Re:Is college worth it? A return-on-investment analysis
by Sohcahtoa82 on Wednesday October 27, 2021 @01:54PM
(#29016663)
> What's unclear to me is whether these numbers are for all outstanding debt, or for debts at graduation.
There's another possibility too: People who attended but never graduated. I know someone who went to a community college for a year, taking out about $10K in student loans, but dropped out before completing their Associate's. [0]
The thing is, there's so many possible categories when it comes to considering loan debt. People who didn't graduate, people who got an Associate's and stopped, people who got an Associate's and kept going, but didn't finish their Bachelor's, people (like me) who were able to stay in their existing home while going to school versus having to stay in college housing...I could go on.
And how you choose which subset of student loan debtors can determine the narrative you want to shape. If a study only focuses on people with at least a Master's that stayed in college dorms, then you'll probably get a high number, but of course the news sites will have a headline that claims "The average college grad has $XXX,XXX in student loan debt", and only mention in the body of the article (that many people won't read) that it's only a subset of college grads.
[0] Somewhat irrelevant footnote: This person then rants about college being a complete waste of money because you'll "still end up working Comcast tech support for $13/hour".
There's another possibility too: People who attended but never graduated. I know someone who went to a community college for a year, taking out about $10K in student loans, but dropped out before completing their Associate's. [0]
The thing is, there's so many possible categories when it comes to considering loan debt. People who didn't graduate, people who got an Associate's and stopped, people who got an Associate's and kept going, but didn't finish their Bachelor's, people (like me) who were able to stay in their existing home while going to school versus having to stay in college housing...I could go on.
And how you choose which subset of student loan debtors can determine the narrative you want to shape. If a study only focuses on people with at least a Master's that stayed in college dorms, then you'll probably get a high number, but of course the news sites will have a headline that claims "The average college grad has $XXX,XXX in student loan debt", and only mention in the body of the article (that many people won't read) that it's only a subset of college grads.
[0] Somewhat irrelevant footnote: This person then rants about college being a complete waste of money because you'll "still end up working Comcast tech support for $13/hour".