How much did you spend on ur education?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

hey folks… so many creative people here… so many honest answers and hardly any trolls in my threads …
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so I am thinking of going to become a video dude, a creaive person, study film and motion design (or communication design / illustration) …
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got the heart for it, got some of the soul… have been doing it pretty much all my life, noodling around always but never thought I d be “good enough, talented enough” and off course “there will never be enough money out there to make a living” …
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turns out all the other shit I ve done dont get me anywhere, and at the same time it is hard to make a living …
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I still keep trying to squeeze myself into that square box (tie, suit, office, 9-5 etc )

No job / welfare …

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.but maybe I should really embrace that I am a spherical object with many weird colors … and and AND drop some 20 grand / 30 grand on a college education … .(for 3 years all together)
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.bear in mind, I am turning 34 this year .
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as usual looking forward to ALL chimes from my fellow elektronauts :slight_smile:

#3

I went to a technical college when I was about 32, hoping to become an animator. All I really learned in school was how to teach myself what I needed to know through forums and tutorials.
I got good enough to get a job, but I got good at what I do, on the job. Working with other people in an intense critique environment is the best way to raise the bar of your work.

If video, illustration, motion graphics is your thing, just pursue it like your life is on the line.
Watch demo reels, find some good ones.
Join some forums and ask questions.
Check out Glassdoor and see what jobs are out there.
You dont really need and “education” to get hired, you just need to have a bad ass demo reel and a good attitude.

It’s a super competitive industry with lots of 20 year old kids that are way smarter than you and already have a head start on all of it.
Hopefully you’ll find your edge in your experience.

Not sure who made our website, it’s kinda lame, but you’ll get the idea.
http://moonbotstudios.com/

#6

I’m all for higher education, it can help broaden the mind etc etc. But I’d also agree with some of the other posts in this thread about it not necessarily being essential - and that taking other pathways may be just as worthwhile.

One of the big things that often seems to get overlooked is that its purpose isn’t to teach you how to do a job. It’s there to teach you the underlying fundamentals that you need to know in order to be able to start learning how to do a job.

So for some industries, even though their is a college degrees associated with a particular career they’re not absolutely necessary - it’s possible to learn enough of your own to get a foot in the door. However, some people (including myself) tend to learn a whole lot more & quicker in a structured learning environment. As far as the creative industries go, it also helps a lot if you can bounce ideas off of and get help with issues from some sort of experienced tutor.

For other industries, it’s considered absolutely essential that one spends a number of years studying specific topics before being allowed to work at entry level. Only then does the real job training begin.

Lucky for me, australia currently has government funded interest free loans that you only have to start paying off once you earn above a certain amount. So a great many of us have the luxury of going regardless of whether or not it’s needed.

#7

I dont waste too much time on regrets, but if I could go back and tell my 20 year old self a few things, one of them would be, quit fucking around with drugs and go be around people who are actually growing and creating.

Looking back I would have liked to have the money to get into a good school, especially for art or something. It’s not so much about the education you get from books and lessons, more about being around people who are highly driven, whom you can get honest feedback from.

Most friends and family do not give honest crit, they’ll always tell you how great you are.
You have to seek out the people your trying to be, and make friends.

#8

there are still a good few posts coming in … I appreciate all of them! … thanks guys! …
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actually changed the thread topic title to:

how much did you spend … it said: how much did you send …/( need a new keyboard, but every time I think of a new keyboard I think of buying AK and not a typing keyboard for pc: muhhahaha)

@juan:

I spend all fucking day with regrets of my past! … right now I d like to turn back time, do what you wanted to do too… and now be the guy who does to my 33 year old me what the 23 year old me … instead of being 43 year old me…something along those lines…

#9

Still studying :slight_smile:

I’ve always been into school. I love it. 33, doing my Masters currently. I will probably do a PhD yet. One way of looking at education is actually being involved in education, ie it can lead to an academic or teaching career, pedagogy etc.

I’ve always been pretty selfish about creativity though. It’s for me. I’ve never been interested in doing creative work for commercial ends, I’ve always saved it for myself so that the inspiration or passion is still there at the end of the day.

