Tuesday, 28 August 2012

August 22 - Challenging the SAS Culture


Last class we discussed the possibility of earning more money over a lifetime by attending a cheaper college and investing the unused tuition money instead of going to an expensive private school.  Studies show that perhaps the reason why Ivy League graduates tend to have higher-paying jobs isn’t because of their diploma, but instead because of the hard work ethic that got them accepted to the Ivy League school in the first place.  For example, say a high school graduate from a wealthy family got into Yale University.  Instead of paying the fifty-something-thousand dollars a year for tuition, they decide to go to University of Maine where they received a full scholarship.  If their parents still gave them the money for the Yale tuition, they could invest it.  They would still probably get a high-paying job in the future too because they have the skills to get them accepted to Yale. 
            I talked to my dad about this idea.  He said it’s a good thought, but rarely would someone invest the money saved by going to a cheaper college.  A parent would probably just keep the money instead of giving it to their kid.  There also aren’t a ton of advantages to going to an Ivy League college.  At my dad’s old law firm in Maine, there were Harvard Law School grads that didn’t do so well in real law.  There is some correlation to getting good grades and success in professions, but it isn’t an exact correlation. 
            Here’s an article discussing how Ivy League graduates generally earn more than their liberal arts counters. The article states that Ivy League students generally earn 32% more for their starting salaries than other graduates.  Perhaps the reason for this is because they are introduced and welcomed by successful businesses because of their college achievements. It’s possible that there are better candidates from less well-known schools, but they are brushed away when an Ivy League candidate comes around.

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