College is a reward for surviving high school. – Judd Apatow

Let’s face the facts. A college degree is not as valuable as it used to be.

Many folks are landing starting salaries well below what it cost them to get that required degree before starting that job that pays less than what it cost to go to school to qualify for the job in the first place.  

According to PayScale, the typical college graduate with zero to five years of experience is raking in $48,400.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) states that average starting salary for graduates is about $50,004. So what does that say about paying $100,000 for that creative writing degree? That it is overpriced.

Let’s get down to brace tacks.

HOW MUCH MORE IS COLLEGE TODAY?

The price of college has now outpaced inflation.

The average yearly cost of 4-year public college cost from 1971-2016:

2016: $20,967

1971: 8,734

140.1% increase in college costs

During that same period of time wages decreased by 5.4% over those 45 years.

You read that right. Wages actually went DOWN instead of UP with a college degree in your hand.

See my post College Alternatives that could save you $100,000

WHAT IS THE PRICE OF COLLEGE VS THE VALUE OF YOUR EDUCATION?

After you get that degree, then you have go out and get that coveted job. You want a great starting salary, but most employers will tell you they cannot quantify your knowledge but so much.

Really?

Cause college are sure about to slap a price tag on getting that knowledge.

Why not offer the same salary as the cost of the degree?

For instance, if you pay $45,000 for your sociology degree, then that would be your starting salary.

Let’s think about that for a second.

What if colleges and employers printed the cost of degree and payment for that degree? Then you would see something like this:

Petroleum/Mechanical Engineering: Degree cost and starting salary $90,000.

Psychology: Degree cost and starting salary $47,000.

That would alleviate a lot of stress and salary negotiations right there.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE DEGREES ON THE PLANET

“A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.” ― Shelby Foote

Education is an asset. And investing a great deal of money in a degree doesn’t necessarily guarantee a first-class education. However, it can alter the trajectory of your life if you are able to parlay all those late nights writing papers into some serious coin.

As of 2019, Harvey Mudd College has taken the crown for the most expensive college in the world costing students approximately $57,401 for the upcoming 2019/2020 academic school year.

If we time that by four, which is being nice considering the average college kid is graduation in 5-6 years, then we get a mind-blowing $229,604!

For some perspective, if we invest that money instead over four years and let it ride, then after 30 years with an 8% return you would have $2,310,426.27! Yes, those four years cost you over $2 MILLION!

You literally could have used your college savings and invested every penny in the stock market and gotten a higher return than what many will get after 10 years of drudgery repaying that $200,000.

It gets even more expensive if your kid starts in at the top and goes to a private school from K-12. This could cost you even more and the losses start to really pile up!

Say those adolescent years are spent in some swanky private school at $50,000 a year. Over the course of 13 years, you would have paid $650,000! Add that $229,604 and you are staring at education bills of almost $900,000!

I would take a check for $900,000 at the age of 22 any day of the week over going to fancy private schools for 17 years!

And just in case you were wondering.

If you invest that $50,000 private school money over 13 years in the stock market, you would have $1,160,746.02 with an 8% return. And add in four years of college, that would net you $1,822,512.19.

Going to public school isn’t looking so bad now is it?

Here are some of the most expensive colleges in the United States and the world.

These 12 colleges are currently the most expensive in the United States:

12. Duke University (18)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $55,960

11. Bucknell University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,092

10. University of Southern California
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,225

9. Tufts University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,382

8. Amherst College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,426

7. Franklin and Marshall College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,550

6. Landmark College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,800

5. Harvey Mudd College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,876

4. Trinity College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,910

3. Vassar College
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $56,960

2. University of Chicago
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $57,006

1. Columbia University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $59, 430

These 11 colleges are currently the most expensive in the world:

11. Yale University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $49,480

10. UCL (University College London)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: £9,250 or $12,080 USD

9. ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: CHF 1,298 (~US$1,310)

8. University of Chicago
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $57,006

7. Princeton University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $43,450

6. California Institute of Technology
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $45,390

5. University of Oxford
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: £9,250 or $12,080 USD

4. Harvard University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $46,340

3. University of Cambridge UK (United Kingdom)
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: £9,250 or $12,080 USD

2. Stanford University
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $46,320

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2018-19 Tuition & Fees: $47,704

Those are expensive colleges.

Did you know you could go to university cheaper abroad?

For some perspective on exactly how expensive colleges are in the United States, as an international student you could go to the same college as Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton for less than it costs to go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton! The cost is £20,770 or $27,125 USD. That is what it would cost annually to attend the University of St Andrews.

NOT ALL DEGREES ARE CREATED EQUAL

Education is not an equalizer. If you go to the same college as a science nerd majoring in Math, while you are majoring in philosophy, you both are not on equal footing by a long shot.

In light of the recent college bribery scandal, let’s talk top-tier universities.

If you were to get an acceptance into Yale or Duke University, congrats to you, as you are among the college elite. However, don’t break out the celebratory champagne just yet.

Although you and another student may be paying the same amount to go Duke, if you major in a different field, then that degree can easily eclipse yours.

Put it this way. You and another student both pay $48,000 a year over four years. That is $192,000. You become an engineer raking in big bucks right after grad by getting a starting salary of $95,000. Your friend on the other hand, let’s call him Joe, majored in piano or violin and is only able to get a starting salary as a backing musician for $38,000.  

That is a difference of $57,000 a year.

You ask how is that so? We went to the same university. We paid the same amount.

Yes, but your degree is in higher demand than Joe’s.

Then you may ask yourself: Well why didn’t Joe pick a more in demand degree? And therein lies the rub.

Joe is a skilled musician. That is where his passion and interest lie. Even if he would have seen a brochure, which there aren’t any in wide circulation on any college campuses that I have ever been to, showing the starting salaries of majors he still would have chosen music.

The playing field of majors is not level. Therefore, you need to decide before you even step foot on a college campus what you want to be.

This is a small list of what employers are paying for college majors.

My suggestion is that you do a search on what it costs and what it pays to be a lawyer, accountant, doctor, or violinist. When you know what your options are, then you can at least make an informed decision.