It’s a tough balance tho, I’m trying to ride two or three different paths, artistic, technical, teaching… And just seeing how they braid together and end up, rather than trying to have a creative career I’m happy kicking the bucket and getting back to the studio once the shift is done :wink: Can’t say I’ve ever had a full time job though i always do bits and pieces, casual/part time work.

Student debt is at about 40k ~

#10

Yah it’s pretty easy to beat up on yourself over not having done “what you should have done years ago”.
But what if you had done those things?
Would you even be anything like the person you are today?
When I answered that question for myself, I found that I couldve easily become just another rich a$$hole with very few redeeming qualities. I don’t think I’d like that guy very much. So now I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet :joy:

#11

We spend way to much on collage education, I would hazard to say that most people that get one really do not need one. To qualify that, what I mean is they would not need one if employers did not demand it, were open minded and willing to train. If you are to do it try to come out the other end with no debt, it can be done. Student loans are such an enormous chain around your neck. However I am not one of those that took my own advice and ended up with 55K in debt.

Its time to break free from that box there is so much to experience and do other than the norm, skill and perseverance will be key. It may take you 10 years but once you have skills that are in demand it will be liberating. There will be tough times along the way that is part of the journey. When I was 47 I started my BS in Information Technology, I graduated 4 years later in 2011. This is my 5th career and I am currently considering another one.

Good luck it is the start of an adventure.

#12

I’m 32 and still studying. I’ll be completing my Masters in applied linguistics later this year while also working full-time as an English teacher in Korea. All up, the tuition fees for that cost about AU$20K, and I still owe $5K.

[ul]
[li]A few years ago I did a Postgraduate Diploma in TESOL, which was about AU$18K. Paid that off.[/li]
[/ul]

[ul]
[li]Long before that, I did a BA in Chinese and Linguistics, which, including loans for living costs, came to about NZ$50K. Paid that off (with some help from dead relatives).[/li]
[/ul]

[ul]
[li]So in total, I’ve spent about $90K on my tertiary education, and I still owe $5000. Like Mattleaf, I may yet do a PhD, but it depends on future circumstances. [/li]
[/ul]

Higher education may or may not be necessary for what you ultimately want to do, but if you do decide to go ahead, then I highly recommend it. What a formal higher education does is teach you the fundamental skills that help you to educate yourself, which becomes a lifelong endeavour.

Helping to get a foot in the door for certain careers is definitely an important consideration, but for me, that’s been secondary to having the opportunity to learn from brilliant minds, and developing critical thinking and research skills along the way. The immense satisfaction of having completed a degree doesn’t hurt either. I can’t really put a price on that.

So, I want to to wish you good luck too!

#13

[quote="“rex_mundii”"]

Yah it’s pretty easy to beat up on yourself over not having done “what you should have done years ago”.
But what if you had done those things?
Would you even be anything like the person you are today?
When I answered that question for myself, I found that I couldve easily become just another rich a$$hole with very few redeeming qualities. I don’t think I’d like that guy very much. So now I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet :joy: [/quote]
true that! … i am glad I managed to set my narcisistic tendencies to the ground … havent heard: you are an arrogant piece of shit in quite a while :slight_smile: … also I manage to let others have their opinion without trying to baptise them to my will…and and and … fuck man… that is pretty deep what you mentioned there…

#14

Wow.
I studied dentistry, specialised in oral implantology and made a dr. med. dent. which is kind of a phd in Germany.
The education without cost of living and not earning during this time was less than 10000 Euros as universities are funded by the government in Germany. The specialization was about 25000.
No debt left, 38 years old.

#15

I studied linguistics and translation studies, with a major in English / corpus linguistics. Currently work somewhere were I “kind of” have use for my professional skills.

Cost me 32100 eur i student loans, of which 15000 remain unpaid.

