Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal put out an article on the real value of a college degree, and it’s made a bit of a splash around here. From the private thoughts about the worth of personal student loan debt to the more open denouncements of the data used for the article, people around here are emailing and chatting like mad.

Remembering a Life Lesson: Census Bureau Salary Numbers

The first time that I saw the numbers, which have upset everyone around here by being called into question, I was in a remedial English class at a local high school. It was a few years ago, and I was covering a class for one of my fellow teachers. I didn’t know his students or his student teacher, a fired-up, ex-military type who’d become completely fed up with the students who didn’t care. It was the last period of the day, and he and I had been getting on a student’s case for refusing to work.

I’ve heard some depressing things come from the mouths of babes, as it were. I once heard a 13-year-old lean over and tell her friend that the party was cancelled because she’d “gotten a DUI when [she] crashed [her] dad’s truck”. What the student refusing to work said was not new nor even very shocking. It was something about not caring about school, about not being able to wait until he was old enough to drop out legally.

Mind you, this student had some very blingy bits on (presumably not real), and his big reason for not wanting to go to school was that he wanted to start working and making some money (presumably to buy more blingy bits and fashionably over-sized clothing covered with giant brand names). The student teacher and I had taken turns talking with the student–to no avail. I was trying an “I know how you feel” approach when the student teacher had begun to spout statistics from his laptop’s screen. The one that seemed to actually resonate with the disenfranchised, money-hungry youth? That if he didn’t graduate from high school, he’d make more than $1 million less over his lifetime than his peers walking across the stage at graduation–and almost $2 million less than a college grad.

I never went back to that classroom, and I have no idea what happened to that student. In my heart of hearts, I’d like to think that he got a diploma of some kind and is doing well. I’d put money on this not being the case, but then, I’m a cynic.

Like everyone else, I knew that more education meant more money. I knew it because I’d always been told it, not because I’d ever heard a number. I enjoyed having some governmentally collected data that I could throw in the face of prospective dropouts, which is why I found it so unfortunate when these numbers came into question recently.

What’s a Degree Worth? More Than Money

Now, as a graduate of a liberal arts program–and much to my parents’ chagrin at the time–I had accepted that my degree wasn’t going to make me rich. In fact, I remember explaining to my father that while electrical engineering would make me a lot of money right out of school, I didn’t want to be stuck in a cubicle designing electronic thermostats–I was fine with the prospect of living the life of an ascetic academic, and I’d be better for it. I never finished the electrical engineering degree, so I can’t speak to what my life would have been like, but life with my English degree has been rather pleasant, and I wouldn’t trade it–or the wonderful friends I made in my degree program–for anything but more of the same.

An education is worth more than just that degree. Were it not for the things I experienced during my college years, I’m certain that I’d be a very different person. I won’t continue down this hypothetical path, but I will reiterate that getting a degree has made me a different–and arguably better–person. I read things that I wouldn’t have otherwise picked up, which helped give me a different perspective.

My point here is that, before we dive in to discussing the newest numbers on the worth of a degree, we should remember that the worth of a college degree isn’t necessarily something that should be measured by numbers alone.

Progress. The Master’s Is the New Bachelor’s Degree

It’s my understanding that back in the day you could get a good job without ever graduating from high school. Graduating from high school made you stand out from the pack; it was–again, as I understand it–like earning a bachelor’s degree. Think of it like educational attainment inflation. We’ll come back to this in a moment.

First, a look at the numbers that are troubling everyone. From the Wall Street Journal article:

Dr. Schneider [a vice president of the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington] estimated the actual lifetime-earnings advantage for college graduates is a mere $279,893 in a report he wrote last year. He included tuition payments and discounted earning streams, putting them into present value. He also used actual salary data for graduates 10 years after they completed their degrees to measure incomes. Even among graduates of top-tier institutions, the earnings came in well below the million-dollar mark, he says.

And a little later on…

The $800,000 number, it turns out, was pulled from a footnote of the College Board’s 2007 “Education Pays” report that explained lifetime earnings. The report’s author, Sandy Baum–an emeritus Skidmore College economics professor who didn’t write the promotional text on the Web site–says that $450,000 is actually a more reasonable estimate of the difference in lifetime earnings, something she’s said in interviews for more than a year.

An excellent lesson to learn from this little debacle is that quoting hypothetical numbers will only come back to bite you, so rather than engaging in that particular exercise, I’m simply going to reassure. If you want your resume to stand out, don’t stop at a bachelor’s, particularly if your degree’s acronym ends in an A… for arts. A huge number of fields require at least a master’s degree to be successful–some even require it for entry-level positions.

