Jun 29, 2009 11:25 AM
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New York, 2:21 AM
Wed Feb 10
55 posts in the last 24 hours
Just like my high school history teacher told us, skipping college and getting a damn job instead is the smartest economic thing you could possibly do. Someone has proven it, using mathematics!
One day in 11th grade, Mr. Romaine got up and sketched out, on the chalkboard, the average expected debts and earnings of two theoretical people: One, who left high school and went to work immediately as, say, a plumber or something; and another who went to college, and started earning only after they graduated and paid off their loans. And hey, a SmartMoney editor (not Mr. Romaine) did the same thing in a New York Post editorial today, proving that college is a huge scam:
[College grad] Bill will have higher pay than [straight-to-work after high school] Ernie his whole life, starting at $23,505 after taxes and peaking at $56,808. Like Ernie, he sets aside 5%. At that rate, it will take him 12 years to pay off his loan. Debt-free at 34, he starts adding to the same index fund as Ernie, making bigger monthly contributions with his higher pay. But when the two reunite at 65 for a retirement party, Ernie will have grown his savings to nearly $1.3 million. Bill will have less than a third of that.
Art history sucks, Bill! And this is assuming that college grads can still get far better jobs these days, which, ha. A/C repair, people. It ain't going anywhere.
[NYP. Pic via]
Send an email to Hamilton Nolan, the author of this post, at Hamilton@gawker.com.
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