Money vs Degree

[LastOfUs]

I was just wanting some input from a third party on this issue.

If the degree you wanted to study was based only in a foreign state (bloody Canberra) to you and you only wanted to learn it for 'enjoyment' purposes to get closer to encapsulating your dream of graduate study at a top business school whilst opening some closed doors deep into your future - and living on a tight budget with a conventional part-time job and residing in ANU accommodation. For those wondering, the degree is Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics / Juris Doctor.

OR

Doing a relatively boring degree (subjective) such as a Bachelor of Arts at a decent university whilst working in a career (both brother and sister chose this option, same job with family friend) that yields around $70,000 p.a. and living at home until around 23 and saving your money to suffice another day without paying any board. I've made spreadsheets on this (obsessed with real-estate surfing) and I'd be able to save about $180,000+ at age 23 whilst living with parents with plentiful spending money. Like aforementioned, this money could easily be used as a down payment for a IP and I would genuinely be ahead in finances for my age.

This is about a year away when I have to make such decisions but in this time I want to build a foundation to achieving such goals and allocating time into different areas. I'm not sure what my capabilities are in a VCE educational sense but I know it would take about the entirety of a year out of my life to gain the possibility of entrance into the ANU school whilst the other path way is almost certain with multiple extraneous variables that could incur problems but I really would like to set some goals out ahead of myself and seek advice from those with different stories to tell.

TLDR: Live with your parent(s) and save money or aim for entrance into a top degree.

(P.S. pls don't negatively criticise anything I've said or call me young and dumb. I just want a fair idea of what other people have done and what option others would choose if they were to go back in time).

[Future preference - this is not me; Em ;3]

[brenden]

Honestly, I'd take the second option every single time. *personal opinion, I'm not encouraging you to take the second option*. To me, $70,000 a year is an insane amount of money... Like... My family has never had too much money so I probably have a pretty distorted perception but HOLY SHIT - $70,000 o.O
that's not all though. If it was like "drop your degree for 70k a year" I wouldn't at all. But you want to  Pol/Phil/Eco (all of which you could major in an Arts degree, as I am for Phil.. And I assure you it isn't boring lol). And JD? You could just do Arts/Law at Monash and do postgrad at ANU (with a nice 180k in your pocket).

To me, your choice seems like:
best case degree but be poor
Or
Have 70k a year and do a degree that will get you the same thing but a few years later.

Like... You could do Arts here and then JD at ANU even? :s

But yeah... I'd never say no to the second option.

[LastOfUs]

Honestly, I'd take the second option every single time. *personal opinion, I'm not encouraging you totally the second option*. To me, $70,000 a year is an insane amount of money... Like... My family has never had too much money so I probably have a pretty fit peters perception but HOLY SHIT - $70,000 o.O
that's not all though. If it was like "drop your degree for 70k a year" I wouldn't at all. But you want to  Pol/Phil/Eco (all of which you could major in an Arts degree, as I am for Phil.. And I assure you it isn't boring lol). And JD? You could just do Arts/Law at Monash and do postgrad at ANU (with a nice 180k in your pocket).

To me, your choice seems like:
best case degree but be poor
Or
Have 70k a year and do a degree that will get you the same thing but a few years later.

Like... You could do Arts here and then JD at ANU even? :s

But yeah... I'd never say no to the second option.

Yeah - when you logically think about it that way it seems like a no-brainer. I'm not entirely sure about the art majors and all that, in how it all works as such. I thought you just chose a major, a couple of minors and earned a 'bachelor of arts.'

I really really do not want to go into the public sector when choosing a career, which such a degree lead you into. I really just want to do that specific degree as I am genuinely interested and to aid in the pursuit of attending a prestigious business school but I guess I should try determine a happy medium. I wish there was some form of vertical degree leading you into business school at Harvard

My dilemma also comes with having a life. Money could certainly satisfy my extrinsic needs, but I doubt living with your parents at age 23> would carry much of a life. But I think money always wins in such a case

[Stick]

My dilemma also comes with having a life. Money could certainly satisfy my extrinsic needs, but I doubt living with your parents at age 23> would carry much of a life.

Just in regards to this, I thought I'd mention that the median age of young adults when they move out of home has drastically increased over the past few years, and is now in the late 20s (I'd get the exact statistics for you, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics is servicing their website at the moment). You definitely won't be in the minority by staying in with your parents. Although, I understand that you might be keen to move out and start making your own life and advancing your independence.

