From the Boston Globe:

It costs $51,310 to go to BC this year, $51,100 to go to BU, including tuition, room, board, mandatory fees, and the estimated tab for books and other expenses. In both cases, and for the first time in history, that means the price of a year at these schools and many others has surpassed the median US household income of $50,233, a little-noticed if mind-boggling milestone in the history of higher education. While college graduates continue to earn more than workers without university degrees, that advantage - called the “college premium” - has begun to erode. After a spike in 2000, the average weekly salary of a worker with a bachelor’s degree, when adjusted for inflation, has fallen nearly 2 percent below what it was in 2001. “A college education still gets you more than not having one, but it certainly hasn’t been rising lately,” even though the cost of college has, says Jared Bernstein, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute who reported the trend. “Wages of college graduates have gone up only 2.5 percent since 2000 in real terms. Tuition goes up that much every 20 minutes.”

Commentary

This is going to be a hot topic over the next three years. Why? The economy, no secret to anyone, is going to take years to recover once it finally does hit bottom, and we’re not there yet. That means that there will be less money than ever available for college, from the government, from families, from benefactors, even from lenders. When a year of college means a family has to trade a year of income, there’s a problem.

Also unsurprisingly, wages for college graduates compared to non-graduates have been shrinking, and here’s why - as college has become more and more important, more people have college degrees. The more you have of any resources, the less it’s worth, because value comes from scarcity. If lots of people have a college degree, then why would you pay a premium for a worker with one?

A college degree is a lot like a driver’s license. A driver’s license doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t magically transform you. It just says you’re able to use a vehicle for transportation because you’ve proved minimally competent at moving a chunk of metal and plastic safely from point A to point B. Where you go is up to you.

College degrees are the same. They only show that you were minimally competent enough to get through the postsecondary education process. They in no way prove you’re a phenomenal, best-in-class human being who is guaranteed to be successful, despite what colleges’ marketing materials would have you believe.

Like driver’s licenses, college degrees are so plentiful that there’s not a significant difference in the value of one degree over another. A driver’s license from Minnesota isn’t inherently more valuable than one from Arizona. A college degree from William & Mary isn’t inherently more valuable than one from Franklin & Marshall. Sure, every college claims that their graduates are special, wonderful, unique people, and to an extent they are, of course, but the bell curve isn’t so radically different that the drunk, barely passing Harvard graduate is better than the valedictorian from UMass.

Thus, when it comes to spending money on education, it’s important to realize that for the vast majority of students, accruing unmanageable amounts of debt to attend college for a degree that is largely a commodity isn’t wise. I’ve revised downward my recommendation for a responsible student loan borrowing limit to be the net income of your first year salary after taxes, because that’s effectively what you have available to spend.

Thus, if you graduate from college and start a job earning $30,000 per year, after taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and all the other things that slice away your earnings, you’ll probably have $22,000 or so left over. That’s the limit for what you should borrow in total to pay for college, because as you repay what is probably a 10 year loan, you don’t want to spend more than 10% of your after tax income servicing debt.

Obviously, that 10%, that $22,000, won’t even get you a full semester at list price at Harvard. That’s okay. There are thousands of colleges that you can earn a degree at which will get you the same net result (a degree) for much lower cost, and still give you a great college life experience.

Scholarship Update

The Symantec Research Labs Graduate Fellowship

Symantec will begin accepting applications on Monday, August 25, 2008. The application deadline is Friday, December 12, 2008. Award decisions will be made on February 7, 2009.

+ Symantec will award Symantec Research Labs Graduate Fellowships to outstanding Ph.D. and M.S. students who meet the eligibility criteria listed below. A key goal of the program is to fund innovative research that has real-world value, in areas of Symantec’s business interests in information security, availability, and integrity.
+ Fellowship participants also gain first hand research and development experience through guidance and mentorship from a top scientist of Symantec Research Labs during the fellowship period. Each participant is also encouraged to spend a summer working with their mentor at Symantec on a research project in their area of interest.

Provisions of the Award

+ The fellowship award will cover 100% of tuition and fees for the recipient’s graduate school.
+ A stipend is provided to cover living expenses while in school ($20,000 for 2009-2010).
+ Mentors from Symantec Research Labs are paired with award recipients. The mentor is a top researcher who can provide ongoing technical guidance on the recipient’s research, during their graduate training as well as during summer internships at Symantec.
+ All recipients will be encouraged to take a salaried summer internship with Symantec Research Labs.
+ Each recipient will be given a laptop preloaded with Symantec software.
+ Fellowships are awarded to recipients for one academic year and may be extended for a second year, based on the award recipient’s continued exceptional academic standing, progress and achievement. Any such extensions will be granted solely at Symantec’s discretion.

Eligibility Criteria

+ Applying students must attend a U.S. university in a Ph.D. or Master’s program focused on technology research. Exceptional graduating undergraduate seniors may also apply and final award is contingent on their acceptance to a graduate program.
+ Preference will be given to students with a desire to work in an industrial research lab and those working on research projects likely to have real-world practical value to customers, in areas related to Symantec’s businesses of information security, availability, and integrity.
+ The scholarship awards will be made through the university and are not transferable to another academic institution.

Required Application Information

Applications should be submitted as a single compressed file (.zip file) and must include the following:

+ A completed fellowship application form including a personal statement of research interests not to exceed 500 words. Applicants are strongly encouraged to articulate the practical value to customers of their proposed research areas.
+ A C.V. and thesis proposal (optional).
+ Three letters of recommendation from professors or industry researchers who can evaluate the applicant’s scientific aptitude and potential for research (may be sent confidentially, please see application form for instructions).
+ Incomplete applications cannot be considered and we cannot guarantee notification of incompleteness. Please make sure applications are complete.

Application Dates and Process

+ Fellowship applications will be accepted beginning August 25, 2008.
+ Application deadline is December 12, 2008.
+ As part of the application process, some candidates may be contacted for telephone interviews.
+ The final award decisions will be announced by February 7, 2009.

Get application information at our free college scholarship search site.