It’s 2021 and it has been a year or so since the dreaded pandemic started. It hasn’t been an easy year for most people especially university students. Just imagine all of the Harvard students who have paid almost $70,000 to get online Zoom teaching. Now, this isn’t Harvard’s fault but you can just imagine how angry these Harvard students are right now. Normally a four-year course at Harvard costs almost $200,000 and that’s without a room or a board. Just imagine how much it will cost with all of that involved. Now, many Harvard students will go on to lead extremely successful lives no doubt about that. Most go onto extremely well-paid jobs on Wall Street or becoming a private doctor etc. Hence why the $200,000 spent will probably be nothing in the years to come.
I say that with a pinch of salt though. You see student debt is at $1.3 trillion right now and it’s only going to increase. It’s stupid for politicians to say “cancel student debt” but that would lead the US into such a bad recession that there is no point even talking about it. Except, the man who proposed it Bernie Sanders does think it will work as if it was implemented, it would be paid off via Wall Street taxes which could generate more than double the current debt. That sounds smart until you realize that in the end, it will be Wall Street paying for student education which in their eyes is a complete no. It may sound like I am being obtuse but it’s true.
Furthermore, Mr. Sanders does not realize how smart Wall Street is. These billionaires won’t just sit there and let the government take their money away. They will find ways to dodge the bullet and they in all seriousness have far more financial influence than Mr. Sanders. Luckily, Mr.Sanders is not in power so this won’t happen. Another key issue is that Mr. Sanders doesn’t realize that some of these on debt can actually somewhat afford to pay it off in the long term so canceling it for those who are paying comfortably, would be a waste.
What the Democrats are proposing which is pretty smart, is canceled debt for those who literally cannot afford it. Though that would still be expensive and taxing the stock market would just make liquidity volumes explode. It’s a short term solution for a really long-term issue. You see the stem of all these issues is the cost of universities and also the limited education paths.
Let’s Take The UK As An Example
Hate me as much as you want, but the UK has a far better education system than the USA. It may be harder yes, but it’s fairer. Universities are cheaper, courses are shorter and lifestyle can be just as good. The University of Oxford costs less than many state colleges in the USA. That’s because the UK has a cap on university fees which is around $10,000. The world’s best university then costs $12,000 a year excluding living costs.
The UK also has apprenticeship schemes whereby you essentially learn on the job. For example, Jaguar Land Rover who is one of the top apprenticeship companies in the UK will pay you as an employee whilst your learning mechanics, accounting, design, etc. You can also become an accountant or so too via an apprenticeship. The UK also has many vocational courses available too called B-Tecs which are more coursework-based rather than exams.
Next year, the UK will also have T-Levels which are set up by companies and the government in which they teach students what the employers want. They are essentially mini degree courses if you like.
The US has an apprenticeship scheme too but fewer than 5% of students actually enrolled in it. The US will tell you how good it is yet it’s nothing in comparison to the UK. The USA has a one-size-fits-all approach to education and over the last forty years university fees have gone up by 1400 percent yet what has been taught hasn’t changed.
In the future, many tech giants may collaborate more with universities. Though they will most likely be the top Ivy League universities. MIT and Harvard already have links with the likes of Google and Apple. MIT and Harvard are expensive but they push out what the tech industries want which are essentially geniuses. Not so fast. You see, The CEOs and presidents of many Big Tech Firms never went to a top university, some dropped out and some never went at all. But the majority of their employees did.
Are Universities Still Worth It?
Of course, going to a top university helps nowadays especially in the tech and science world. Both tech and science are booming industries and they are going to get bigger and bigger each year. Finance is an also ever-growing sector, though to become a stock market/Forex millionaire do you even need a degree? There is so much free information out there and there are also many inexpensive (compared to a degree) courses and mentor schemes that teach you more than these degrees.
In the finance world, it’s the experience that is key. You have to be up to date all the time. You have to know the latest strategies, the latest laws, the latest investments, etc. This is the same with marketing, whereby you have to be up to date with the latest marketing trends and marketing rules.
Business is also the same whereby experience is the best teacher. Many successful business people never once went to university however, there is also a fair share who did. Most business students though end up working for companies.
Business as a degree is stupid in my opinion. You can learn accounting, laws, regulations, etc online and the thing is at university your mostly learning business from a nonbusiness professional. Someone who has never properly run a business before. Yes in some cases you can network and connect with big businesses, etc however, these big businesses and so are only here to hire you. They don’t want you to open a business. they want to employ you and yes they can pay a lot but wasn’t the aim of business to really own your own business?
Degrees such as medicine, law, accounting, veterinary, teaching, etc are all needed and are useful. Things like business, musical studies, weird history degrees, etc are useless. There is far too many courses out there and majority of them are pointless.