[werdna]

I think the whole $70k p.a and $180k in savings you've calculated and expecting may be a little bit inflated. It would be very difficult and potentially rare to find a graduate job that pays $70k. As for saving up $180k in 3 years, I think this would be near impossible to achieve. You need to spend money in order to make money. I think you have a dilemma though - on one hand, you are considering doing a degree for a completely non-vocational and purely academic purpose, whereas on the other, you are considering a degree for a vocational and monetary purpose.

Let me tell you, university is not a job machine. If going for the 2nd option, you will be placing a lot of pressure on yourself to attain that $70k graduate job. I don't think you realise how much $180k really is - assuming that you get the job, you'd literally have to spend zilch! Just my thoughts and sorry for 'negatively criticising' you lol.

By the way, just out of curiosity, what job were you looking at doing after the BA?

[spectroscopy]

do a bachelor of arts and triple major in politics/philosophy/economics, then after your arts degree, you can do post-grad law somewhere
OR you can do an arts/law double degree, i dont think you could triple major, but definetly at least double in two of the three, and you get the law degree

[alondouek]

A someone who would eat their own shoe for a job - let alone one that pays $70k p.a. - I'd personally go for the second one for the exact same reasons Brenden has outlined. A BA/BA+LLB here will get you exactly what you want, and I'm further echoing Brenden when I say that as someone who's grown up with very little money at hand, the financial basis that you'd have to start your own independent life would be a massive boon.

There are definitely benefits to going for the first option (e.g. you definitely get the most out of your degree if it's the one you most enjoy doing), but for many other non-academic reasons, I would go for the second.

[Planck's constant]

There are so many uncertainties involved in all this, there is absolutely no way you can do 'spreadsheets' with such actuarial precision.

You are overthinking this OP.

Just do the best course you can get into and enjoy.

Come back in 3 years and we can discuss this further.

[werdna]

There are so many uncertainties involved in all this, there is absolutely no way you can do 'spreadsheets' with such actuarial precision.

You are overthinking this OP.

Just do the best course you can get into and enjoy.

Come back in 3 years and we can discuss this further.

Exactly. Sorry to say, OP, but there is no $70k p.a job waiting for you at the end of a degree you haven't even started.

Maybe if/when you secure an internship or graduate job placement during your Arts degree, then you should look at your options.

[chasej]

Exactly. Sorry to say, OP, but there is no $70k p.a job waiting for you at the end of a degree you haven't even started.

Maybe if/when you secure an internship or graduate job placement during your Arts degree, then you should look at your options.

I think OP said they could earn 70k p.a. WHILE studying the BA 

Bachelor of Arts at a decent university whilst working in a career (both brother and sister chose this option, same job with family friend) that yields around $70,000 p.a.

Where are these jobs at OP? I really really want to know.

[LastOfUs]

Thanks for everyones' opinions. I'll try answer multiple concerns in one shortish response.

Just to answer to those people saying that getting a job that pays that amount is impossible, going down the mainstream path of job finding appears apparently so but as I think I mentioned when you have close relations within a business that your whole family has a tendency of going into, it's fine.

Both my parents have worked at the same company with one still remaining as a business executive in the advertising industry and offer to give 'the kids' a competitive advantage financially/career-wise in life by trialling us with a job for six months (two have done so, I'm the last) and securing it if all goes well. Starting base of all people working there is around $70,000 with no experience whilst the median is about $200K+. The largest shareholder of the company   has had two changes in my parents cycle at this place and the relations with them are great - I get to stay at their beach houses and I have visited the guy's fathers house - wow (wouldn't believe its real-estate value). Regardless I'm explaining all this information in an obnoxiously verbose way but I'm just saying it is somewhat guaranteed and I just want to find a happy medium. My brother didn't study but my sister did a bachelor of arts whilst working 5 days a week full-time and still maintained a fairly social life; I don't know any specifics but she did Arts at Monash, took about 6 months off work as a break to maintain the busy life and returned ... and that is the extent of my knowledge.

