Is the cost of 4-year college worth it? Part 2.

+ Mom’s university experience in the Philippines, 1961

Scroll down to read about mom’s college days.

I loved reading everyone’s opinions on post-high school education from Part 1. Here’s a summary of what you told me:

My partner’s most useful thing he learned at Princeton was how to roll a joint 😂

I was blown away by the year and a half I spent at community college. I looked down on them for sure before I experienced one in person. Something about it being a place that isn’t an end goal in and of itself, but a means to an end. It makes people show up differently and not take it for granted. — went to a UC, a Cal State and community college in between

Omg, that's close to the cost for me to go to private college! — 2009 graduate

My son went to DVC then UC Davis. Flew through both programs. I think community college is an underrated path.

On the financial end, college in the US is really freakin expensive. For many middle-class folks, community college and transferring units is a way to get to that eventual prestigious "4-year" degree. On the other-hand, spending time in a university setting serves as a transitional step in socialization and is important in helping to build relationships into adulthood. Sometimes transfer students have a hard time engaging into a system in which others have already made their social networks. That's not to say it's impossible to be a success as a transfer student academically and socially. It's a matter of having self-awareness and clear-mindedness about particular goals kiddo is looking to reach. — a university research level 1 employee for 15 years and a graduate of a liberal arts college

There are so many paths available that you have to consider all options. 

We met with our nephew’s high school guidance counselor on Friday. I was surprised and enlightened by two things.

First, his guidance counselor had a large number of students last year who graduated with higher than a 4.0 GPA and went straight to community college. Many didn’t have the economic means to attend a 4-year. Others had parents who went to university and were still paying off debt and advised against the financial toll.

Second, the trade path is a debt-free education because students work as an apprentice while going to school, paid for by a union. It looks like a great option for anyone interested in a building career, such as an electrician, iron worker, plumber, mechanic, roofer, and the list of job skills goes on. According to Glassdoor research last updated in Dec. 2021, the average electrician in California makes $72,500 per year. I saw job listings for electricians that offer a range up to $115K per year. Overtime is also an option to make more.

Apprenticeship program info here.

After a 1.5 hour meeting with his counselor, and a discussion with my nephew over boba, this is our plan.

We continue the 4-year path by applying to schools. In fact, he submitted his first application yesterday. He’s also going to expand his list and add more universities — private, public, and out of state — and he’ll be done with submissions by the end of November. He’ll apply to scholarships and financial aid. Did you know $100M in scholarships go unclaimed each year? There’s money out there, he just needs to find it.

When that’s done we’ll go over the idea of community college and what life post high school could include, such as having a job, paying rent and insurance, and other expenses.

He’s also going to research the trade route. My husband’s family comes from a line of construction workers, and my nephew enjoys working with his hands. 

During this time, we wait for acceptances and rejections to colleges. Then we decide. 

We have some time to figure it out, and plan. Based on reading and listening to experiences, there’s many different possible choices and outcomes.

Thank you for everyone’s perspectives. It has made us think, and rethink. We have the luxury to choose and we are fortunate to have so many options.

Is the cost of 4-year college education worth it? I guess it depends on who you ask.

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Mom’s story: an unlikely chemical engineer

*For those of you that are new here, I’ve been writing about my mom’s life growing up in the Philippines. I wanted them documented somewhere, and maybe my kids will enjoy reading about them someday. She started life during WWII in a cave, owned her first fridge in the US, and foraged for food in the forest.

After high school, mom worked in a liquor store my grandparents owned. This “gap year” (although no one called it that back then!) helped her save and pay for college.

Mom went to Saint Louis University in Baguio, Philippines in 1961. She was one of two women in the Bachelor of Science Chemical Engineering program; her degree specifically had about 10 students. The engineering and architecture school was in its infancy when she started, so mom was a guinea pig for the program, which had ancillary programs such as civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.

Mom picked chemical engineering because it seemed like a good career path. When I asked my mom about college, it’s still clearly visible, even 60 years later, that it was one of her life’s greatest battles.

“Steph, it was so difficult,” mom said, holding my hands. “I didn’t know what to do, so I prayed to all the saints!”

By the time she realized the complexity, mom was stuck in a major that she couldn’t change. Too much time and money had already been spent and switching was not an option. Mom remembers school was fine for the first couple of years completing general education courses. It was substantially more difficult in the last few where they honed in on chemical engineering.

So mom studied. And prayed. And studied some more. She got a tip from a classmate who said that passing would mean devoted discussions with God. Her classmate suggested she go to church and say a prayer 9 times. 

Afterward, mom didn’t feel the touch of God so she confided with her friend that she didn't think the prayer worked. Her friend corrected her and said she needed to say the prayer 9 times, each hour, for 9 hours. So off she went, praying between her studies.

“I really think a miracle happened,” mom said to me, looking at me with eyes wide as plates. “Because I passed.”

Something tells me mom passed with a mix of cramming and creed. Mom graduated after 5 years of hard work.

She went on to teach high school girls math, geometry and physics. It was a fond time for mom, who enjoyed teaching girls and claimed they are “easier to handle” than boys. She also appreciated that the job required a uniform for students and teachers. “If there wasn’t a uniform, I wouldn’t know where to get my clothes,” mom said. 

Mom then taught high school and college level chemistry at a co-ed Catholic school. She also taught math for bookkeeping and accounting.

Then in her last year of teaching, she taught a boys’ continuation school. She recalls having a harder time teaching this class but the effort turned into a reward, mom would find out decades later.

The class held a reunion a few years ago out here in the US and invited mom to attend. One of her former students told her that what he learned from her in physics is the reason he passed the entrance test to join the (US) Navy, which changed the trajectory of his life and opportunities.

I don’t think my mom loved her career but she worked in a lab for a chemical company in LA for 20 years. I am grateful to my mom, who worked her butt off, worked overtime, with weird hours and long shifts, including graveyard for many years. This determination paid for her 3 daughters’ college education.

Was the cost of university worth it to mom? Her answer is yes.