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College education does not always equal high-paying job
06 January 2010
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Let me preface by stating that I understood when I began my college education that I would not make a great deal of money. I knew that teachers, especially part-time instructors at community colleges, did not make a lot of money, and I was fine with that because I wanted to teach. I still love teaching, even with all of the frustration it can bring.
That said, I want to address a fallacy that is running rampant in the hallways of many community colleges and universities nowadays: a college education equals a high-paying job. Many of my college students, especially first-year students, tell me that the reason they have come to college is that they want to make a lot of money. They tell me "I know when I finish my four-year degree, I'll be making at least 50,000 dollars a year or more." I never laugh, even though I want to. One student, around four years ago, told me that he would be making in the area of 350,000 dollars per year. I wonder what he is doing now. I sincerely hope he is making that much money; what a great way to start his professional life.
Where do our children learn that they will get high-paying jobs with a college degree? High school counselors? Parents? Friends? Television? Maybe a combination of the four. My high school counselor, through one of those silly tests they give (or used to give) that place students
in their occupations according to personality or educational performance or socioeconomic class (this last one is most likely, based on my research on tracking), had me working in the service industry, which I did for quite some time after dropping out of high school.
I had always heard that getting a college education leads to a high-paying job, and I believed that until I went to college and saw that was not the case. I quickly learned that some people working in insulation, which is the field I had been in four years by the time I quit to raise my son and pursue a full-time college career, made more money than I would make unless I had a Ph.D. and a tenured position at a university. My students are always flabbergasted when I tell them that I know managers at Burger King who make more than I make. It's true.
In fact, here is a small sampling of jobs that are higher paying than mine, and I have had ten years of college.
| Burger King manager (33k) |
| Pipe Fitter (51k) |
| Electricians (44k) |
| Welders (39k) |
| Industrial Insulators (66k) |
| Registered Nurses (53k) |
| Copy Repair Technicians (39k) |
| Veterinary Assistant (some) (38k) |
| Garbage Man (25k)
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Again, that is a small sampling; I could go on. There are more. Also, keep in mind that the numbers listed above represent national averages and may be lower or higher in some states.
Keep in mind, reader, that I am a part-time instructor at a community college; I have been teaching part time for going on eight years. Now, when I get a full-time teaching position I could make anywhere from 42k-62k--the higher end of that is reserved for Ph.D. candidates; I would be on the low end of 50k. This is pretty good, and I could scratch a few off of my list above. My current salary is approximately half of the low end of a full-time community college instructor, which is still a few thousand below the lowest paid occupation on the above list, and most of those folks did not attend college for ten years to get to the salary listed.
Why am I saying all of this? I don't want the fallacy to be perpetuated any further; I want my students to understand that the jobs they think are high-paying, "classy" jobs may not pay them as much as they want to make. In fact, I have told my students that they might make more money if they went to a trade school and became pipe fitters, electricians, or insulators. They scoff at this ninety-nine percent of the time.
I don't think that we should be telling our children that a college equals a high-paying job. This simply is not true. Just because one attends college and earns a four- or six-year degree does not mean that person is going to walk right out of the classroom and into a 60k (or more) per year job. Are there majors which would see people into these kinds of jobs? Sure. Engineers, medical doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and some IT professionals will make that kind of money. However, the majority of students that I teach are not in those majors and may not ever make that kind of money.
An important piece of information we can pass along to our children is to choose a career they will enjoy, to do something about which they feel passionate. This is the way to happiness and riches. I would rather be happy teaching, making the salary that I do for now, than work a job I hate while making three times as much.
Really, and most importantly, we should teach our children that education should be valued over the money that comes from education.
References
indeed.com. (2010). http://www.indeed.com/.
Simply Hired. (2005-2010). http://www.simplyhired.com/.
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