I ran into a former student not long ago who was working at a restaurant. We chatted, and the student informed me that finally, eight years after high school graduation, he was in his last semester of college and was going to graduate in a couple of months with a degree in accounting. I congratulated the student and am proud of him for sticking it out and reaching the finish line, but I was also struck by the lost opportunity and time this young person might have let slip through his fingers.
To be fair, I’m not sure what, if any, significant challenges this person had faced in the past eight years that might have delayed him. However, I do know there are many young people in a similar situation and many don’t have the best reasons or excuses for a drawn out college experience. Extending college in this way presents several inefficiencies and some of those aren’t immediately visible.
What I mean by this is lost earning years. One of the reasons people retire is that as we get on in years, our health might not support our ability to work any longer. So, a person who languishes in college and gets a late start on their career is missing out on their earning potential in those first few years. Let’s say that this student is making $25,000 a year at his restaurant job, but could start out making $50,000 a year as an accountant. Well, that’s a net of $100,000 this person has let slip his fingers. And, this is before we talk about additional student loans he might have taken in those additional college years or other “hidden” financial boons that extra $100,000 could have brought through things like compounding interest, buying a home instead of renting, etc. It probably translates to a lot more than $100,000 in the long run.
Even if you simply say, “Well he can just work an extra four years,” we don’t know if that will be possible 30 or 40 years down the road. Or, he just might not want to. Either way, I think you can certainly at least make the argument that he might have squandered four productive years in his twenties at the expense of facets of his life in his 60s or 70s.
I guess what this really boils down to is the following question; Is it better to move slowly through college, perhaps working and earning enough to keep you afloat along the way, or is better to try to move through college quickly and efficiently even if that means borrowing some money to get you through? To me, there is a clean answer to this question.
Of course, it must be feasible for a student to do this. It’s never wise for a college student to live beyond their means and borrow to do that. Life brings about differences in circumstances or throws us curve balls. Those things could understandably slow down a college experience. However, all things being equal, a young person’s twenties or the early part of their career can be an important and productive part of their career as a whole.
