Forget how much your college degree is worth for a second and think about how much it cost. If you don’t know because your parents footed the bill, as did mine, I will tell you. The average yearly tuition costs graduation-879941_640plus room and board for an in-state student attending a four year public university is more than $18,000 for 2013-2014. The fee increases by two to four percent every year so today’s graduate will spend a cool $75,000 by the time they cross the stage and that’s if they get out in four years! Perhaps even more gut churning is the cost of attending a private institution which will run you north of $40,000 a year. You do the math for how much that diploma will cost.
So is going to college, especially to a prestigious private institution, really worth it? Recent research suggests that hiring managers spend only about six seconds reviewing a candidate’s resume. During that brief time they examine the candidate’s name, their most recent work experience and their education credentials. I’m going to suggest that a whopping two of those six seconds is actually spent analyzing where the candidate obtained their $72,000+ education. A recent survey by Gallup of over 600 U.S. business leaders shows that 84% of them feel that the amount of knowledge a candidate has in a particular field to be “very important” compared to only 9% who feel that where a job candidate went to school to be “very important”. Conversely 40% feel that where a candidate went to school to be “not very important”. How’s that prestigious private pedigree feeling now? Perhaps you’re feeling like maybe you or your parents overspent a bit on your education. At least your stellar G.P.A. will reflect positively on you right? Well maybe not.