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Motivating high-school students to join college



 
 
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Old August 16th 07, 08:12 PM posted to misc.kids.moderated
[email protected]
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Posts: 2
Default Motivating high-school students to join college

My nephew and his friend are living with me since a few weeks, till
their parents return from an overseas trip, and both are teenagers
who
will be completing high school next year (May 08).


Unfortunately, during the few weeks they stayed with me, I did not
monitor them closely and the two boys have talked to people in my
neighborhood, places where they were working part-time and got some
ideas about not going to a college immediately after high-school is
more profitable in the long run.


The problem started as they talked to people in my neighborhood and
were working in retail stores (like Target and JCPenney) as their
parents had allowed them to work part-time during their stay with
them. Somehow, the two boys have got the idea that it is far more
lucrative to continue working full time after completing high-school,
get a few years experience in a specific field, start their own
business and become wealthy relatively faster as compared to someone
who gets a college degree. They told me that they were going to
discuss this matter with their parents. Obviously, their parents will
dissuade them like me, but I don't want the parents to think I
misguided the boys while they were with me. I am 26 years old, a
recent graduate (having a B.S. + M.S in Computer Science), working
for
the state govt. and my gross salary is 32K and net is 25K in
Tallahassee, FL. Both the teenagers were partly discouraged looking
at my salary after a 6 year college degree. I explained to them as I
liked to contribute my talents to the govt. sector where there is
relatively less hustle, politics and need of producing short term
gains as compared to corporate sector and hence took up a job with
the
State govt.


In my area people who work for stores like Target, JC Penney people
with high school diploma and 2-3 years of experience start with
50K(gross), people having their own business(credit union, bank, gas
station, grocery store, real estate agent, landlord, hotel,
restaurant
owners, automobile stores, automobile parts and the varied number of
shops we all see on the roads) are well in 300K - 500K in their
middle
twenties(24-27) and some more experienced folks are 1M(one million)
or
more. I was slightly skeptical, but the boys were told(by the folks
who gave them this information) it is accurate as people in the
corporate sector or having their own business typically earn lot more
than people in the govt. sector or else most of them wouldn't be
working there for the private sector or running their own business,
which I could not deny.


They were advised to start their own business and prosper rather than
get a college degree and aid the State (or corporate sector) in
generating revenue like me. They were informed in today's age of
obtaining degrees on the Web, distance education classes practically
anyone can get a degree when they truly require it (in 1-2 years or
so) which so many Web only campuses provide. They were told going to
college and spending 3-4 years while you can get it in 2 years when
you actually require it seems a bit odd.


One of my neighbor who just has an A.S. in Computer Science works as
a
contractor. He teaches classes to new employees of state in fields
like Java,PL/SQL etc. and earns about 160K gross and 120K net. He
gets
about 5K income per week he teaches a class and sometimes about 7K.
He
is employed about 30-35 weeks per year out of the 52 weeks in a year.
His net is 120K as he gets enormous tax breaks of running a business
not to mention the funds he receives under the table(which seems
unethical and how he does that is a mystery to me) which are tax
free.
His wife works for a State agency getting benefits(health/life
insurance/investment) for the family. The husband is 24 and wife is
22(no college degree). Their household income is about 135K and only
one member in their household has a 2 year college degree. He told
the
boys they could follow his path, as state agencies have some funds
allocated for training and if one has good contacts with key people
in
the state agencies, their employment odds are high as the state
agencies will hire them every year for teaching the same subject. If
things don't work out, one can nearly always find a secure job with
local, state or federal government, but at first one should take
risks, if he wants to retire decently, buy a car, home, put his
children through college and other myriad expenses incurred in
raising
a family.


