The high cost of basic education

The call for the past 10 years or more has been "get a college degree or you won't be employable." That's partly true, of course. There are more jobs every day that require a college degree. At one point in the history of the world you didn't need a degree to be a designer, for example. Good luck getting a design job now without a degree. Even with amazing skills there's something about that piece of paper that really is like a "golden ticket" for a shot at success.

But of course, there's the cost. In theory, you can pay this cost back. Education IS an investment, and if you look at all other investments, it is likely the safest, most sure way to get your money back plus a ton of interest. However, is there a point at which an education becomes TOO expensive?

The rise of internet connectivity has led to a huge rise in online education. Remember when the actress who played Archie Bunker's daughter was selling degrees from home? Yeah, those were on VHS. Today you can attend any one of a dozen online schools and get everything up to a PhD!

Unfortunately, the cost of these schools is prohibitive. I guess that's the price of convenience, right? Maybe not.

You see, many of these online schools are for-profit schools. I don't begrudge them making a profit, but I do question the level at which they do this, and at what cost to their students?

I'll have more to say on this later, but consider... What does the average CAD operator make? $10-15 an hour? Now, consider that a financed 2-year associates' degree in CAD from our local ITT Tech would cost around $250,000.