#16

u in berlin? my dentist left me :frowning:

#17

Yah it’s pretty easy to beat up on yourself over not having done “what you should have done years ago”.
But what if you had done those things?
Would you even be anything like the person you are today?
When I answered that question for myself, I found that I couldve easily become just another rich a$$hole with very few redeeming qualities. I don’t think I’d like that guy very much. So now I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet :joy: [/quote]
true that! … i am glad I managed to set my narcisistic tendencies to the ground … havent heard: you are an arrogant piece of shit in quite a while :slight_smile: … also I manage to let others have their opinion without trying to baptise them to my will…and and and … fuck man… that is pretty deep what you mentioned there… [/quote]
Thanks man! Sometimes I imagine Kelsey Grammer is doing some sort of monologue in my head - hopefully that’s not a sign of mental illness…

If nobody is calling you an arrogant shit then you must’ve done something right!

#18

u in berlin? my dentist left me :frowning: [/quote]
hehe, not yet. in the process of leaving cologne. Not sure whether to return to London move to Hamburg or Berlin. :slight_smile:

#19

Everything I’v done in my life is a scool.
Started academy for painting when I was 5. my father pushed me to do Latin -science and i did for a few yraes until I cracked and pushed him to let me do arts. At the age of 20 I finally managed tro go to the GREAT Academy. I was convinced it was a draem come tru . WOW! did that turn out to be the opposite - only fights with allmost all pof my teachers - but I worked like crazy!!! Did an other academy - same problem. stopped my studies because my father died when I was 16 and I new my mother couldn’t pay fanymore as I lost the bourse for my studies. All that, not becauese I didn’n work hard or failed technically but because I refused to see my profs as Guru’s and had my own meanings on art. I wasn’t prepared to follow their way of thinking , just wanted technical advice… But hey - they wanted to rule my head - and I wil never accept that from no-one. so that’s the prize I’ve paid for not giving away my liberty.And I don’t regret .Sometimes i wished I did electronics - but in a naive way, just because I think it could be useful for my music.
I did a lot of different jobs sinds then, mostly bad-payed - but that’s also going to scool for me. I learned about many things. some of my exes and friends warned me my life would turn out wrong - but it turns out to be the opposite - as I am now a gy with such a long CV - I allmost alsways find a job - because of that. It made me ready for the flexebility required these days.
I let life come as it is for a big part and when I really want something I go for it at 100 procent and I can be very patient.
It has no meaning to look back and say I schould have done this or that > because it’s impossible to say how things would have turned out. > that’s just mindfuck - there’s to many unpredicteble or invisible factors who play a mayor role in how a life proceeds.
Rather than trying to know what I have to do I diceded to find out how I am. Even if I’m not totally there yet - I’m getting pretty close.
when I was younger this frustrated me alot ( had some serious dépressions ) but now I see if my life had gone the way I emagined I would never had the expériences I needed.
Find out why you came to this life
Whah you are doing around here an why
Ones you manage to see, it’l be alot easyer to focus energy if needed and much less difficult to make descisions.

On the road I learned 5 Languages - different massage techniques - some taechnical stuff about cars - planting vegetables - fotography - painting houses and interiors - and I can go on for a long time like this - but than it becomes a show-off :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

We sometimes have to travel roads that don’t seem to lead us where we have to be. Making mistakes can be important. Wach carefully and observe your being - be a guide for yourself - be the light in your own darkness. :heart:

Most of the scools in life didn’t cost me any money - I got paid for them !!! :slight_smile:

#20

Probably spent like 3-5K a year, up to my M.Eng degree, didn’t get into any debt at all, and glad I didn’t. Studied at McGill in Montreal which was a decent engineering school at the time. I would NEVER EVER pay the kind of cash most universities want these days and go into serious debt.

I reckon my education was the equivalent of buying Apple when it was $3 a share, when I compare it to today’s ridiculous tuitions. Served me well over the years.

#21

I haven’t read over everyone’s posts, but was going to quickly respond.

My undergrad degree (history) was free, that is, I had the help of both grandparents to pay for it. Though, I went into debt getting my M. Ed. in elementary education, and that’s what I do now.

I probably owe about $25K :-/

I’m hoping that will be paid off by the government as long as I teach for 5-10 years.

#22

Vos my dear, I wish I still was in Belgium : I would have payed you a few drinks :wink:

#23

went to 2 art schools this week. I said, I know jack shit about art and design, so please teach me, here is my money …
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got rejected T W I C E … .
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.still 2 more to go … where it the “I vomit on this worldly system but glad I am left with my synthesizers to console myself” emoticon ?