Another person in my area is an immigrant from another part of world.
He immigrated at 55 to U.S. with no funds and aided by his relatives
started a motel and became a millionaire at 65. I could not explain
to
the boys how someone with no college degree, comes to our country at
55 and becomes so prosperous in 10 years. Agreed, most businesses
which pan out like his did are in that range, but I could not find a
valid reason that so many people having college degrees and working
for govt. or private sector are having financial issues in their
fifties, but such business owners are remarkably flourishing. The
immigrant secured loans from banks as his relatives were a collateral
for him. His relatives also taught him the tricks of motel
business(hike up the price during weekends, when there is a big
function in City, getting tax breaks, dealings under the table by
cash
only deals etc.) His relatives were like that person except that they
came while they were between the age group of 30-35. I realize people
who have their own businesses are normally well off as compared to
someone who work for private or govt. sector.


Another immigrant living a few blocks from me is from India. He came
through a
visa program similar to this one explained at this link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...07/06/25/AR200...
The link states how someone was running a company by bringing people
to our country and gaining his commission from the companies that
require such people. That immigrant (person X) came through the same
means. He has a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering and he came on
some
work visa (H1-B). He worked for companies like Goldman Sachs, Ernst
and Young and many other financial firms and 40% of his salary was
withheld by the person who brought him as part of the deal for
bringing him to the country. He after gaining permanent residency
applied the same method. He would bring someone from India/China
stating he wants to employ person 'A', thus applying for person A's
H1-
B visa. Person 'A' would work for a company like Goldman Sachs who
would be billed for 80$/hr. Person A would obtain only 30$/hr with no
benefits as 50$ will be his employer's (person X) charges. Thus,
person X obtained a profit of about 25$/hr from one person A (after
deducting business expenses of 25$/hr from the 80$/hour rate he was
billing Goldman Sachs) or about 50K per person. He brought in 10 such
people from India/China every year and is now a multi-millionaire at
32. He just has to advertise his employees properly and ensure there
are projects for them all the year round just like any other
consulting company. The H1-B visa was implemented to enable foreign
workers who are actually skilled to be hired in U.S. rather than
bringing someone who will pay a percentage of his wages to his
employer and without any benefits. I explained to the boys it was
like
some admission official in a top college allowing unworthy students
to
get admitted(who actually did not deserve and did not meet the
standards of the college) just because the students were allowing to
grease the palms of the admission official. This keeps the truly
talented students out of the college (and deprives them of their
chances of growth) as well as degrades the quality of the college as
a
campus is judged by its students. Granted, he is impacting the U.S.
company in a negative way, but that person was just worried about
filling his pocket. The boys assured me they will not indulge in any
such dishonest tactics (taking advantage of loopholes in immigration
law) which would be detrimental to our country's economy in the short
and long run.


Another family in my neighborhood runs an internet site like
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/ and generates revenue of about 300K per
year from the advertisements on their site. The boys were attracted
to
this venture also as that household folks learned computers 4 years
ago.


Another person who worked for a while(3-4 years) at a bank after
high-
school, started his own credit union and became a multi-millionaire
at
32. Another man became a millionaire after working for an expensive
restaurant and then starting his own restaurant at 33. As the boys
were working at the retail stores like Target and JC Penney, looking
at the crowd which was purchasing expensive items daily, they thought
that most people in our area are quite well off. Unfortunately, as I
am in low income and hardly ever go to such malls, the boys concluded
looking at me, starting your own business one can become far more
financially independent compared to going to college and then working
for someone. I attempted to explain that few people who shop in such
malls go on unwanted spending (resulting in unnecessary debt) which
is
not a proper practice, but could not refute the fact that our country
has the maximum billionaires or in other words people in our country
are quite well off and hence can afford such spending.


They talked to my landlord who owns about 100 apartments and hardly
knows anything about house repair. On a repair call from a tenant, he
sends his repair crew, still manages to pocket 1.5M after his
expenses
or taxes. That person is just 25, but he had the advantage that his
grandfather purchased the property and paid the mortgage long ago, so
this person just has to collect rent from people like me and lead a
leisurely life. I wanted to explain to the boys that, though my
landlord(without clearing middle school) has a seven figure salary
working 10hours/week, instances like him are little rare. But, the
boys were not fully convinced by my explanation as there are too many
people in the real estate industry who are in the seven figure income
in my area and possibly 8-9 figures in places like urban California
and New York City. The boys thought despite of me having a six year
degree I was not so well off financially, but people like my landlord
were heavily prospering. I recognize it is tenants like me who
contribute to my landlord's wealth at my expense.


