3.There are plenty of good jobs that do not require a college degree
3.有很多好工作并不需要大学学位
If the work situation is so bad for graduates (see point 4 above) it is tempting to think that things would be even worse for those who fail to go to college and make the same investment in themselves and their education as their peers.
既然就业情况对于大学毕业生都如此糟糕（如上节所述），我们就很容易联想到那些没能上大学的人。他们没有像同龄人那样，在自己的外在和教育上投入更多的金钱。
After all if you now need a college degree to be a waitress what don't you need it for!
但最终不还是为了那些并不需要大学学位的服务生岗位到处奔波，与有大学学位的人竞争吗？
But this is, thankfully, not the case. There is an awful lot you can do to make a success of your life without going anywhere near college and long term debt that it brings.
但是幸好，这不是什么大问题。你能够干出一番事业的事情太太太多了，完全不必到什么大学去承担四年的待业风险。
Many careers offer good wages combined with the opportunity for excellent career progression.
很多专职行业也是既提供高薪又能保证前途。

For decades the United States has fallen behind European countries such as Germany in the attention paid to vocational training and courses.
数十年以来，美国在对职业教育的重视程度上远远落后于一些欧洲国家，比如德国。
In many European countries college is not seen as the be all and end all – many students are encouraged to work towards apprenticeships in their chosen careers instead.
在很多欧洲国家，上大学在人们眼中并不意味着得到了一切，也并非一切学习的结束。很多学生受鼓励在他们所选择的行业中先做学徒的工作。
These apprenticeships are highly sought after and those who work in them gain valuable qualifications while earning good money.
这些见习机会受到年轻人广泛的欢迎，而且有这些机会的人不仅薪水丰厚，还能取得高含金量的职业资格认证。
Apprenticeship programs are not as popular in the US but some do exist and, if they are available in your area are a good alternative.
见习项目在美国虽未广泛流行，但它确实存在。如果你周围有比较方便的见习机会，那会是代替上大学的一个超棒选择。
Alternatively, if you are that way inclined joining the military can prove a valuable career choice.
另外，入伍也是一个很有价值的职业选择。
Specialists are often highly trained at the nation's expense and veterans are often very much sought after by civilian companies.
在美国，陆军中的专业人员经常能在国家经费支持下得到很好的训练与提升。此外，退伍军人还通常会受到民营企业的青睐。

2.Only the hard degrees pay off long term
2.难以获得的学位才长期有价值
We do not deny that there are some jobs for which you need a college degree. In fact for many of them you might need several.
不可否认，有些工作确实需要你提供大学学位证书，但那些工作还会需要其他一系列的证书。
You are not going to be a high flying lawyer or an excellent doctor without one nor are your chances of getting far in experimental research chemistry good unless you have the degree to back it up.
除非你有学历保障，否则你在没有机会进行深入科学研究的情况下，不可能成为一名好的律师或者医生。
Even then it is probably only worth investing in these hard degrees at a top flight school.
如果你非要考难度大的学位，那也只有顶尖学府的学位才值得你付出努力了。
With all the graduate competition out there a degree from Hicksville University, Hickstate is probably not going to get you very far (except into debt).
因为现在毕业生的就业竞争这么激烈，如果你毕业于美国希克斯维尔大学，在那种不入流的地方你不可能有什么出路（除非借钱出去闯一闯）。

The figures are striking, mid-career an average engineering graduate from MIT can expect to earn about $126,000 a year compared to $73,000 if she went to Florida State and just under $44,000 if he went to Black Hills State.
统计数据十分惊人：毕业于麻省理工大学的普通工程师年薪可达126000美元；毕业于佛罗里达州立大学，相比之下年薪就逊色不少，只有73000美元；毕业于名不见经传的黑丘州立大学的，年薪连44000美元都达不到。
As seen in the previous point you would be better off becoming a respiratory therapist or a dietician straight out of school than investing your money in a mediocre college.
所以如果你打算花钱上一所普通大学，还不如直接退学当一名呼吸治疗师或者营养师呢，这样你还能过得富足一点。
Those frightening figures are for engineering, now consider what the benefits of an arts degree are compared with spending time in the world of work – it is starting to look like one big con.
以上惊人的数据仅是针对工科学位的，现在我们谈谈在工作领域文科学位有何好处——好像一个大骗局开始了。
This is even more so when you consider how many people are duped into spending even longer at college studying for a graduate degree, precisely because there are no jobs for them in the real world.
你想想有为什么有那么多人会跌入文科这个坑，他们要花更多的时间和精力去攻读研究生学位，真正的原因就是他们在社会上根本找不到工作。
A master of fine arts is one of the five worst value for money degrees you can take together with PR or advertising (you can learn those skills organically), computer engineering (your knowledge will be out of date before you finish the degree) and meteorology.
美术学硕士学位同公关学、广告学、计算机工程、气象学这四种学位一样，是最没有“钱”途的学位之一，因为广告技巧你完全可以自学成才，电脑技术又更新太快，等到你毕业，你的知识早就已经过时了。

