Around the Web…

Some links to kick off the holiday week:

• Cannon King does a spot-on impersonation of his retiring dad, Larry King — Jezebel
• One in 16 pregnant women has diabetes, new study finds — Chicago Tribune
• The story of a 4-year-old boy caught between federal immigration and state adoption laws — CNN.com
• Flying for the holidays? Surviving air travel with kids — Just the Facts, Baby
• Is going to an elite college worth the cost? — New York Times

Comments

Rachel on December 20th, 2010

I will definitely comment on the “elite” university article. Yes… yes, yes and a resounding YES! As an individual who attended my state public university, while my older brother also attended a state university and our younger brother went to a “elite” university (Duke) I feel that I can 100% say that it highly benefited our younger brother when it came to finding a job after college. Those “elite” universities WANT their students to find the best jobs after graduation and they will, in most cases, truly help to get them in that position. My university could have cared less. No really. My brother had professors giving him references and recommendations that I could never get from my professors (with classes of 200 students) who wouldn’t know me from Adam.

And all I hear is price, price, price… seriously… at the end of all of our educations, my younger brother’s education was probably the cheapest. He owed less student loans and was offered more grant/scholarship money than either of us were (and not because we weren’t good students).

This article is quick to point out that you can’t include those receiving financial aid… you can and you should! Financial aid is what makes it possible for good students to GO to elite colleges. Period. There’s a reason you get in and a reason that financial aid/grant/scholarship is offered.

If a family seriously gets to that decision where it’s between an elite school or the cheaper public university, I would definitely steer my child towards the elite.

Angela on December 21st, 2010

Rachel, I’m not sure if I agree with you. I have a degree in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill (not a state school, but a public one) and my sister has a degree in English from Duke. She also has an MA from NYU. I make 2 1/2 times as much as she does and she’s still paying back loans from 2003. While the school is important, I also think it depends on the major you select, your career field and where you live. I bet that someone who got any degree from The Ohio State University has no problems getting a job in Ohio, and it’s a state school.

Rachel on December 21st, 2010

Angela — I understand what you’re saying. I guess I should rephrase. I do not think that you can’t do as well, if not better ever by going to a state university… trust me, my older brother and I do well on our own with our state univ. degrees, but I am saying that those degrees are most often worth it, which is the question the article posed.

Also, my brothers both graduated with degrees in the same field, with similar GPAs and having taken similar classes. My younger brother had a MUCH easier time finding a job after college even though both of them moved to DC and applied or jobs there. There is a definite benefit at times. Not always, but many times.

As for Ohio State University… considering it costs approx. $35,000 for an out of state student to attend… it costs just as much as many of the elite schools… so it better be easy to get a job after

Jill on December 22nd, 2010

I can say that where you get your degree can determine if you get a job Right, wrong, or indifferent, it is true. My husband is the head of HR and when hiring specific jobs, they look to certain schools for them to come from……they would never hire an Engineer grad from a State school for example, regardless of how good your grades are or work experience. And the elite schools are the ones at all of their job fairs and involved in their internship programs. It is very unfair, but I guess that is life.

Angela on December 22nd, 2010

Thanks for the clarification, Rachel.