This is an All Ears English podcast, episode five.
Is college in the US worth the price?
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection, when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Hey.
The price of college in the United States just keeps going up.
Is it worth it?
Today, Lindsay and Michelle shared their opinions so that you can make the best decision for yourself if you are thinking about studying abroad.
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Hey, Michelle, how's it going?
What's going on?
Hey, Lindsay.
Good.
How are you?
Oh, my God.
I'm excited to be back on the mic recording with you.
We always have fun on this show.
That's what it's all about, right?
Definitely.
Definitely.
It's a fun time.
I know.
So we were just talking about, you know, a few years ago we were both we were in school.
I went to graduate school.
I went to college.
You did, too.
Here's the question for today.
Real quick.
Do you think that at this point college in the U.S. is worth the price?
College is really expensive.
I think I think.
There is a social pressure and I think it's worth it in the sense of people see it as very important.
On a resume.
Do I actually think dollar for dollar it's always worth the price?
I'm not sure.
What do you think?
Good point, Michelle.
You're right.
So there's a societal thing that says you have to have a bachelor's degree on your resume.
No, dollar for dollar, I really don't think so.
I think a lot of what we're paying for in the US right now for college the experience.
It's like this whole leave the home at 18 and break out as an adult, but you're not really an adult on a college campus, right.
You're eating in a dining hall.
You're living in a dorm.
It's kind of an in-between step.
So I think we're paying for that in-between step between childhood and adulthood.
And we think it's a rite of passage.
But the education itself, Michelle.
What do you think about if it's just the education, like what you learned in college?
This is just talking about undergraduate.
We can talk another day about graduate school.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I think it's a lot just learning about like how to be a A person?
Yeah.
Like I when I think about my classes.
And I studied theater and you know I enjoyed it and everything.
But I don't.
No, I feel like grad school was more useful.
Okay, interesting.
So more applicable to what you're doing now.
Well, yeah, I mean, and I also did like a slight, a bit of a career change.
So like, obviously like to my, but but in the same sense, like I am a theatrical person, you are skills apply to what I am doing on the podcast, they apply to yeah teaching, they apply to a lot.
So I can't I can't say that it was like.
I mean, it's definitely like worth it, like the classes that I had, but as far as, like You know, theater major.
It's not known for making a lot of money.
Yeah, no, for sure.
So it all is who you become.
I mean, I agree.
You have a great voice on the show.
Thank you.
And some of that came from your education, your undergraduate degree.
But I just want to make sure our listeners know what we're talking about, right?
You know, right now...
Um, right now, the average cost for the school year at a private college in the U S was can you guess it Michelle?
Can you guess how much it costs?
The average cost for a private university?
Um, um, Is it around 40,000?
Yeah, it's 41,411.
And for a state college, for in-state residents, it's a lot cheaper.
It's 11,000.
But if you're going to a state school and you're coming from out of state, it's 26,000.
So these are big numbers, right?
And some of them are huge.
I mean, I do think that overall, I think if you're asking me and I can only give a yes or no answer, is it worth it or not?
I would say yes.
Yeah.
What would you say?
Yeah, I think it's still worth it.
It's still just a baseline you expected.
I mean when we hire at All Ears English to build our team.
We look for that, at least that undergraduate degree.
It's a baseline.
You just, you need it just to get by.
It's just one of those things.
Yeah.
But I also think my advice for our listeners would be, It's good, but it's not enough.
Get it.
Get your bachelor's, but then get trained in something of high value.
If you can go into computer software, software engineer, something that's very high value.
Become a specialist in something as quickly as you can.
That's what I would say.
I think our education system says become a generalist, get all these skills.
Yeah.
But very soon after, become a specialist in a highly valued skill.
That's not easy to acquire.
That's what I would suggest.
But then there, you know, you hear these stories of, you know a lot of, like you know, people who have dropped out of I mean, didn't Mark Zuckerberg drop out of college?
Oh, for sure.
But I think, yeah.
So that's like what we, that's our, what we worship, what we recognize, and we say, oh man, that's the dream.
I think that's the exception though.
Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, right?
These guys, they were like geniuses.
They invented a company.
They got lucky, right time, right?
Innovation.
So I don't think that's the rule.
Yeah, no, I agree with you.
But then there are also certain, like trades that you can be in without a college degree.
That can make you a lot of money.
So I think it also like we, like people, should recognize that like college may not always be like the right thing.
Like, yeah.
I think we have to be honest about that.
If you could make more money doing something else and you like it, yes, it is the baseline.
But I think that we do need to recognize that not everything is right for every person.
And I, and it's kind of, I'm kind of sorry that it's the baseline actually, because I don't think that it's like right if, like other people are, like you know, looked at like oh you, like you know, you didn't get a college degree.
And it's like, well, they could be making more money than you.
Yeah, I think that might be true right now that you need that degree.
But I think you're right, Michelle.
I think things are going to start to move in the direction that this general college degree, the bad, the what do you call it?
Liberal arts degree, is going to become a little obsolete.
It's just going to become unaffordable.
Yeah.
You know.
So, then it's going to be about specializing and new skills for the future.
Learning online right.
There's so much cool stuff that's going to happen in the next 10 or 15 years.
I can't wait to see it.
Definitely, definitely.
Good stuff, Lindsay.
Good stuff.
And I want to make sure our listeners know guys hit subscribe hit, follow on this podcast, because if you've just found us, you don't want to miss our next episode.
We've got tons of, we're going to have tons of episodes here.
So join us on this journey to connection, not perfection, right?
Michelle, what does that mean?
Connection, not perfection?
Well, I mean wow, it means so much, but basically is you want to?
You know, there's so many times I know it's tempting to stare at that vocabulary list, stare at that textbook and you know to really focus on those things and get really nervous about it and get really nervous and upset if you make a mistake.
But that's not what All Ears English is here for.
We have a different mindset.
We have this mindset of we're focusing first on the connection, and you don't have to be perfect to make those connections.
And isn't that what it's all about, to make the connections?
You don't have to be perfect.
Obviously, we want to be good.
We're going to, you know, we're along this journey.
We will be helping you, giving you lots of tools.
But the main idea is to connect.
Exactly.
It's human connection, Michelle.
So well said.
I think we can finish that off today for this one.
Thanks for hanging out.
All right.
Bye.
Take care.
Bye.
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