Introduction

You’ve done it!

You are in college now.

And going forward….

Question: What is it that you are doing? Why are you here? The obvious answer is to study something in depth that will award a degree when you are done – yes I got that.

Unless you have a fully paid scholarship or extremely wealthy family, the supermajority of you have taken on a debt that will take years to pay off. That means you have to earn something at least above the amount you are indebted for, 6 months after you leave or have your degree because nobody can work and pay their way through college anymore (au contraire to Dave Ramsey – unless your end goal is an Associate’s degree, then maybe…)

And so we arrive at the question of this pamphlet which is what I suspect most of you will say: I am here, in college, so I can earn more than what I will without it or more generally, to be successful in life.

If you have seen this or similar statistic like I did when I was sitting in an Unemployment/Workforce office in Oregon once, it would seem like a no-brainier decision to go to college.

Is this a true statistic? Many other statistics say that a person who gets a degree is more successful in life than those who don’t get one. How do you know??

Would it surprise you that many, if not every statistic touted by college recruiters or high school counselors are twisted completely from reality? What about the multitude of statistics that they will never tell you? Would that make a difference in your life?

If you want to see the rest of the statistical picture about college/higher education, go to alternative interpretations.org . It is a free site; nothing to sell, just student Advocacy

So Here is the rest of the (Education) story:

All Colleges and Recruiters love to stand on that BLS statistic above because it is usually true. The higher your educational attainment, the higher your pay usually is. It is mostly a true statistic…. Until you look deeper at the methodology or definitions!

To begin with, you need to read the labels of this graph. I am going to use the Bachelors pay because that’s where I ended and most of you will:

The pay bar is $1432 a week for Bachelors
The green line says “median usual weekly earnings” This is a very odd statement – more on that below
“earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers”

Let us think about these labels: the pay rate is a composite of wage AND salary workers. Which is it more of? It makes a difference!

Reality check: if you get a salaried job, you will likely get closer to that $1400/week pay rate because salaried people always make more in life. You will also be “married” to that job! Better hope you like it! I have had both. I have lived in WA, OR and IN as a wage earner or on salary since attaining my Bachelors and I can say that I have never even come close to making $1400/week, even in this year of 2023! Maybe in CA or NYC…

I want the statistic to work because pure math doesn’t lie (but statistics do!) so let’s look at label #2 “median usual weekly earnings”: I must confess that I have NEVER (and I mean NEVER) seen the word “usual” be put in that statement! It is always written median weekly earnings. The latter phrase means ½ the people make more than that amount and ½ make less. That makes perfect sense in English! And it also describes where I stand in that cohort… But when they add “usual” into that phrase, what exactly are they describing?? Furthermore, why would the BLS choose to use a statement that muddies the reality of what is happening in post-education and pay rates, instead of using a perfectly clear label of “median weekly earnings”??

I can’t help but think that Bureau of Labor Statistics is trying to hide something. Either Bachelor-degree holders are earning about $1400 a week or they’re not!

Think of it this way: When a car salesman says a car you’re looking at “usually is sold for (or retails for) xxxxx dollars”, they are almost always giving you an inflated price so that you will think their price is reasonable. Is this the reason for the BLS’ pay rates statistic??

Some dismal statistics you are never told by college recruiters

Now we come to a bunch of statistics that you should be aware of IF you are counting on college degrees bringing you success life. (all sources given at the end of course)

What % of college graduates work in their field of study: 46%[1]
½ live paycheck to paycheck[2]
¼ earn under $30k a year[3]
1/7 earn under poverty threshold[4]
22% say they are “very hopeful” of attaining a “well-paying job”[5]

(Some quick personal comments from above: I didn’t earn above $30k until 2020; six years after I graduated! And I am not working in my field of study either.)

Before we go deeper, I’m going to change all these ratios into 12ths, as in what you get with the roll of two dice. That will make it a little more real

Let’s start with the living “paycheck to paycheck”: if you take any 12 classmates, including yourself in that 12, 6 out of 12 will be living paycheck to paycheck. Does that sound like success to you?!? You go to college, get a multi-thousand-dollar degree and half of you will be living “paycheck to paycheck”?!? Seriously??

¼ or 3 in 12 of you all will be earning less than $30k a year. Is that what we signed up for? To be fair, I am going to presume that that stat is related to the one where ½ of us aren’t working in our field after graduation. 6 in 12 not working in our field – why would we pay so much if this is the reality?!? And then ½ of those 6 will be earning less than $30k a year. It just doesn’t sound like a happy life nor successful…

If that wasn’t bad enough between 1 or 2 out of 12 (1/7) will be living in poverty!! The source didn’t explain that stat but it is just unreal!! I really feel sorry for those who got an expensive degree and are living in poverty.

Some conclusions

I am not living in poverty but neither can I live anywhere where I want. I was forced to move from the state where I got my degree (WA) and I can NEVER move back to the region where I call home (the NW U.S.) because of how expensive it became. I earn a little more than I did before I got my Bachelor’s but no one can attribute that to a degree. It may well have happened anyways because the average wage is way more than 2014. But the bottom line for me and for many tens of thousands of you (or will be) is this: I am paying out a portion of my income every month for something that is seeming less and less I will ever use professionally. You wonder why so many college graduates are angry?

And that leads to another question about college that is related to success: does a degree bring more happiness?? I don’t think I need to answer that one in light of a growing tide of pissed off college graduates!

“It’s time to admit the Degree is Speculation, not Investment”[6]

From Where comes Happiness?

We all have been listening to people tell us what makes for Happiness or Success. Happiness does not come from without; it isn’t distributed by the Elites of our society; it doesn’t come from money (although it would help!). It comes from within. Happiness is a spiritual condition (some will say “mental” condition but this author does not distinguish between spiritual and mental. It comes from the same place…)

Instead of listening to the same Voices who are out to deceive you really, listen to this voice you will never hear in any college classroom (even in a private college!):

“You will think to yourself, ‘My own power and the strength of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ No, you are to remember YHVH your God, because it is He who giving you the power to get wealth…” (Devarim/Deut.8:17-18)

As they used to say, “stick that in your pipe and smoke it” –

That is meant in jest but seriously, what do you think brings you success or wealth in life? Is it your choice to go to college or something other? Or someone??

If you never heard that scripture above, you don’t have to be a priest, rabbi or Messianic Pastor to believe whether what YHVH says is true; the point is to make the Lord your partner in whatever profession you do! Don’t know what that means?? Search….

Finally, if you are one of those who say, “I don’t care what the statistics say! I want to be a (profession)”. If you’ve been dreaming of doing something, for years that you need a college degree for, then by all means, “do it man/girl!” Accept the consequences and debt and go forward…

But remember these two things: one, whatever you do in life, you ain’t in control of shit! The sooner you realize that, the saner you will be and two,

“For the love of money is a root of all the evils” (1 Timothy 6:10)

So isn’t Power and Success a root of Evil.

Bottom line: redefine what makes your Success or Happiness before you go any further in education.

[1] Ngpf.org Question of the day

[2] Intelligent.com published 4-4-22

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] ibid

[6] zackslayback.com