College: Is it do or die?

I want to start by saying that I am in no way against getting a college education. In many cases, it can give someone the instruction and credentials they need to achieve their desired level of success in life. Having said that, I would like to go on a complete rant about college.

This stems from all the people I know who owe thousands and thousands of dollars in student loans, and yet don’t make a dime more than many people without formal education. The average student loan is worth $14,000, and more than half of college graduates have them. I am close to about a dozen people who have their bachelor’s degree. Several of them do not even use their major in their line of work, a few of them are cannot even find a better job than a non-graduate, and none of them are making loads of cold, hard cash. Those who are making a little more money are spending it to pay back student loans--even five years after graduating.

In general, I can rant about the educational system any day, but I am going to try to limit this tirade to college education. From a very young age, children are coached to believe that without a college education, they will fail miserably in life--that without college, they don’t have a chance in the world of achieving anything. So, from very early on, kids who have a hard time learning in the educational system begin to believe they won’t be cut out for college and therefore not cut out for a life of success. As they are completing high school, they shun getting further education because they have a difficult time with standardized tests or because they simply loathe the length of time they would have to spend in school. They have no expectations of themselves without college, because they believe without a college education, they are doomed to fail. This is simply not true.

College often requires a young person to commit four years of their life to school, and paying thousands of dollars for it each year if their parents or a scholarship can’t cover the cost. This is a long-term commitment, something most adults would not advise a teenager to get into if the question were marriage. Choosing a future spouse is a diehard decision, but choosing a lifetime career path isn’t? Young people are pressured to make an important decision without even giving it more than a few months of thought.

As I said, I do not have a problem with getting a college education. My point is that young people need to know that they have a world of choices open to them, that a college education is not a failsafe. Whether you earn a certificate in less than a year or spend seven years earning your Ph.D., in the end, it is your choice whether or not that education will help you succeed.

Without delving into a list of famous folks who have excelled without going to college, I will just suffice it to say that by itself, a college education does not have magical powers that will bring you money and happiness. Plenty of people have found success without going to college, and plenty of college graduates are living at home with their parents wishing they could find a job. A college education is not a guarantee for success, and the lack of one is not a guarantee for failure either.

My point is this:

Find out what brings you joy and makes you passionate. Discover what you really want to do with your life. Decide what it will take to get there. If it’s college, that’s great. If not, then find another path that will take you to where you want to be.

Uncle Sam and the Tax Refund Scam

It’s tax refund time, which means many of us are jumping for joy at the thought of getting that big chunk of money in our hands. As much as I like getting my tax refund, I can’t help but think it’s fooling us all into ignoring tax law and tax law changes. Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say your average income is $40,000 per year. You get your W-2 , which says you’ve paid $3,000 in taxes this year. Put the info from your W-2 and other tax information into your tax return, and low and behold you’re getting a $6,000 refund. Holy cow! You start to get the feeling you’re beating the system. Is it possible that the government is giving you money?

Doing a little math gives us an easy answer to that question: no. Based on this income and an average sales tax of 5%, you’ve paid $1,850 in sales tax last year. Not to mention, that when you spend your refund, you pay another $300 in sales tax. Add these numbers to the amount held back on your W-2, and you come up with $5,150. Coming closer to that $6,000 tax refund now, isn’t it?

And this is just the beginning. If you own a home, chances are you paid $1,500 in property taxes last year. If you live in city limits, you probably had to obtain a few permits, too. Not to mention that some states require a fee upwards of $600 just to register your vehicle each year.

So, you ask, I’m paying taxes? Big deal, we already knew that. Sure we did, but at the sight of that tax refund dough, were just drooling over the spending possibilities and thanking Uncle Sam for the money, as if the IRS is doing us some great favor for giving us a tax refund. And this is what I have a problem with.

How many of you don’t complain when taxes are raised just because you know your tax refund will be bigger next year? When we’re giddy over money, we forget that these taxes have a purpose and we have to be active citizens who take part in deciding about tax laws.

Not to mention, do you have any idea how much money the government is making from the money held back for taxes each year? Try taking your monthly tax cut and investing it in a high-yield savings account. When tax time comes next year, give old Uncle Sam his taxes when they’re due, and keep the interest you’ve earned for yourself. Now that’s a choice you can smile about.