An Argument In Favor of Higher Education
I note, with some interest, that today’s unemployment numbers revealed that it’s good to have a college degree. Only 5% of individuals with such a designation are unemployed, with the rest mulling about their jobs in the various service industries. The Mad Hedge Fund Trader (I can’t make these monikers up, people) brought to my attention the idea that the U.S. economy is changing, in a big way. He argues that America is establishing itself as the premier service economy, with finance, accounting, technology, health care, etc. becoming “where it’s at.” I would be the first to hear any claim that the unemployment numbers may be a bit more gloomy than expected, but I would hesitate to condemn the Trader’s analysis without some serious convincing.
If that’s true, then it’s foolish to not have a college degree and worse to not have a high school degree. We are outsourcing the jobs in manufacturing and other manual labor abroad, mainly because our minimum wage would be considered upper-middle class abroad. How could you convince Americans to be call center operators for $4 an hour? It’s almost impossible to overcome that magnitude of wage-job disparity with any sort of protectionism, even if the good people in Washington wished to try. I have no issue with the U.S. being a service economy, providing we keep providing quality services and continue exporting technological innovation.
How, then, does one play this roll-over in the job market? I believe for-profit education to be the wave of the future for those wishing to learn the trade skills to compete in a service industry. My alma mater (Belmont U) is a fantastic education for high-level thinking, but the price of education is simply not worth it unless you intend to bring home the bacon (or, for the vegetarian contingent reading this, tofu). The University of Phoenix offers a 15-hour semester for approximately $7000 a semester, Belmont the same courseload for $12,000 plus associated fees. Tennessee Tech offers the cheapest tuition of them all, but will it be able to continue if the state of Tennessee has a budget crunch like the one in California? And will the University of Phoenix outstrip them in terms of quality of education (have they already)?
At any rate, get a college degree now while the government is heavily subsidizing such activities. The ability of the government to bail out uneducated individuals is dwindling rapidly, but you see how the service industries (banks, healthcare) are getting the love. The ability to adapt to the changing job landscape could mean the ability to retire without welfare.
