Study ranks 4,500 colleges by net present value of 40 year ROI

[stoptothink]

Why does one go to college? To make money or to gain an education? Or both? If both, what are the percentages for each goal? Such clarifying questions hopefully would lead to a school choice consistent with one's goals. Or am I misunderstanding the purposes & goals of this article?

Money. 'Education' these days is brainwashing.

I'll make sure my kids are truly educated:
- Know the difference between a truth and a lie
- Recognize how statistics can be made to lie
- How polls can be skewed
- Understand how half-truths can also be a lie

So that means sticking them into a community college or an engineering school. No way they're going to a liberal arts school if I have anything to do with it.

I don't agree. A true liberal arts education in undergraduate school would encourage an inquisitive mind & critical analysis thus creating a sound basis for a career in whatever profession a student chooses. Such an open mind is required to address the value questions one faces in life. A stand-alone technical education is insufficient.

That's funny because earlier in my life I used to think like the last post. Now in my older wiser years, it's seems apparent in my view of life that having a college education in general doesn't seem to do a great job a developing truly critical thinking. Even on the most basic of things like critically thinking about simple things like "is this one product truly better than the other product" can be lacking with highly educated individuals that I've interacted with in life.

+1. As I spend more time in academia, now as a professor, I feel more and more strongly about this. IMO, academia is a poor and terribly cost-inefficient method of developing "critical thinking" skills that are relevant in the real world, and it seems to be getting worse.

[smitcat]

Why does one go to college? To make money or to gain an education? Or both? If both, what are the percentages for each goal? Such clarifying questions hopefully would lead to a school choice consistent with one's goals. Or am I misunderstanding the purposes & goals of this article?

Money. 'Education' these days is brainwashing.

I'll make sure my kids are truly educated:
- Know the difference between a truth and a lie
- Recognize how statistics can be made to lie
- How polls can be skewed
- Understand how half-truths can also be a lie

So that means sticking them into a community college or an engineering school. No way they're going to a liberal arts school if I have anything to do with it.

I don't agree. A true liberal arts education in undergraduate school would encourage an inquisitive mind & critical analysis thus creating a sound basis for a career in whatever profession a student chooses. Such an open mind is required to address the value questions one faces in life. A stand-alone technical education is insufficient.

That's funny because earlier in my life I used to think like the last post. Now in my older wiser years, it's seems apparent in my view of life that having a college education in general doesn't seem to do a great job a developing truly critical thinking. Even on the most basic of things like critically thinking about simple things like "is this one product truly better than the other product" can be lacking with highly educated individuals that I've interacted with in life.

"Even on the most basic of things like critically thinking about simple things like "is this one product truly better than the other product" can be lacking with highly educated individuals that I've interacted with in life."

FWIW - our daughter was well able to view the relative value of products before college age.

[LadyGeek]

This thread has run its course and is locked (topic exhausted, no longer discussing ROI). See: Locked Topics

Moderators or site admins may lock a topic (set it so no more replies may be added) when a violation of posting policy has occurred. Occasionally, even if there are no overt violations of posting policy, a topic (or thread) will reach a point where the information content of the discussion has been essentially exhausted and further replies are much more likely to cause distress to the community than add anything of value.