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Is College Worth It?

2012-08-21 · John · watch on YouTube · Everyday life · reflection essay

Answering a Nerdfighter's question, John works out that a reasonably good accredited college is criminally overpriced but probably still worth it financially, then argues that college is less about maximizing income than about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; roxinpunch's Tumblr question whether college is worth it; university is free or cheap outside the US

  • ★★ John takes up long-time Nerdfighter roxinpunch's Tumblr question whether college, with its overpriced degrees, is even worth it, as relevant to students and to people still repaying loans. — 00:00:02 · Tumblr
  • ★★ John says outside the US university is free or very inexpensive, while US education is subsidized but much less so. — 00:00:17 · United States

00:00:29 — Cost-benefit calculation: tuition, loans, opportunity cost, inflation and the hourly break-even; studies say college is still worth it

  • ★★ John says Indiana University costs about $10,000 for Indiana residents and about $30,000 a year for others. — 00:00:29 · Indiana
  • ★★ In John's example, $100,000 of college including $60,000 in loans costs about $80,000 in loan repayments with interest, a total of $120,000. (hypothetical) — 00:00:37
  • ★★ Adding the opportunity cost of studying instead of working and adjusting for inflation, John ballparks the example's college cost at about $140,000. (hypothetical) — 00:01:08
  • ★★★ John calculates that over 50-ish working years college pays off if it adds $175,000 in earnings, about $1.75 an hour: e.g. $13 an hour on average instead of $11.25. (hypothetical) — 00:01:23
  • ★★ John says most studies show that on average college is still very much worth it, though some for-profit universities and misleading vocational programs probably aren't. (hedged) — 00:01:49
  • ★★★ For a reasonably good accredited university, John says two things are true: it is criminally overpriced, and it is probably still worth it. (hedged) — 00:01:59

00:02:07 — Life is not purely economic: John's Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift versus his lower-paid Booklist job

  • ★★★ John's objection: the calculation assumes human life is a purely economic phenomenon, which it isn't. — 00:02:07
  • ★★ Long ago John worked the graveyard shift at Steak 'n Shake for about $14 an hour on average, a great job with good benefits and a stock program; he still owns 15 shares. — 00:02:14
  • ★ About once a week in the small hours there was vomit in the urinal, and the staff played intense rock-paper-scissors over who would clean it. (playful) — 00:02:25
  • ★★ After college John earned about $1 an hour less as an assistant at Booklist, but the job was better in every way: books, people who loved them, advancement, and in six years no vomit. — 00:02:45

00:03:00 — Passion and fulfillment over income; education gave perspective; college as a gift in a world of poverty; sign-off

  • ★★★ In John's experience, maximizing income is far less important than maximizing passion and fulfillment, professionally and personally. — 00:03:00
  • ★★ In college John feared adulthood would bring more existential dread than frat parties did; instead he now feels much less aimlessness and nihilism. — 00:03:09
  • ★★★ John credits that partly to the job opportunities education gave him, but mostly to the perspective and context it gave him. — 00:03:22
  • ★★★ Whether one studies electrical engineering or poetry, John says college is finally not about maximizing income but about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe, which for him leads to a more fulfilling life. — 00:03:28
  • ★★ With about half of humans living on less than $2.50 a day, John calls the chance to study formally a gift, even if a very expensive one. — 00:03:38 · extreme poverty

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