“What they really learned is a financial lesson”
Forget about asking the government to pay off all the student loans or provide free college; get today’s top companies to do it and really want to.
Did you know public colleges & universities use to be free for the public? What a concept!
There are expenses to run a school though and even free wasn’t actually free. In 1954, UCLA charged an incidental fee for all under-graduate students of $45 per semester.(1)
- Very, very few colleges have been able to lower tuition costs.
- It’s nice to get low interest rate loans, when you need a loan, but going to college to improve yourself and the pool of workers in America should not come at a cost to you. Small businesses, large companies, corporations and the country benefit by having more people well-educated.
- By creating a huge burden on people in order to better themselves, the Student Loan system has now become one of the largest lenders of money in the United States. These loans are ‘normally’ $40K ~ $80K, but they can reach as much as $250K and fall on the shoulders of the youngest Americans; making slaves of well-educated, well-intentioned young people. And, to make it worse, many new graduates find it hard to get a job after spending 4 years and $80K+ to get that education. What they really learned is a financial lesson.
- The military figured out around 1944 the easiest way to increase the number of recruits is to pay for their college. This program has had many changes over the years and now requires a minimum time to serve afterwards (2 years active duty in the Army, for example).
- Why can’t corporations do the same thing? Find a company you want to work for anyway, apply for a job with college benefits and even work-study if feasible.
- For example, you want to work as a Vice President for Dream Company, which currently pays ($90K) for a starting VP.
- You have good grades, and have shown an aptitude for management and innovation, so they hire you on a College Hero program.
- You agree (and sign a contract) to work for Dream Company when you graduate – which you already wanted to do anyway – and commit to staying for 4 years.
- Note, 4 years is very long in today’s standards; new college grads are expected to change jobs about 12 times during their career.
- If you did not graduate or did not work for the contracted time, fees might need to be repaid (or the next company might pay them for you).
- Your College Hero salary will be $75K. The pay for VPs might be expected to go up about 3-5% per year, so the company may actually save money if they pay $20K per year for you to attend college
- Here’s the math:
- Current year: VP salary $90K
- Year 2: $93,600 = $90,000 * 1.04 (middle of 3-5%)
- Year 3: $97,344 = $93,600 * 1.04
- Year 4: $101,237 = $97,344 * 1.04
- Since VPs in 4 years are expected to get paid $101,237 and you’ll get paid $75,000, that’s $26,237 the company saves per year for 4 years!!!
- By the way, the math above is exactly the same as compound interest (covered in an upcoming blog), except compound interest is all about making you money, not them.
- Here’s the math:
- Another, even better idea (I’m full of these 😊) is for Dream Company to create its own university to train people for different positions with their own instructors. Now, instead of attending a ‘general college’ with a BS degree (all puns intended) you have a specific VP Degree, which all businesses will recognize and appreciate.
- Recycling opportunity too. Colleges, which had outrageously overcharged students would be forced to close, will be saved (and purchased) by companies for their training program.
References: (1) https://www.registrar.ucla.edu/Portals/50/Documents/catalog-archive/1950-1999/53-54catalog.pdf, pg. 35 C Incidental fee. The incidental fee for all undergraduate students is $45. This fee, which must be paid each semester at the time of registration , covers certain expenses of students for counseling service , for library books, for athletic and gymnasium facilities and equipment, for lockers and washrooms, for registration and graduation, for such consultation, medical advice, and dispensary treatment as can be furnished on the campus by the Strident Health Service, and for all laboratory and course fees.