ROI vs FYI

I was thinking about Higher education today. Another blog was having a discussion about Education being an investment in yourself and that you should expect a return on that investment.

I don’t think I agree with this. If you look at education being an investment, you would select your course based on what would pay the most money a few years after the uni days have finished. We would all be dentists (I think they have the highest starting salary first year out)

Another thing is that for a successful investment, you have to finish the course. If you select the course based on pay, it doesn’t take into account your strengths and weaknesses, not to mention interests. Its not a good thing to find out you can’t stand the sight of blood after Year 2 of medical school.

Also like any investment, you might make the wrong decision. The I.T industry is a good example of this. A lot of people studied I.T in the late 90’s early 2000’s during the boom time when fresh graduates could get a job pretty easily on amazing Pay. Nowadays, I.T graduate salaries are pretty low, (median graduate salary of $38000 in 2005 compared to $40,000 in 2001) and the number of positions available for graduates are lower still (75% of graduates working in 2005 compared to 80% in 2001). These stats are all from the Australian Bureau of statistics.

So the goat believes that Education belongs in a different category to investment. It’s more of a cost of living. You need food, you need clothes, you need shelter and in today’s fast changing world, I believe you need education. The return should be satisfying the need, rather than the money or the job.

So you should make your selections based on that. Preference should be given to courses that suit you and your personality. Your needs. Part time/full time, location of the education facility, age of student, quality of teaching. All of these things are more important than the potential job at the end of the degree/diploma.

Best option, like anything is to keep it simple. Find your strengths and look for a course that appeals to them and your interests. Look at education as a way of increasing your knowledge. Forget about the vocation. Educated, talented people will always get jobs, and it might be one you haven’t even thought of yet.

And you never know your luck. You might find you have put your money into BHP instead of One-Tel