Key Points
The cost of college has risen exponentially through the years.
A degree can be an investment, but you want to make sure it’ll pay off.
Do research into your field to get a sense of what it pays to spend on college, and see if there are options for reducing your higher education costs.
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If the cost of college today makes you want to groan, you’re in good company. The average cost of tuition and fees at private four-year colleges has risen 181.3% over the past two decades, according to the Education Data Initiative.
It’s not so surprising, then, that many college graduates finish their studies saddled with student debt. And you may be eager to avoid being one of them.
Of course, taking out student loans may be inevitable. But in that case, it’s important to make sure that your education is likely to lead to a career that makes it possible to pay those loans off.
In this Reddit post, we have an 18-year-old who’s scheduled to attend Ohio State University to study mechanical engineering. The poster’s estimated costs are $38,000 a year due to them being out of state. That figure includes a modest scholarship for swimming.
The poster wants to know if the $38,000 price tag is worth paying. The answer? It depends.
An investment that might pay off
When you’re thinking of going to college, it’s important to look at the cost as an investment. In exchange for paying for tuition, fees, and other costs associated with your degree, you’re setting yourself up to be able to earn a living for many years after college.
One thing you do not want to do, however, is go to an expensive college and take out a pile of loans only to end up in a low-paying job that makes it difficult to pay that debt back. And while you can’t see into the future and predict how much money you’ll make, you can do some research to see how lucrative your field might be.
Imagine you plan to go into a field that pays $45,000 to $50,000 a year on average. In that case, it may not make sense to go to an expensive college that will leave you with $100,000 in student loans or more. If you do that, you could end up carrying that debt for decades.
In that situation, what you may want to do is start off at community college and transfer to a four-year college after two years. That way, you can knock out some of your requirements at a lower cost.
Getting back to our poster, while $38,000 a year is a lot of money, the poster says they may be eligible for a larger scholarship in future years. Also, the median annual pay for a mechanical engineer is $102,320, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, based on its most recent data.
With a salary that generous, it’s possible that paying off a degree from Ohio State won’t be so burdensome for the poster. So if there’s a specialized program there for mechanical engineering, then it could be worth going there.
Do what you can to keep your higher education costs down
No matter what career you’re hoping to pursue, it’s never a bad idea to keep your college costs as low as possible. To that end, one thing you can consider, aside from starting off at community college, is to commute to a four-year school if you’re attending one that’s drivable from where your parents live. You could save a bundle on room and board.
Along these lines, you may want to stick with a public school in your state of residence. Part of the reason the poster is looking at a $38,000 price tag for Ohio State is that they’re from Colorado and are stuck paying out-of-state tuition.
It’s also a good idea to look at part-time work options during your studies if you feel you can manage them. The gig economy makes it easy to drum up extra cash in a flexible manner. The more money you can earn, the more you can put toward college to minimize the amount of student debt you end up with.
Ultimately, you have to treat college like any other financial decision and see if the numbers make sense. It can pay to attend a pricier school if it leads to a well-paying career. But if you’re not sure, you may want to play it safe and stick to your least expensive option.
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