Do you want to help your children grandchildren or yourself become financially independent?
I have achieved financial independence and I couldn’t have done so if I graduated with $35,000 of student debt which is the average today’s student graduates with. I also taught 10 years at Community college, and I can assure you I was a better teacher than any of my John Carroll University accounting teachers were.
I am celebrating the 8th year of my teaching online investing at, www.BillSpetrino.com and I have created MANY “Spetrino millionaires” and have been a worldwide author and newsletter writer.
My daughter will attend community college and here’s why:
1) Financially its wise – the average credit hour at a community college costs $60, while the average credit hour at a 4-year state college costs around $300. Huge difference. 64 hours at 240 dollars is $15,360 dollars over 2 years. The average annualized total return for the S&P 500 index over the past 90 years is about 10%. Investors can easily mirror the index’s performance by investing in an S&P 500 Index mutual fund or exchange-traded fund. That money invested in an index fund at 10% over the next 45 years should be about 1.12 million dollars. The difference between private schools, like John Carroll the school I attended, or CCC the college my daughter will attend and I taught at, is over $35,000 per year or 70428 for 2 years. That $70,428 invested in the same index should be over 5.15 million dollars in 45 years. You don’t have to be a deca-millionaire to know the difference is significant and BOTH student’s degree say Ohio State or John Carroll University. One is saddled with more debt.
2) Makes the transition to college easier – if you attend community college, you’re more than likely either living at home or else living very close to home. Instead of feeling like you are overwhelmed, you can wade in at a pace that is right for you, and slowly take on responsibilities of your own.
3) It’s much more efficient – The majority of your first two years are going to be core classes, even if they’re related to your major. You can do the same thing at a community college, for a fraction of the cost. This gives you time to explore your interests, without the stress of knowing you may be racking up massive debt on courses that don’t end up counting towards your degree or major. If you know the 4 year school you are going to attend, the community college should tell you whether it will transfer and many states have websites dedicated to this.
Many famous people such as Ross Perot, Steve Jobs, Eileen Collins – the first woman to pilot the space shuttle, George Lucas, and Dr. Craig Venter the primary force behind the Human Genome Project all attended community college.
Let’s suppose you don’t have all the money to attend either Ohio state, John Carroll or another 4-year college and you have to borrow. You would end up with $35,000 owed at 6% over 10 years and the loan repayment is $388.57 per month. That money invested in the same fund should be worth approximately $3.46 million dollars.
Making financial decisions are best made when one is given different sets of facts and one can decide what’s best for THEM. I feel few people understand sales, marketing, finances, taxes, investing, teaching and education combined as much as I do. I am NOT advocating skipping college, although I feel it is certainly not for everyone. This article is for THOSE who want a 4-year degree BUT want to do it more efficiently. I leave with an analogy. A person who wants to keep his house warm with his fireplace can do it by burning $100 dollar bills or by burning logs. One is simply more efficient. What do you want to burn?
Sadly many school administrators don’t explain these options to the parents and students. They really need to read this.
Feel free to email me with any questions or comments at ticketbill@aol.com . If there is interest, I will write follow-up articles. Thank you.