A fellow who has a construction business, earns about 500K per year
at
26 without a college degree. He had to gain some licenses, but 500K
seemed quite attractive to the youngsters at 26, though I believe
such
cases are uncommon.


Couple of other folks who have pawn shops, gas stations, grocery
stores, automobile shops, retail stores gave the boys same idea of
working somewhere and then starting their own business to become a
millionaire while in their twenties. All the people told the boys,
starting your own business and on the first few years doing as much
cash only transactions will aid them in evading lot of taxes and
after
then keeping two registers for transactions like one for
IRS(evidently, which will be fabricated) and one which shows the
actual dealings. Seraching the web viewing links such as
http://www.careerprospects.org/Trend...sixfigure.html,
discussions in stock/investment newsgroups as well as e-bay
newsgroups
made the youngsters believe 6 figure salaries is indeed very common
in
our country and if so many people with a high school diploma are
obtaining it, it should be possible for them if they act wisely after
high school. Apparently, they were informed that most people in the
sports, media(TV/movie/radio industry) are well beyond the 6 figure
salary. I understand few sports coach salaries are in seven figures,
some movie/TV/radio stars and many others are well in the six
figures,
not all, but it tough convincing the young folks of risks (success
rate of actors) present in such fields.


Some have suggested the boys to gain some experience in credit card
industry which is booming. The boys were informed Visa/Mastercard
earn
about 25% of each transaction as their transaction fees and removing
the business expenses they earn a profit of about 10% per
transaction.
Organizations which provide Bill pay service to new banks earn
interest by just moving funds around from the payer to payee, and
earning funds in the interim period. As I don't have much knowledge
about such services I could not refute statements stated by people
who
work in banking industry. That was one other area the boys were
suggested to go into.


The teenagers read a couple of books on the library which gave them
some 101 top business ideas, but I clarified if the ideas actually
worked, the author could be earning a mint himself before he
published
the book.


http://www.google.com/services/local...ls/repfaq.html
http://www.selladsense.com/
are few of the links where people can earn some funds which the boys
were suggested to look into. I don't know how much of these programs
work so could not advise the boys but told them to be careful.


Another reason the teenagers had a bleak picture after college was
the
heavy outsourcing. Many fields are being outsourced and it is hard to
obtain positions for college graduates. A typical fresh IT graduate
would demand about 25-30K or more depending on the area, whereas
someone in India/China with 7 years of experience would be willing to
work for half of that salary. I told the boys, that is a fact in most
aspects of life and we have to somehow adjust to it.


I stated examples of how people with a college degree working for the
State could start with 100K or more in my area (Tallahasee, FL) after
graduation as explained below. I gave them an example of a
hypothetical high school student who finishes high school at 17-18.
And, today virtually all high school students take AP(Advanced
Placement) classes while in high school itself which enables them to
start as a sophomore(2nd year student in college) instead of a
freshman(1st year student in college). There, they can save a year so
they can get their bachelor's in 3 years instead of 4 years. Taking
all the summer and winter classes their campus may offer (and today
most colleges have winter or summer classes) they complete the
workload of 3 years in 2 years. So, by the time they are 19 or 20
they
have finished their Bachelor's. Then, with a year of experience of
research at 20 or 21 about the Bachelor's thesis work they can go for
Ph.D and finish in about 4 years which is 24 or 25. Then, they can
start as a tenure track faculty or Assistant Professor. Where I live
there is a university FSU(http://www.fsu.edu) where such faculties
start with 80K for nine months. For three months of summer they get
additional 27K. So, their yearly salary is 80+27 = 107K. Assuming a
household in which both members (husband and wife) do this, the
household income of such a family is 107*2 = 214K at the age group of
24-25 and that too working for the State Govt. (as FSU is a state
university) and not suspectible to outsourcing, market factors as
much
as corporate sector, though the summer supplement may not be
available
if the economy is in a recession. This example is accurate if one has
the doctrate in engineering fields, management, nursing, law etc. For
other fields, I don't know the starting salary at FSU.


