OT: College Tuition Cost

[DeeDave]

We do know that people who go to college end up making significantly more on average than those who do not (and that goes up with each new degree). Do all people that go to college make more? Absolutely not. Those are just the averages. Everyone has anecdotal stories - but those aren’t really relevant in proving a point.

Yep- I mean you see that in all the studies and reviews- even for people that get general studies degrees.

Plus, companies and industries will always seek minimum qualifications to weed people out. For many companies, that will be a 4 year degree- or a 2 year degree at a minimum.

Plus, again - it's also a marketing thing for the company. When they advertise and tell their customers, 80% of our staff have a 2 year or 4 year degree, they do that because it attracts their customers. If their customers didn't care, they wouldn't make it a big deal. But if their customers care and ask about it, they are going to want to hire those folks.

 

[DeeDave]

With all that said- I paid my tuition bill for my freshman today. He's going to Tech for the 1st two years. His bill was $89. (No book fees yet)

But I have to pay for my senior next week. That won't be $89.

 

[bucketdad]

Professional certifications are essential in many businesses. Some of those require a college degree. Some don't. But really all of them required training or advanced training.

Many businesses promote the fact that they have employees that have obtained the highest professional certification for their career field. It allows the business to market itself to customers that only want to do business with people that have obtained the professional certification.

I mean it makes sense. If you have someone designing something for you or reviewing something for you that has to be right, do you want someone that has the most advanced training in their field and passed the certification exam, or do you want to hire the person that didn't bother with the training and wouldn't be able to pass the exam if they tried? That's an easy choice for me.

The market and the great majority of businesses made their choice and made it long ago.

That doesn't mean a non certified person can't do the job. It also doesn't mean the certified one will always do the best job. But the company or industry can't market itself as positively as it would like to within their industry.

If you are have a need that has to stand up to legal scrutiny, you are likely going to reach out to the business with the employees that have the professional certifications as opposed to the businesses or individuals that haven't taken the time to earn the top certifications in their field.

It's sort of like our church audit that we pay for each year. We don't let Sue the bookkeeper perform the audit. We have a CPA firm perform the audit and certify that our books are correct. Sue is great and she can do a great job keeping the books. But Sue the bookkeeper's work is not going to hold up as well as a CPA firm reviewing our books and putting their signature and reputation on the line to back us up.

It's entirely possible a non certified who was trained on the job is equally qualified to do the same job a certified employee does except for the fact they have no certification. I think a big part of them not being paid as much in some of those situations is not to ruffle feathers within where resentment creeps in and poisons the work environment where certified and non certified workers are used... at least that's what appears to be the case in some private sector businesses I know of.

 

[DeeDave]

It's entirely possible a non certified who was trained on the job is equally qualified to do the same job a certified employee does except for the fact they have no certification. I think a big part of them not being paid as much in some of those situations is not to ruffle feathers within where resentment creeps in and poisons the work environment where certified and non certified workers are used... at least that's what appears to be the case in some private sector businesses I know of.

oh - I agree with you. Many times the non certified people work under the certified person. The non certified person does all the work and the certified person signs the work order or signs the receipt.

But often (not always) this is because the non certified person is still gaining experience or working toward certification.

Most professional certifications worth their salt require a certain level of formal education and a certain amount of actual work experience.

That's why I've never been fond of these younger people that have 2-3 certifications but they've never actually worked in the industry before. It's great that they had the desire to get certifications. That is terrific and I think that should make them a very attractive candidate for employment over those that have not achived any certifications. But the work experience part is very important too.

In my profession, we have several certifications. The highest and most prestigious one requires a certain amount of work experience, a 4 year degree, and passing 2 exams. In turn, the people that hold that certification tend to make the most money.

BUT- you still have to be able to have good communication skills in most professions. I use to work with a guy who had at least 5-6 certifications- and sadly he used every one of those certifications on his business card. I thought it looked silly. He was very smart. But his communication skills were subpar- and he sort of knew it. He tried too hard to make up for it and it just never came across smoothly.

 

[Neanderthal]

The rub comes when the certified person tries to tell the non-certified person with 10+ years experience at the job how something ought to be done when the non-certified person, through experience, knows the certified guy is wrong.