If you’re in one of these fields, you must, at some point, have discovered this fact. If you stopped at a bachelor’s degree that’s got you making jack and up to your eyes in student debt, perhaps another two years of school is in order. Getting your master’s degree is going to be a rewarding experience, even if it may take a while to reap the monetary part of the rewards.

Your Degree’s ROI

Return on investment (ROI) is important to consider when it comes to education. Take for example the case of the student with a degree in art history. This student only wants to go to school to make more money. When it came time to pick a major, art history sounded great–after all, a degree is a degree, right? The student graduated, but he quickly found that his degree was not actually going to help for a huge number of jobs, and the ones that just required a bachelor’s degree, not a specific one, didn’t actually pay well. Whoops. Now, angry at the world, the student works a dead-end job to pay off students loans. This is an example of a low-ROI degree, but only because the return that the student was looking for was cash. With some research, he would have found the logical disconnect–no work means no money, no matter your degree.

I was once told that the purpose of a Western education was to allow the recipient, upon graduation, to effectively challenge everything s/he was ever told. If this isn’t your goal, for everyone’s sake, go into one of the more monetarily oriented fields. Maximize your ROI with online education, which can often provide you the degree you need for the salary for less in tuition and related costs.

The iPhone, and now a host of others playing catch up, is one of the most amazing little gizmos out there. The way that it has integrated with our lives, streamlining everyday tasks and livening up a host of others, is positively amazing. Thanks to this device and others like it, educators are finding ways to bring technology into the classroom, making it a tool rather than keeping it a distraction.

Admittedly, I don’t yet own a smart phone of any kind. I regard my cell phone with immense distaste–it is a stupid phone that seems to have trouble dealing with calls and text messages. Who knows what sort of terrible state the thing would be in if I attempted to use the more data-driven features. It doesn’t even have a camera; it does nothing special–that is, nothing special outside of connecting me with my friends, loved ones, and debtors no matter where I happen to be (signal permitting, of course). Because of its functionality in this respect–and the fact that it refuses to die in spite of the way it’s treated–I can’t yet bring myself to spend the extra money for a smart phone or a monthly data plan. In this respect, I feel as if I’m slowly becoming part of a minority; it even feels like my not possessing one of these slick little numbers is akin to being a sort of Luddite.

For the many, many students out there with iPhones, though, I offer up this list of three apps that I find particularly useful. I’ve played with two of them personally, and they each proved themselves of definite use, if a touch esoterically geared towards students.

The Best iPhone Apps for Students

1. iStudiez Pro is a great application for those who, like myself, are a touch scatter brained. I’ve spaced my fair share of assignments, studied for tests in the wrong class because I’d gotten dates mixed up, and generally forgotten to do this, that, and the other school-related thing. This handy (albeit not free) app keeps track of all of it, and it does so with a very handy UI, one that actually makes me want to use it. I’d tried several times to keep school calendars and homework organizers up to date in college, and if this hand been around, I might have actually pulled it off.
2. Evernote would’ve handled my other big difficulty in college: there were always notes getting in the way of my doodles. This free application lets you take notes in a variety of mediums, including the biggies like text, image, and voice. If I’d had this useful app (and an iPhone, of course), I could have recorded the lectures, snapped shots of notes on the board, and developed a full portfolio of doodles sans lecture notes.
3. PI83 Graphing Calculator brings back memories of the past and takes them to altogether more colorful places. It costs less than a dollar, and it does everything your TI83 does but in color and with way better games (stored elsewhere on your iPhone). If you need a graphing calculator, this is your app–at least until a version with a flashier interface and fewer bugs comes along.

There are a plethora of others out there, but these three needed to be mentioned immediately. Hopefully, I’ve saved some distracted and scattered student a little trouble.

I was talking with a friend of mine recently, and, as it often does, higher education came up. This particular friend has a great job that she enjoys, but when it comes to college, she falls into the “some college” category. She never quite finished her degree. As with everyone else in the category, something came up. For her, it was medical. For others, the reasons run the gamut. The biggest cop out (and probably the most popular) is money. (more…)

Career retraining is gaining popularity in education. With the employment rate showing no signs of letting up until spring 2010, many are looking to take the career training they already have, add some targeted education, and reenter the workforce. This great idea has hit a bit of a snag lately: we’re retraining more people than we have jobs for.