1.College is expensive
1.上大学要付出昂贵的代价
You will have gathered from this article that college is not only expensive, it is very expensive. Consider point 7 above, unless your college fees are going to give you a better long term financial and career opportunity return than taking the same money and investing it then you may want to consider skipping the college experience.
看了这篇文章，你就会明白，大学不是贵，而是非常贵！参照上文的第七条，如果你上大学以后能有稳定的工作和经济来源，不妨把这些工作的工资对比一下你直接把学费用于投资的收益，如果前者还不如后者，你绝对不会选择走上大学这条路。
Everyone talks about the college premium, the higher earning potential that students with a degree will enjoy over their lifetime. The trouble is that for most of these students that premium is elusive.
大家都知道如今有大学溢价这个现象，就以为凭个学位就能赚更多的钱，过上好日子。可对很多学生来说，溢价是难以捉摸的。
They may indeed be earning higher salaries (but not always, see point 2 above) but they will be saddled with debt repayments for many years to come.
毕业之后，他们的工资也许真能比没有学历的人更高（但事实并非总是如此，详见上文第二条），可多年内他们会为了还助学贷款苦不堪言。
These debt repayments will impact on their ability to get a home, to start a family and to save for their children to go to college.
他们的经济状况会因多年的分期还款而不容乐观，直接影响到他们找对象、结婚、养小孩、攒小孩学费。

College can pay off and pay off big time but only if you go to the right school and then on into the right field. Do your research carefully, check what your college actually requires you to do for your degree.
上大学唯有选对学校，选对领域才没白费，才能取得成功。你要下一番功夫研究你所在的大学要拿到学位证书到底需要做些什么。
Is the college you are hoping to attend an Ivy League or highly rated university? If not even the most challenging of degrees may not be worth the paper it is written on.
你想就读一所常春藤盟校这种高评级的大学吗？如果不是，那再难的学位也没什么用。
College degrees exist, with a few notable exceptions, for the benefit of the organizations that run them and the staff that work there.
除了名校，大学学位就是学校用来让整个教学体系运转起来，让教职人员和学生乖乖呆着的工具。
Most institutions do not care if students study only 5 hours a week, do not care that their staff are substandard because they know that there will be an endless supply of applicants convinced that they need their service just to get ahead in life.
绝大多数教育机构才不关心他们的学生是不是一周只学习五个小时，也不在乎他们的教职人员有多么不称职，他们很清楚会有源源不断的人申请就读他们学校，因为申请者深信上大学能够出人头地。
For students in high school at the present time and their parents there are hard decisions ahead.
在读的高校学生和他们父母正面临着艰难的抉择：到底要不要继续上大学？
It may seem that going to college and staying in education are the best things to do, the aspirational thing to do, the next step in the American dream.
似乎在他们的美国梦中，下一步就应该体验一下梦寐以求的大学生活，继续他们的学业。
As far as college is concerned, however, the American dream is broken and going to study at university can mean setting yourself up for decades of debt servicing rather than a high flying career.
可是再看看如今的大学形势，美国梦已不复存在，上大学就意味着你要规划怎么还清数十年的贷款，拥有一份成功的事业成了痴心妄想。
With a very few notable exceptions a college degree is, these days, nothing more than a waste of money. Why fall for the con?
现如今，除了名校的学位有点用，其他的学位纯属浪费钱财，干嘛要把这种没用的东西当回事？