many who really should be exploring something else at that point in their life--even ISU has a graduation rate in the 60% range or so, which, to me, says 4/10 freshmen shouldn't even be there.
*is really glad he got all the way through graduate school without any loans at all, but that's what living at home, a good but cheap public school, and working during college do for you*
You all shouldn't be so mean to arts majors, too. I made over $50,000 in my first year with a job, and I was a liberal arts geek. We aren't all serving you a vanilla shake and fries, believe it or not...
Self-Employed
It's really not a viable path for most people, without having some experience, contacts, or experience at the bare minimum to get you off your feet. You either have to be a rare talent, be extremely lucky (Gates), have access to familial capital that others do not (Facebook), or it is just not a glamorous way to be, if it is a way to be at all. Anyways, just my observations about freelancing.
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Back to topic at hand--college is a benefit-cost consideration of the foregone money, time, and experience versus the gained experience, contacts, and life enjoyment/fulfillment. It is (probably) still worth it for the most part, but there are certainly instances where there are better options out there for an 18 year old. It is just a "default" option for so many who really should be exploring something else at that point in their life--even ISU has a graduation rate in the 60% range or so, which, to me, says 4/10 freshmen shouldn't even be there.
*is really glad he got all the way through graduate school without any loans at all, but that's what living at home, a good but cheap public school, and working during college do for you*
You all shouldn't be so mean to arts majors, too. I made over $50,000 in my first year with a job, and I was a liberal arts geek. We aren't all serving you a vanilla shake and fries, believe it or not...
My wife and I were lucky enough for this to be the case for both of us. It's the gift that keeps on giving year after year after year.... Very thankful for that and we intend to pass that same gift onto our children, assuming we can afford to do so.
And I wouldn't disagree with that. It has been my observation that most people go into business for themselves for all the wrong reasons; i.e. they don't want to work harder, they want to sit on their duff and wait for the money to roll in, they think it will be fun, etc.
I think a large part of it has to do with being uneducated when it comes to financial literacy and doing something out of love rather than to make money. And of course a lack of ambition plays a large roll as well. It is very easy to start a side business with sweat equity since most only work 40 hours or so a week. I have/had several friends who are envious of my financial situation. And they were the same people who were home on the couch when I was working nights and weekends complaining about their jobs or lack of money. But with all of that being said, pretty much nowhere in academia are there talented people who can teach how to make money and the effort necessary. They can teach you a skill or how to think, but not how to make money. But that doesn't mean that most people don't have the capacity to do so, because they do. They're just going into it uneducated and unprepared.
It all boils down to potential. It's risk vs. reward. College if used properly is a path to either incredible prosperity or incredible mediocrity. Everybody goes to school for different reasons. If you want to simply get a degree and go work for somebody, or you just want to learn a little more about history and the world, it'll generally accomplish that. But the standard line that you can't be successful without it so borrow to your eyeballs for that degree is just plain bad advice, and has been to the longterm detriment of many.
Most who choose the self-employed route do so for a bigger upside, to control their own destiny, and the freedom to make their own decisions, right or wrong. I have friends who are independent contractors in fields ranging from construction to accounting and they wouldn't have it any other way. The harder and smarter they work, the more they make. In our society, it has become a path for fewer and fewer because most have put themselves in a position financially to not be able. When you're in debt to your eyeballs with auto, credit card, mortgage and student loan debt, a stable paycheck seems less risky...at least till you get downsized by the company.
Generally speaking, we've become a fat, lazy, ignorant country that wants something for nothing. And as a nation with that collective mentality, it's no wonder so few work for themselves.