Retargeting Career Retraining

One of the most popular sectors to retrain into is IT. No one can deny the ubiquity of computers in today’s world, and there’s definitely a fair amount of maintenance that goes into keeping them all running. The trouble is, the downturn has left a lot of extremely qualified IT professionals out of work, and they are often the pick of the resume litter.

This isn’t the only sector suffering from a shortage of positions and a glut of highly experienced applicants. In response, many career colleges are trying to target high-demand industries. This might seem like an obvious solution–and it is–it’s the effect that implementing it has on the colleges.

Career and for-profit colleges have a lot riding on reputation, and that reputation is pretty highly dependent on the hiring rates for graduates. You can see where things get a little complicated here. If students aren’t getting jobs, the job placement rates go down, and the school loses some face. Targeting the jobs that are opening up could mean limiting available programs and admitting fewer students.

Where Are the Jobs? Do Your Homework

When you’re looking into career retraining, you should develop a little list of potential careers and weigh that against the demand for the position. Check schools for program availability, and ask about job placement rates.

In honor of Presidents’ Day, here are a collection of great quotes about education from great leaders.

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones” (more…)

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about getting your loved one candy and flowers. As much fun as those things are (really, who doesn’t like flowers?), they get a bit played out. This year, surprise the student you love with some a bit more educational that still has that I-heart-you feel.

Educational Valentines

1. Chocolate School Supplies. Admittedly, I said no candy, but these are different. Take, for example, the peanut butter chocolate ruler from Creative Chocolates of Vermont. This cute little bit of tastiness is could come in all sorts of handy on that next drafting assignment–unless it melts or you’re using AutoCAD. Tailor the chocolate school supply to your loved one’s major. Math majors get chocolate calculators, candy abaci, and minty slide rules. For the chemistry major, search around for chocolate beakers. Up-and-coming writers get chocolate pens. It’s easy, and it won’t set you back too much.
2. Bouquet of _______. Everything is more romantic when you make it into a bouquet; it’s a simple fact of life. Giving money to a starving graduate student for Valentine’s Day seems tacky–until you fold the bills into flowers. Every student needs writing utensils–even people in online degree programs have to take notes. Pick up some nice pens or pencils, and spend a little time turning them into flowers for your sweetheart. The crafty nature of this gift even earns you extra points.
3. Literary Candy Hearts. What would delight your English major Valentine more than candy hearts (or homemade cookie hearts) with, instead of those banal slogans, literary love references? Not a whole lot, I’m here to tell you. As a holder of a bachelor’s in English, I would be delighted to get sonnets on snickerdoodles, haiku-covered hearts, or Chaucer chocolates, and your literature loving honey is sure to feel the same.
4. Heartfelt Flash Cards. You know those cheap little cards you used to give out in elementary school? Get yourself a box or two; grab your sweetheart’s flash cards for class; and switch ‘em out. You’ll want to toss a few cutesy ones in there with the real flash cards, too. When your honeybunches of lovin’ goes to study vocab for the GRE, s/he will get a big dose of happy Valentine’s Day.

Love is supposed to be fun, so get to it. Make this year one to remember–and laugh about.

Kids get in trouble all the time. It’s a fact of life. Whether they’re acting out, testing limits, or just being reckless, the fact of the matter is they’re just kids. When you work around them day in and day out, though, things can get a little skewed.

My dad has been a science teacher for over twenty years, and he’s told me that it takes him about two weeks to stop cringing when he hears children laughing and shrieking in delight. I taught middle-school English for a bit, and I can remember more than one occasion when I was totally convinced that I was surrounded by a bunch of little sociopaths. The trouble comes when you start treating kids like completely rational adults, something they clearly are not. I’m not suggesting that we all start patronizing kids, far from it. It’s important to realize that children are works in progress. They are, by definition, not adults. Assuming that have a good, well thought out reason for doing what they’re doing only brings you down to their level–and your brain can’t handle that.

On Their Level: Throwing Common Sense to the Winds in Education

With what we can only assume were good intentions, a few educators have accidentally totally over reacted and ended up making national news because of it.

The first case is of 12-year-old Alexa Gonzalez, who was caught doodling on her desk with a lime green marker. We can only assume, as completely rational adults with all sorts of fun paranoid delusions, that she was scribbling out the latest version of her genocidal manifesto or designing a bomb, right? I mean, when you consider that she was suspended, sentenced to eight hours of community service, and–get this–hauled out of the school in hand cuffs, she must have been doing something far worse than just defacing property.

