Getting your money's worth out of school

The cost of going to school is tremendous.  Obviously.  The increasing cost of tuition and books regularly make headlines. Many people are deciding that college isn't worth the high cost.  Those that choose to attend are left feeling pressure to minimize costs and increase the returns on their investment.

When I was in school, I had two friends that were clearly trying to get their money's worth out of their investment.  We'll call them Stan and Miles.


Goods and Services
Stan had an approach that still makes me laugh.  When he realized how much he was paying for every day at the university, he decided to reclaim the price of his tuition in goods and services.  Every time he
walked past the food court in the student building, he would take a handful of straws, napkins or ketchup packets to take home.  He made certain to use the swimming pool and racquetball courts and mentally subtracted what he would have paid for a gym membership.  He went out of his way to grab a daily New York Times that was provided by the International Studies department.  Hopefully to his benefit, he also took advantage of free tutors and free hour-long courses in the career placement department on a variety of subjects.


Pursuing a Goal
Miles wanted to work on race cars.  As a teenager he had worked as a mechanic and had built a hot rod in his garage. For him, a degree as an engineer was a means to working on more exotic cars.  I first met Miles while he was working as a lab assistant in the machine tool shop.  He maintained the lathes and mills and taught new students like myself how to safely use them.  I ran into him a semester later when he was working as a lab assistant in the CAD lab. He taught students like me how to use the sophisticated design software to model complicated parts.

Like Stan, and like most everyone else at the school, Miles recognized the high cost of his education. In the years that I worked with him, though, I never heard him complain.  His focus was on getting what he wanted out of school.  Along with the typical coursework that everyone accomplishes, he also worked on an international design project with several other schools to create a new concept vehicle for GM.  He also designed and welded the tube frame for a small race car that he raced in an intercollegiate competition.  He worked as an intern doing computer modeling for a respected international engineering design company.  And, by the time that he graduated with a bachelor's degree, he had landed his dream job.  He works now as a fluid dynamicist for an F-1 team in England. 

Continuing your education is a huge commitment.  If you can't take it seriously, it may not be worth the high cost.  If, however, you use your time in school to aggressively pursue your big goals, the cost of tuition is a bargain.