Billionaire says: "Why not become a plumber instead of going to college?"

[greatlaurel]

73. Your statement about class stratification hits the nail on the head. Thanks.

There are lots of people who can become plumbers and other skilled tradespeople and enjoy the work, but you still have to go to school and do an apprenticeship. Have a couple of friends' kids who went to trade schools. It was more expensive per year than my kids' college expenses.

Besides that, how many jobs are really out there for skilled tradespeople? Sure there is a demand for skilled trades, but those jobs cannot be enough for every working class kid. This is such a condescending attitude from another obscenely rich guy who is surrounded with people dedicated to telling him what a mental giant he is. He has no idea what he is talking about. Secondly, it is clear by his statement that he feels certain that all that money sending most of us to college is a big waste of money. If we were so smart, we would already be billionaires like him. In his tiny weird world, the only children worth educating are only the ones born into money, of course.

If your kids are in junior high or high school, there are ways to get scholarships at a lot of state and even private schools. Have they taken the ACT or SAT yet? At Ohio University, if they score a 32 ACT(do not remember the SAT score, it is on their website) they can get a Gateway scholarship that covers 100% of tuition. That is a tough score to reach, but most kids have a shot at getting a score close enough to get a partial Gateway. I am certain many other universities have similar programs. Living expenses are still expensive, but there are additional aid packages and scholarships. Of course, loans are available, but the goal is to minimize that option as much as possible. You should check with all your state schools on the financial aid available for your kids. Another thing to check out are branch campuses. Here in Ohio the state schools have branch campuses which are much less expensive than the main campuses and are within commuting distances, so kids can save money on living expenses, while they get their first or second year courses out of the way. Not as much fun as living on campus, but still a good way to get an education. The classes are usually taught by faculty who are really interested in teaching, too, another bonus for branch campuses. The OU branch near us gives kids full tuition scholarships if they score a 25 on the ACT.

One other thing is if you can swing it have the kids take both the ACT and SAT to see which they score better on. They are not limited to taking it just once, so they can work to better their scores, without stressing out so much. The best thing to do is have them take it early in high school or late middle school, so you know where they are. Both ACT and SAT have practice questions on their websites, so kids can review on their own. A lot of rich people send their kids to test prep classes, but we could not have afforded it even if it was available here(very rural area).

I hate it when people denigrate getting an education. A college education is about so much more than a job training program. Young people can gain so many skills other than just getting a job. Meeting people from myriad backgrounds, learning how to study and reason are all very important reasons to further an education. The costs have become horrible thanks to the GOP slashing state support for public universities. I wish people would wake up and stop drinking the Koolaid about an education being of no use for us working class folks.

Good luck to you and your kids.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it gives you some ideas for your kids. Congratulations on getting through school during the Reagan years. That was not a fun time to scramble through school.