US college education from an outsider’s perspective

According to the College Board, the average fees at US universities for in-State students for the academic year 2017/18 are 20'770 USD.

After completing a 4-year public State college your Bachelor degree will have cost you 83k USD. If you studied to become a teacher your average starting salary is 38k USD. Doesn't sound right? At READ we certainly think it doesn't.

In early 2017 we came across the US debt clock, leaving us puzzled by the sheer size of student debts. This number in the context of education was inconceivable to us.

Hardly familiar with the US educational system, we started to research for the reasons that lie behind this humongous and growing number. The deeper we dug, the more bewildered we felt, realizing that we opened a Pandora’s box. We found ourselves navigating through what appears to be an overly complex and frankly dysfunctional system, which even for us, being reasonably literate in financial matters, was hard to grasp.

We came to the conclusion that the US is entertaining an unnecessarily complex system, to the detriment of many students and ultimately to society. While tuition costs increase disproportionally to the household income, the pertinacious perception of a college degree being the most viable pathway to success, remains.

It is time to rethink whether a four-year degree is still worth the investment. While colleges undeniably serve a variety of academic professions, in a business context the value of a college degree decreases. It is not only degree inflation and rising tuition costs that consume its value, but also the time investment. In an ever faster changing business world, four years are an eternity. Considering the growing universe of college alternatives and online education options begs the question why the brick-and-mortar college remains the preferred option.

To stay abreast of changes in educational and financial aspects and to enable a meaningful decision-making process is why we founded READ. Since a meaningful decision-making process requires the knowledge of one’s options in the first place, we begin the implementation of our vision by mapping the ever-evolving educational landscape and associated services in one place.

Additionally, we would love to hear your stories, learn from your decisions, find out about your opinions, and consider your recommendations in the context of education and its financial implications. Let’s start a conversation and build a community to share insights and knowledge to support students (and their parents) along their decision-making journey.

Join the READ movement. Check out our latest post. Like it. Share it. Sign-up. Write. Donate. Be part of the community. Change the world. Your action matters.

Thank you, Alberto
Co-Founder READ Enterprises
https://www.readenterprises.org/