Part Two: College is worth every penny

http://www.savingforcollege.com/articles/part-two-college-is-worth-every-penny-814

Last week, we heard from an entrepreneur who feels that all of the money and time she spent obtaining her multiple college degrees was a waste. Daphne D. Williams, AAS, Honors BA, MPA and MBA, believes that you don’t need higher education to be successful. In fact, she knows many people without degrees who are excelling in their careers. She says that if she had a chance to do things differently she would have learned a trade like web design. She also believes very strongly that entrepreneurship should be taught to young children so that they learn to think outside the box. Read more here.

But this week, we’re focusing on the other side of the argument. Jonathan Craig is a first-generation college student who believes his success as a television producer never would have happened if he didn’t go to college. He grew up in a small town, and so going away to school gave him opportunities to learn, develop skills and network. He did have to borrow quite a bit, but he still feels that it was an important investment in his future.

What are your thoughts? Have college costs finally reached their peak? Or is a degree still a good value?

College is worth every penny

By Jonathan Craig, Television Producer

My name is Jonathan Craig, I am a 27-year-old television producer out of Los Angeles, CA and have worked on shows including Top Chef for Bravo, Lockup for MSNBC, and Project Greenlight for HBO.

I look back on my time in college with a sense of gratitude, not only for the opportunities for personal and academic growth it offered me while I was a student, but for the professional opportunities it offered me after I graduated. I started at San Francisco State University in 2006, a wide-eyed student from a small town in Central California, ready for all of the experiences San Francisco had to offer. I chose Television Production as my major because I knew that I enjoyed shooting and editing video projects for some of my high school classes and I was encouraged by my family to pursue my passions. I had only a vague idea of what was possible in the field, but I couldn’t have landed at a better place at a better time.

San Francisco is a sort of this microcosm, a city that prides itself on a long history of political activism, and is now home to some of the most radical political groups on either side of the spectrum (and everything else in between). It is a multi-cultural city that places high value on counterculture and the creative arts, while also headquartering some of the largest technology firms and wealthiest and affluent neighborhoods in the country. It’s the perfect place for any student to land, especially one armed with a cheap camcorder and an insatiable curiosity. Very quickly, I found myself shooting political demonstrations, music concerts, and corporate and educational videos, sometimes for class credit, sometimes for small pay, and sometimes just for the fun of it. At that time in my life, it didn’t matter what I was shooting or why. I was incredibly passionate about video production and all that mattered is that I was consistently given opportunities to practice it.

By my senior year of college, I had produced a half-hour television documentary about activism at San Francisco State University called “Activist State” that aired on six local community access stations, I had been working as a freelance videographer for a handful of technology firms around the city, and I was working as a freelance associate producer for The Bay Area CW’s promotions department. All of these opportunities came to me through professors, students, or other connections that I had made in college.

I graduated in 2010 with a ton of experience both in and out of the classroom, and a small network that I could lean on to help me make the transition into the “real world.” It took some time, but while I was working a temporary data entry job in Los Angeles, one of my college professors reached out with a connection at a popular competition/reality television show and, as a result, I was able to take my first production assistant job.

Since then, I’ve had good fortune and have enjoyed steady work, slowly moving my way up the professional ladder and having a lot of fun along the way. That’s not to say that college didn’t come without some opportunity cost. I am one of many graduates who depended on student loans and grants to pay for the majority of my college tuition (and rent, and food). I graduated with a large debt, in the mid-five figures, and it was very nerve-wracking at first. Luckily, working hard and pursuing my passions has seemed to pay off. After learning how to manage my finances (and my temperament) and eventually moving up the ladder to earn more money, my student loans felt a lot less burdensome and a lot more empowering. I financed an education after all; investing in the experience and network that has led me to opportunities I would have never had if I didn’t go to college.