A punishment like that should be saved for real trouble makers, like Patrick Timoney. Patrick brought a gun to school. Never mind that it was a two-inch-long toy gun (rumor has it that there were action figures involved); this A student was obviously planning on shooting up the place. Did I mention that he’s nine?

These examples have me wondering just how different my life would be right now if, when my friends and I had that squirt gun fight in high school, we’d all been arrested. Just thinking about where my wayward friends and I have ended up because of that sort of behavior makes me wish we had been cuffed and taught a lesson–I mean, two of them are lawyers and one’s finishing up a doctorate in plasma physics; we’re all a bunch of deviants.

There were two times that stick out in my college career as being epic failures on my part. The first was early on, my freshman year, and it was in electrostatics and magnetism, a calculus-based physics class for up-and-coming engineers. When the professor passed out the test that my friends and I felt reasonably confident about taking, a silence overcame us. Our professor had a theory; he thought that the test should be harder than the homework, which should be harder than the in-class work. Mind you, the homework would take four of us about six hours to do. None of us did well on that exam because we didn’t follow the first rule of avoiding the fail:

1. Expect the Worst, and Prepare for It

If you go into a test thinking that it won’t be too bad because you nailed the easy parts of the homework, you’re bound to fail. Which part of the homework was the hardest for you? Identify it, and beat it into submission. When you start, you’ll probably get a headache, but don’t fret. The more reps you do on the hard stuff, the better prepared you’ll be for the test.

The second time I really remember bombing a test came much later, during my senior year at different college in a different major. It was the third French class of the four that I’d need to graduate. I’d done exceptionally well in the second of these French classes, and I still attribute my success in the third to my ability to coast on what I do know and downplay the stuff I don’t. The biggest problem with this class was that it was a night class. The reason that this was the biggest problem was that I had five hours to kill between classes, a good friend who a similar schedule (sans night class), and a happy hour within walking distance. We’ll take a moment to cover the second rule:

2. Save the Partying for Afterwards

Hold off on hitting sauce until after the test. In fact, keep study time dry, too. As I’ve said before, our brain’s are awesome. All other reasons that alcohol is bad for you aside, your brain sorts memories by your chemical state at the time. This sound strange, but think about it this way: You’re running from a rabid cockapoodle; your body is pumping you full of all of those fight-or-flight chemicals. You make a miraculous escape. The details of that escape might be a little fuzzy the next day, but rest assured, the next time you’re beating feet to get away from an angry dog with a ridiculous name, you’ll remember the cockapoodle incidence in HD.

Now, if you’re sloshed when you study but sober when the test rolls around, you’ll be searching for the answers less effectively than Stereotypical Frat Guy #1 pieces together memories from the party last night. Bottom line: stay clear of mind until after you’re done being academic.

What happened on the fateful night in question wasn’t out of the ordinary, I’d met my friend for a few pints, grabbed my French book, and headed to class. Sure I was a minute or two late, but things never got settled immediately in that class anyway–unless there was a test, that is. As I walked into the classroom, I felt that warm tingle that comes with sudden, painful realization. I hadn’t studied; I hadn’t done the prewriting assignment. I’d completely forgotten about this test.

3. Don’t Forget

Perhaps one of the dumbest moves anyone can make, letting the test date slip can be a surprisingly quick way to lower your grade in a class. Professors always give you advance warning of impending tests; some even set the test days before the semester begins, so you’ve had the schedule since day one. The admission that you spaced the test is a lot like looking your professor in the face and announcing that, no, in fact, you haven’t been paying even a little attention in class. Keep a day calendar; set up reminders on your computer; make lists; do whatever it takes to avoid wandering into class three minutes late smelling of beer with a “whoops, I forgot” look on your face.

Those are my top three. Other reasons you might totally bomb the test include:

• Not studying
• Studying the wrong stuff (usually a result of not studying enough)
• Hangover (see number 2 above)

Take a moment to realize, too, that odds are extremely low that your professor is out to get you. It’s safe to assume that professors don’t really like students trying to skate by without actually working, students with frequent lame excuses, and cheaters. If you can avoid one of those categories, you might just get along better with your professors, even when you disagree.

It was a wild break. Almost everyone I know is still rubbing their holiday guts and mumbling about getting back in shape. Your body isn’t the only part of you that slowed down a little over winter break, though. Your brain needs a kick start to get back into the school swing of things. Check out these back-to-school tips for on-campus and online students alike.

