...this is laughable. I posted this earlier, look at Kiplingers Best College Values and look at starting salaries. Then update your post.
For every tradesman starting and succeeding at ther own business there are at least as many college grades doing it at at much larger magnitude. Each should follow their own path, but this garbage that college debt is a killer is just wrong.
Or just look around your town, neighbourhood, city. In general, Be honest, who has the highest income and what level of education do you think they have ?
Having spent time in wealth management, the majority of clients and people I was going after who had $1 million + accounts as prospects weren't high salary professionals like doctors and lawyers, yes they make way above the average income etc. but the majority of people with REAL, F-You money were contractors. The only lawyers I went after were partners (i.e. part owners) of bigger firms, their underlings the associates might be making 100-200k max anually while the partners were often well into the $800k to $2mil annual income range. Employees typically top out in salary at a level multiples lower than their bosses, no matter what industry they're in. I'm not arguing that being an engineer and a garbage man are the same, I'm arguing that an educated professional type who is an employee is unlikely to be wealthy in the true sense of the word solely because of their salary, whereas their boss likely will be wealthy many times over. That being said it is far easier and quicker to be an owner in a contracting business and grow it than it is in a business where the employees are highly paid professional types like engineers. From a purely financial standpoint it's a mixed bag and largely depends on the college major and the individual's goals for either the college graduate or the non-grad.
This book agrees with you: Note. I consider professional trading as more blue collar type of work then white collar.
My experience may be anecdotal but less so than most unless they were in wealth management also. I pitched thousands of people, you notice trends after a while . A neighborhood I used to live in is another perfect example, the doctors and lawyers had nice houses, but the guys who owned contracting companies were the ones with the huge houses all the way at the end of the neighborhood on the water. As far as trading goes taking college stats is definitely useful, maybe business calc also but that's about it! Everything you need to learn you can just buy books on.
%% Some called up Dave Ramsey, the gov agency[college loan agency ]took his IRS tax refund before he could get it thru the mail. Can they do that, caller asked ; yes.
The most important part of university is to learn how to learn. Ideally you should study something STEM related, even if you don’t plan to use it. Kids need to learn to Overcome challenging classes and how to become independent both financially and generally (usually this is the first time for most not being under the thumb of their parents). For those who get their degree and come out of university without a plan to use their diploma, I advise them (if they have the right personality) to get into sales. Sales gives you the potential to earn an unlimited pay check and get your loans paid off. Otherwise, find a job that allows you (or starts you) in the field that you WANT to be in. Start at the bottom. I told my kids that if they don’t study something useful like STEM then they can pay for their own education.
I don't have kids but I always thought the same. You want to be a lawyer? Great. Engineer? Great. You want to major in English and study the classics? Enjoy your loan payments. english