Most lawyers, optometrists, nuclear, chemical, petroleum engineer,
MBA
graduates from top 15 B-schools start with 100K or quite close after
graduation in the area where I live. I encouraged the boys to be like
the professionals I stated. I recognize the final choice can be made
only by the parents and children, but I wanted them to get a college
education which would help them understand things better in life and
work place.


Granted, like most aspects in life the higher the risk, more is the
reward. And, starting one's own business brings its own rewards which
is the reason most people commence their own business or continue
their family business and indeed prosper. But, I feel the boys could
approach that issue after a Bachelor's degree and that time is not
wasted if they actually learn something in a college.


Finally, I did not intend to disparage anyone (immigrant examples),
FSU faculty salaries might be little low or high(I got the number
from
a friend) or the numerous examples( commission charged by Visa/
Mastercard, people in different fields). I understand different
people
have different talents and they pursue them. A person having athletic
or acting ability can be a sportstar or in the media industry and it
is completely fine, but I did not want the boys to choose a path
solely based on the financial rewards. The salaries of people like my
landlord, people in my neighbourhood, restaurant owners etc. were
obtained from the folks themselves by the teenagers(so might be a
little high/low) and may have a slight variance depending on the
market.


I realize the issue I am facing is not new and people in this group
who are far more knowledgeable can guide me in encouraging the
teenagers to pursue college. I would appreciate any advice.


Thanks a lot.

  #2  
Old August 17th 07, 06:12 PM posted to misc.kids.moderated
Louise[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Motivating high-school students to join college

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:12:24 EDT, wrote:

My nephew and his friend are living with me since a few weeks, till
their parents return from an overseas trip, and both are teenagers
who
will be completing high school next year (May 08).


Unfortunately, during the few weeks they stayed with me, I did not
monitor them closely and the two boys have talked to people in my
neighborhood, places where they were working part-time and got some
ideas about not going to a college immediately after high-school is
more profitable in the long run.


Granted, like most aspects in life the higher the risk, more is the
reward. And, starting one's own business brings its own rewards which
is the reason most people commence their own business or continue
their family business and indeed prosper. But, I feel the boys could
approach that issue after a Bachelor's degree and that time is not
wasted if they actually learn something in a college.



I realize the issue I am facing is not new and people in this group
who are far more knowledgeable can guide me in encouraging the
teenagers to pursue college. I would appreciate any advice.


I don't think that's unfortunate at all!

But in general, I think that's really exciting that these two young
people have been thinking outside the expectations that their parents
and peers have for them. I think too many young people in Canada and
the USA go straight to university after high school without being
aware of their choices or making conscious commitment to academic
life, particularly those whose parents pay most or all of the cost of
their student life. I think that many of them would be better off in
the long run doing something else first, and attending university (or
another kind of post-secondary institution) later, only if and when
they are motivated to succeed.

If you think that these young people are getting mistaken impressions
about the ease of success in entrepreneurial careers, then you would
be doing them a service if you could help them to meet some other
entrepreneurs who would talk bluntly with them about the risks and
sacrifices they've made. Research I've encountered on successful
entrepreneurs suggests that a successful entrepreneur typically has a
university degree, has held several jobs and has been fired at least
once, and has failed at a few business attempts before finding a
success.

It's difficult for parents and supporters to watch young people make
choices other than the ones we would make for them, but it is valuable
and often necessary to let them do so. It is not, of course,
necessary to subsidize the lives of young adults who are working for
pay or choosing not to work for pay, by giving them free room and
board or by giving them money. You might also help these young
people understand the consequences of their choices by helping them
figure out how much money they'd need to live on, and how much time
they'd have to spend keeping house.

Louise

 




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