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The problem with college is the cost, not the degrees people choose to pursue. And blaming students for studying things that aren’t in demand is a straw man.

A lot can change in the four years between enrollment and graduation. For example, I went to college in 2006 when the finance sector was booming. I graduated in 2010 when it very much wasn’t. By the time the jobs had evaporated it was much too late to change my course of study. And I certainly couldn’t go back and renegotiate the tuition or interest rate on my loans.

I’m sure the same could be said about people who went to school for anything relating to tourism or hospitality who have graduated into the pandemic. If you’re a new chef, pilot, hair dresser, massage therapist, looking to work in hotel management, etc. the job market that existed when you began your studies is entirely different from the job market you’ve just graduated into.



If you are going to uni to do vocational training such as hairdressing, massage and being a chef then something is really screwed.


hairdressers and chefs can't have well rounded educations? going to vocational school is a completely different experience. you're not being asked to read literature at a trade school. you're not asked to take history classes, or even basic sciences. sure, these are positives to people that don't care, but i'm not sure that's a full education? you're definitely trained in your field, but is that a full education? i would recommend at least 2 years at community college on top of (before?) vocational school. i'm not knocking vocational schools, but i'm suggesting not knocking someone attending a college taking one of these types of careers


I'm not knocking them, but if what you say is the case it would appear orthogonal to their career choice and so complaining that your college was expensive and you can't get a job is incoherent.


Last I had been hearing, the people complaining about costs were referring to universities (4 years +) and not the community college (2 years) type of school that I suggested.


And the same can happen in tech! When I started college in the late 90s in software engineering, the market was booming. A year before I graduated the dot-com crash took place and the jobs evaporated. That was the catalyst for pursuing an entrepreneurial path (I had no choice) but in spite of things working out, I always try to be thankful for my good fortune and remember that it can change in an instant.


Can you expand on the entrepreneurial path you took?


I finished a network admin degree just as all the entry-level jobs were being sucked up by SaaS and a few IT firms that weren't hiring. At least the state scholarship paid for most of it, so I had no debt.


You've just made as much of a straw man (by listing jobs that evaporated over 4 years) as the comment you were replying to.

The fact is that some jobs will always be in demand. Some jobs will almost always be in higher demand.

And the rest of jobs... won't.

Get a degree linked with the former, you'll have more opportunities. Get a degree linked with the latter, and you won't.




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