Oh and as for my saving goal over 4 years of work, it is entirely possible. I would earn $218,612 after my first four years of work after tax and I would be paying no board whilst living with my parents but I would make it up to them in later years. I'd spend around $10,000 during those years MAXIMUM on going out, clothes, games or acting out on impulses and buying stupid depreciating shieeet. Own a Kawasaki Ninja and a tank is relatively cheap for its mileage in comparison to a car and I won't plan on getting the latter until I really need one. As for inflation it's only around 2-3% each year, give or take, and at the end of that period I would put it into an IP like mentioned and start renting whilst hopefully go study abroad.

You all favoured my likely option, I just wanted an external opinion. Thanks.

[alondouek]

Good luck mate! Whatever you do end up choosing, you'll gain vital experience - and that's the most important thing going forwards.

[LastOfUs]

Good luck mate! Whatever you do end up choosing, you'll gain vital experience - and that's the most important thing going forwards.

Just like our emu and kangaroo =P

[werdna]

Thanks for everyones' opinions. I'll try answer multiple concerns in one shortish response.

Just to answer to those people saying that getting a job that pays that amount is impossible, going down the mainstream path of job finding appears apparently so but as I think I mentioned when you have close relations within a business that your whole family has a tendency of going into, it's fine.

Both my parents have worked at the same company with one still remaining as a business executive in the advertising industry and offer to give 'the kids' a competitive advantage financially/career-wise in life by trialling us with a job for six months (two have done so, I'm the last) and securing it if all goes well. Starting base of all people working there is around $70,000 with no experience whilst the median is about $200K+. The largest shareholder of the company   has had two changes in my parents cycle at this place and the relations with them are great - I get to stay at their beach houses and I have visited the guy's fathers house - wow (wouldn't believe its real-estate value). Regardless I'm explaining all this information in an obnoxiously verbose way but I'm just saying it is somewhat guaranteed and I just want to find a happy medium. My brother didn't study but my sister did a bachelor of arts whilst working 5 days a week full-time and still maintained a fairly social life; I don't know any specifics but she did Arts at Monash, took about 6 months off work as a break to maintain the busy life and returned ... and that is the extent of my knowledge.

Oh and as for my saving goal over 4 years of work, it is entirely possible. I would earn $218,612 after my first four years of work after tax and I would be paying no board whilst living with my parents but I would make it up to them in later years. I'd spend around $10,000 during those years MAXIMUM on going out, clothes, games or acting out on impulses and buying stupid depreciating shieeet. Own a Kawasaki Ninja and a tank is relatively cheap for its mileage in comparison to a car and I won't plan on getting the latter until I really need one. As for inflation it's only around 2-3% each year, give or take, and at the end of that period I would put it into an IP like mentioned and start renting whilst hopefully go study abroad.

You all favoured my likely option, I just wanted an external opinion. Thanks.

A little confused - what's the point in getting a BA when you don't 'need' one to work at the company, when clearly you aren't in it for the non-vocational and academic purposes? On one hand you're looking at doing graduate study etc while on the other hand you're looking at doing a BA and full on work alongside that. If your passion lies in working for that company (which doesn't require educational qualifications), why not just work there full-time and save yourself the HECs, since it sounds like money is more your aim at the moment?

I might sound like a douche for saying this, but from what I've seen, children working for their parents' companies isn't always the best option. At my current work, the general manager gave two of his kids a job. And you guessed it, they are incredibly lazy and are notorious for bending the rules. No one can have a quiet word with them and they have an easy ride. Definitely not the way to have a career break or grow professionally. They would be far better off working for a completely different company, fending for themselves and developing full independence. You obviously might be different, but this is just my perception of things.

[lala1911]

Option two with the money. I don't know if you'd be able to earn $70k/yr if you're still a uni student or just as a graduate even. I'd be extremely thankful be on a 40k p.a salary as a uni student, possibly 30k p.a if the hours were shorter to be honest. I've always wanted to move out to do university and I had everything planned until the end of this year I decided I should stay home and save every coin I have so I can have a good headstart in life.

I don't understand what you mean by staying where you live right now and doing a "boring" degree though. You may even enjoy life better here in Melbourne opposed to Canberra. You can't really categorise Politics as a "top degree", because you may actually find Arts better. And from what I've heard, Arts is usually for people who are extremely passionate and devoted to their area of study. It's not just something that people do at uni for the sake of it. Also, you're not just restricted to Arts. There are so many more courses. Who knows if you'd like to do a bachelor of Politics. Remember politics is pretty hectic, plus I'm sure that there is low demand for politics jobs.. correct me if I'm wrong though any future politicians.

Option two is clearly the better option.