JOBS FOR 18 YEAR OLDS

It used to be a no brainer, after graduating high school the best thing to do was to go to college. In fact most people still adhere to that principle that college is always the best option. You’ve heard people say that a college degree is “priceless” and “they can’t ever take it away from you” as well as other catchy phrases like that.

But things have changed in the last 10 to 15 years ago and now jobs for 18 year olds might, in some cases, be the better option than heading straight to a university. The big change is the price it costs to go to college. No longer can it be called expensive. Now “outrageous” is about the only word that can be used to describe the cost of 4 years of college at most universities.

I don’t think anyone will argue that a person is better off with a college degree than without one. If you can get one, you should. But the question is, at what price does it actually make sense to skip college and go straight to getting a job.

Proponents of a college degree will spout out things like “statistics show that over the course of a lifetime people with college degrees earn a million dollars more than those whithout degrees” and other things like that. This all may be true but there has to be a point where going into debt to go to college is actually detrimental.

If you are trying to be a doctor, dentist, lawyer or go into some other profession that is extremely high paying, you will most likely be able to dig out from under the mountain of debt you will incur to graduate and get your degree. Besides, to be any of those things you need a college degree or you can’t them anyway.

However, most students will not graduate college and immediately be offered high paying jobs. They will have to get some entry level job somewhere and work themselves up the ladder. Perhaps they will someday be a success and earn a lot but there is no guarantee and definitely not from the start.

If a normal student graduates college with a debt of $20,000 to $50,000 which is rapidly becoming more the norm, is that really a good position to be in? How many years is it going to take before that person becomes debt free? Yes, they now have a college degree but many degrees are quite worthless for actually earning any money.

During that 4 years (or more) that it took to graduate college and go in debt, they could have gotten a job somewhere. During that time they would have been EARNING money instead of going in debt and in 4 years time they would have probably learned enough to move up the job ladder somewhat.

So, if a person decides not to go to college they would have the possibility to be in the black at the end of 4 years, with a job, and on the way up. The college student might be heavily in debt and graduating without a job. Which position would you rather be in.

Another drawback is the mental stress and pressure being in debt puts a person. Should young adults be in debt at the age of 20, 21, or 22? Is this a good thing? Life is supposed to be fun at those ages and being in debt is NOT FUN! It is hard to start your adult life knowing that you have to somehow dig yourself out of debt.

College is not for everyone and some students are unsure whether they should go. these are usually the young adults that are not the best students and are not that interested in acedemics. It is this type of person that should think seriously of at least trying the job route first before going to college. Jobs for 18 year olds right out of high school are not a bad thing and for some kids they might be the absolute best choice!