Image by Sume @ Flickr.com

Image by djwwestwood

Image by djwwestwood @ Flickr.com

Being that I am coming close to my graduation date (January 11th) from Towson University, I’ve been thinking. I am moving into an arena like one that I’ve never experienced before while letting the whole college life fade into the distance (the music stops, back to reality). I’ve been thinking a lot about the value of my college education (college education as a whole, better yet the whole educational system).

As a child the sermon went like this “Go to school, get a good education, get good grades, graduate, and get a good job.”  It’s the end of service and I don’t think I understood it. I’ve followed this whole process of going to school and I don’t think I really understand the reasoning or value behind it.

Really, what is the value of your college education?

Is it worth your FREEDOM?

Absolutely NOT, if you asked me. You probably never thought about it this way, but following the accepted norm about acquiring college education can be detrimental to your ability to be financially independent at a young age. The average college student graduates college with a debt of about $20,000 (and that’s just for 4 year undergraduate programs, most take longer).

Let’s do some math (finally I get to use what I learned in school, yes).

Average Debt = $20,000

Average Interest = 6%

Average monthly loan payment = $150

After the 1st year, Debt = $18,200 (Debt-Payment($1,800)) + Interest ($1,092 ($18,200 x 3%)) = $19,292 (which is about $700 less than your original debt, that means about $1,100 of your hard-earned-college-educated-degree-carrying-dollar went towards interest to the loan provider. WOW!

You are probably upset right now, so let me stop.  I hope you understand where I am going with this, at this kind of rate it will take you more than 30 years to pay off all of your college debt (modern day slavery). Do you see why most people have financial problems (and need a bailout)? If you’re like me and you graduate or graduated at the age of 22, you will still be paying for college debt well into your 50’s. Now…is it really worth it?

Some people may answer yes to this question (I don’t understand).

I am not saying that college is totally worthless, I went to college (but graduated debt free). What I am saying is, most people don’t have a game plan when going into college, hence they come out confused, stressed, can’t find a job in their field, sadly in debt, and by the time they get themselves together…it’s to late, the dream has been sucked right out of them.

So again I ask you, what is the value of your college education? Is it worth not being able to put yourself in a position to chase your dreams? Is it worth not being able to start chasing financial independence? Is it worth the stress of having to pay for the rest of your life? Is it worth having to keep working in an environment that you don’t like, but only do so in order to pay the bills? Is it worth living your whole life, only to come to a realization that you where never FREE…but only a slave to student loans?


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