Post Academic

Thanks to the recession, more people are re-training and going back to school to pick up a trade and get a job. This kind of flexibility and willingness to learn should be rewarded, right? However, according to the NYT, these students might wind up in deep debt because it costs so much money to attend some trade schools, and the educational hucksters behind those schools inflate the amount the students might make upon graduation.

Before you breathe a sigh of relief that you are in a grad school program, not a trade school program, think again. Above the Law was quick to note that the “big-debt-for-high-salary-that-doesn’t-exist” problem is also rampant in law school: “That sounds like exactly the kind of scam many law schools are running.”

As for grad school, the “scam” isn’t as scuzzy because many professors really do believe in the value of a liberal arts education, but the results are the same: There aren’t enough jobs out there for the applicant pool, and the ones that are out there don’t pay enough to cover your debt.

Before entering any training program, whether it is grad school in English or ITT Tech or Rooster’s College of Hair Artistry, find out if you can pay off your debt based on the salary of your chosen profession. If the math does not work for you, try another profession.

The New Poor: In Hard Times Lured Into Trade School and Debt [NYT]

Hypocrisy on Stilts: Law School Professor Calls Out Trade Schools Over Student Debt [Above the Law]

Image from Wikimedia Commons, public domain