Researches show that, on the average, college graduates make higher income in the long run than people that do not have a college degree. This is the impetus underlying the current waves of advocacy for young people to go to college. Most Asian parents in particular, tend to instill the importance of college, particularly the math and science field, in their children. To a large degree, this may explain the Asian American students majority in UC Berkeley.
Yet going to college in our new country, while it is an expansion of one's horizon, is not necessarily a sure path to financial success. Like everything else here, you are presented with complex choices and you have to navigate them carefully. Besides your talent, you must consider simultaneously, the job prospect of your major, the supply and demand of college graduates in your field, the projected cost of the colleges of your choice, and last but not least, the "pay back" end of the ever soooo.....easy money - student loans. And if you are talented in trades, and prefer to go to trade school, resist internalizing societal's put-down. The truth is, I have seen many trade school graduates here in the US coming out way ahead financially than their peers from colleges, that is if the above factors work out to the positive.
Like home mortgages that led to the avalanche of foreclosures of the last few years, student loans are being aggressively and, at times recklessly, panned . They make you feel like the sky is the limit. But beware!
The story of S.F. resident, Cortney Munna, NYU graduate, class of 2005, is not uncommon. Click the link below.