Tips for Getting Back into the Higher Education Swing of Things

1. Make Yourself Known. If you walk into class on day one and make for the back, you’re asking for a chance to screw around. The first thing that’s wrong with your seating choice is that your professor doesn’t know you’re a go-getter. I’m not suggesting that you sit front row, center, but give the second row a shot. There’s nothing quite like eye contact to suggest that you’re paying full attention. Online students can give the appearance of being completely focused by posting a big hello on the class discussion board. Starting off with a great first impression gives you a leg up in the professor’s mind, whether or not you actually earn it.
2. Participate. If you never raise your hand, contribute, or post, you’re just another face in the class–and professor’s might forget about you. If you aren’t noticed, why are you showing up at all? I once saw a professor call out a student who’d only missed a few classes during a final exam. Interrupting the rest of us taking the test, the professor asked, loudly, “And where have you been?” It was embarrassing and easily avoidable. Show up. Participate. If the professor has an idea of who you are, you’re far more likely to get an extension on a paper or an extra credit opportunity down the line–and you can avoid being embarrassed in front of your classmates.
3. Fake It ‘Til You Make It. This tip is more to augment all of the other tips, preceding and following. Ever tried smiling when you’re in a bad mood? You’d be surprised how this kind of talking of the talk can turn your mood around. Likewise, you might not be thrilled to be back in class, but if you make it seem like you are, you’ll be walking the walk before you know it.
4. Save Your Procrastination for Later. Develop a name for yourself as someone who always gets work in on time–at least starting off. If you’re taking more than one class, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll have some homework/studying conflicts down the line. Take advantage of the early weeks in a class to stay on top of things. When things are too chaotic further down the line, you’re more likely to get a little leeway on due dates. Don’t pull any stunts around finals, though. Generally, I used to start off strong through ’til the midterm, ease off and relax for a bit, and then hit the books hard for finals–frankly, an A is an A even if it isn’t a 100-percent.
5. Put Your Lame Excuses Out to Pasture. Stop killing off your grandma! Every year, when midterms and finals roll around, students’ older relatives start dropping like flies–at least, that’s what they tell their professors, who aren’t stupid, by the way. The next time life gets too hectic to study or finish that paper, tell your professor just that: things are hectic. People don’t like being lied to and, in general, want to be nice. Also, professors were once students, and they know that things get crazy. If you’re preemptive about asking for an extension, the professor knows you (at least a little), and you don’t pile on the BS, you’re likely to get the same leeway (if not more) as someone who kills a octogenarian twice a year–and your professor will still respect you.
6. Goof Off Productively. You aren’t going to be working 24/7, but you can be getting your brain in shape for those academic pursuits. It’s as easy as switching from video games to chess or from sit-coms to documentaries. You just need to get those synapses firing.
7. Make a List. Things slip my mind all the time, which is way you’ll always find a to-do list or two on my desk. Not only does this help me keep track of everything that needs to get done, it also helps me prioritize. There’s almost always something easy, even fun, on the list, and I try to save those until I can’t take the grueling tasks anymore. Break projects down into their component parts when you make your list, too. This way, you can cross things off more quickly (a great feeling), and you won’t be overwhelmed by a huge project, just ten little ones.
8. Buddy Up. Whether you’re starting an online class or wandering around a campus, it’s a good idea to acquaint yourself with someone in the class. You’ll have a chatting buddy, for one. You’ll also have a partner when group projects rear their ugly heads (and someone you know is less likely to stick you with all the work). You’ll also have a study partner, a place to get notes when you miss class, and someone to help keep you motivated (note: go for someone who looks smart and ambitious, if only a little).
9. Drop the Dead Weight. If you’ve got a class that you don’t need to be taking and your schedule looks daunting, drop it–now. You need to get your money back for the class and hock those books ASAP. Of course, take the time to weigh the merits of the class. If it’s interesting and it doesn’t look too hard, stay on for the ride. If you don’t like going after only three sessions, run for your life (or your GPA and cash reserves).
10. Get Out. I always had a problem studying at home. There were too many distractions, roomies doing things, and places to fall asleep. Between 24-hour coffee shops, the library on campus, and the occasional bar, I had plenty of places I could go and actually get work done. The trick was getting myself out the door. Find a good spot or three where you actually study, and make yourself get off the couch and out the door. Make sure that at least one place is completely free–you aren’t made of money.

These ten tips just scratch the surface of what it takes to keep yourself motivated in school, but follow them, and you’ve got a great start.