How old is too old to invest in a college education?

[davidsonj73]

If you plan to work until you die. I am 62.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

If you plan to work until you die. I am 62.

What are you expecting to gain from it?

 

[davidsonj73]

What are you expecting to gain from it?

Hopefully, additional earnings.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Hopefully, additional earnings.

Simple exercise will tell you.

Add up the expected cost of the education and then divide that by the number of additional years you expect to work once it's completed.

That's your yearly raise break even point, meaning you would need to make that or more every year you work to have it make financial sense above what you are making now.

Unless it's at least 10K above that I would say it's not worth it.

So an example is let's say it's going to cost you 30K and you expect to work 15 more years. Your break even cost would be to make 2K a year more than you do now.

However, I wouldn't do it unless I would be making 12K more. That's a significant investment of both time and resources and there is no guarantee you'll get or maintain that level of over performance above your current job so I would require a lot higher starting rate to make up for that fact.

 

[davidsonj73]

Simple exercise will tell you.

Add up the expected cost of the education and then divide that by the number of additional years you expect to work once it's completed.

That's your yearly raise break even point, meaning you would need to make that or more every year you work to have it make financial sense above what you are making now.

Unless it's at least 10K above that I would say it's not worth it.

Thank you!

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Thank you!

I would also be conservative with the number of extra years you can work. You may think you can work til your 85 but in practice that is highly unlikely, at least as a full time employee.

 

[MatureDJ]

I'd say that the financial & time (if that has some value) cost of a canonical degree is increasingly not worth it in pure investment amortized return, at least if analyzed with Stochastic Markov-Chain Modeling (waiting to be told that anyone who discusses SMCM can't get laid ) even for a young adult, which is the reason why so many men have quit going to college. I can't possibly see how the math would work for anyone close to your age - to say nothing of the rampant age discrimination that goes on, not allowing you to be an old fart newbie. And this is with the old macroeconomic model ...

The new macroeconomic model has a bifurcation, but both paths lead to the same conclusion that the marginal increase of wage utility for having that degree is just not worth it. One of the paths, the one we are at present, is that employers aren't looking (only) for general staff employees with college degrees, for the simple reason that there is a labor shortage, and that the poor economic prospects for the non-college-educated - that created a credential race where everyone got more & more education simply to out-compete those that didn't have as much education - no longer applies, as the non-college-educated can get much better wages, while at the same time the college-educated are not given as much of a premium. This leads to statements from hiring managers that they can hire $50K MBAs, but they can't find someone to drive an industrial truck for $80K. The other path is the great unknown about how much destruction AI will wreak upon the white-collar job market. I think at the very least, it will be enough for employers to double their efforts at age discrimination, as young college graduates will become plentiful enough to satiate the reduced demand - and possibly virtually completely eliminate any marginal wage utility of a college education.

Something you might want to do is go to community college, which is not very expensive, and at the very least gets your brain cells jumping - but more importantly, allows to use the job-center resources that are available to all the students. And I would go the academic route rather than the trades (no one is going to take you on as an apprentice tradesman), taking English composition and Business Math, and maybe a programming course. This type of education and your seniority in life could make an employer be interested if that employer doesn't want to hire flighty, irresponsible youth. And once you have a job, you wouldn't have to continue taking courses. And when you interview, say that you "still feel young", but "feel bored", and think that with there being a labor shortage, it's good time to come out of retirement.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Hopefully, additional earnings.

If it's anything outside the STEM field (and maybe a few others like accounting) it's not worth it.

 

[davidsonj73]

Thanks fore the advice MatureDJ and FlexpertHamilton!

 

[Bible_Belt]

For many people who go deep into debt to pay for school, the extra income mostly goes to student loan payments, at least for the 15 year repayment period.

 

[davidsonj73]

For many people who go deep into debt to pay for school, the extra income mostly goes to student loan payments, at least for the 15 year repayment period.

That is terrible!

 

[CornbreadFed]

Even if you do get a degree, companies are likely to double discriminate you for your age and lack of experience. You are better off going to school for a position that you can leap frog on to from your current position.

 

[Slag]

Hopefully, additional earnings.

Because the degree will get you a better paying job, or because the knowledge you supposedly will gain from getting the degree will make you better at the job you currently have?

I would only advise doing so if (like has been mentioned) it's STEM related, or some type of tech program.

 

[davidsonj73]

Because the degree will get you a better paying job, or because the knowledge you supposedly will gain from getting the degree will make you better at the job you currently have?

I would only advise doing so if (like has been mentioned) it's STEM related, or some type of tech program.

Ok. I will probably pursue a STEM degree.

 

[Bokanovsky]

If you plan to work until you die. I am 62.

I hate to be blunt but why on earth would you even consider it? If you're 62 now, you will be 66+ by the time you graduate. Who is going to hire a near-septuagenarian for an entry-level white collar job??

 

[Divorced w 3]

Ok. I will probably pursue a STEM degree.

It sound like you want to do something for the sake of enjoying doing it. I say do it. If it’s for money I like the ways the guys are suggesting you try and project it. I think you have other reasons you want to go to school though. Pride, mental stimulation, whatever. Do it my man. Do it and don’t look back. You get one life