@Jim
The real world doesn’t work like that and hasn’t for some time. There just aren’t enough jobs out there. If theres more jobs in accounting than graduates in accouting then you aren’t going to see many psychology or communications majors getting accounting jobs.

I think I’m stuck in the past a bit on my idea of degrees. For example a degree in accounting. This is not an academic subject. Why would you do a degree in this (does it exist) I thought accountants where all trained on the job (i.e. sponsored through a company). It is the difference between a professional qualification and an academic study. One is for the professions, the other is for universities.
Re ‘not enough jobs’. That means the problem is not ‘wrong kind of degree’, but the economy. I’m reading loads of books like ‘No Logo’ and ‘the Gods who failed’ I can only partially understand the set up, but my understanding is the current rotten economy is not an inevitable result of globalisation, but due to rotten, badly thought out policies, i.e. due to bad choices (of the government, not individuals).

Very complicated subject though.

Q4: It’s highly unlikely the dress could be sold for much, if anything. (Spoken from experience!)

I meant that to be the other way around. More grads than jobs.

I can only talk about Bangor,Wales where my daughter went to school. She paid a non european rate which came to approx. $16K per year where the dollar has been low compared to the pound. This did not include her room and board. Wales was cheaper than England esp. London. When we first considered allowing her to go to school overseas, it would have been the same as going to UT and living on campus. But because the dollar dropped, she paid the same as if she had gone to a private college in TX. However, she was a good student and the University gave her a 50% discount on tuition for her 3 and 4th years. To keep her costs down, she roomed in a house with 5 other students, her health care was free because she was there longer than 6 months each year, and she rarely ate out (this also had to do with food allergies). She got a job on campus as a DJ for the on campus nightclub. For travel, she did couch surfing or youth hostels. However, we had unexpected costs when I had to fly over when she needed emergency surgery (Thank you to G. Bush for the $1200 tax rebate that year). The fees and physicals for granting a visa all add up. Hope this answers part of your question.

On a related note, how do university prices in Europe compare to the states? I know non Europeans have to pay more than Europeans, but I would have though it would be pretty cost effective to come over here, and more and more degrees are being taught in English.

We took a huge gamble, and instead of setting aside much money for our kids’ college education- only 8K each (they were both lucky and born super bright), we moved to rent in a top tier school district on Long Island. The kids are thriving. They work late every night, and independently search out programs and study-related work over the summer. My daughter’s first college response just came yesterday- full tuition scholarship, plus free room and board, plus automatic graduate school acceptance should she stay there through grad school as well. I will encourage her to take the tier-2 full scholarship choices over the Ivies, and go for free. But I have to say- it starts young. We had no TV till our kids were 10, no video games (except Sid Meier’s Civilization), so learning was always the most exciting option in our house. Kids are hungry to learn, and not giving kids empty time-fillers is the most important thing you can ever do. Not a single toy that flashes or beeps, mostly art supplies and books, and learning kits. Oh, but yes, the leapfrog learning globe is excellent! (But I digress). Proud mama today.

I graduated from my undergrad in 2006, and did exactly that – went and taught English overseas. I worked in Honduras, Japan and Vietnam, before returning to Canada in 2009. Great experience, best decision I ever made and wouldn’t trade any minute of those three years for anything.

BUT, and it’s a big but, when I came back to Canada in 2009, I didn’t have any ‘practical’ work experience. I knew I could walk into any entry level position and do extremely well, but no one would even look at my resume. It was the most frustrating time in my life. Having had three years work experience overseas didn’t mean anything.

I ended up going back to school, and did a 1 year post-grad college diploma that included a co-op work term solely to get practical experience for my industry on my resume. Now I have the best of both worlds – a great job as a result of my co-op work term, and my teaching experience which has given me a unique perspective on working with different kinds of people.

So yes – teaching abroad is great, and you can save some money while traveling, learn about yourself and get to experience a different culture. But, it doesn’t let you bypass the hurdle of actually getting into your desired industry.

Japan is a tough market to get into, but in Korea it’s pretty easy and all you need is a college degree and an attractive photo to send to potential employees. You don’t need any experience and most teaching gigs, you only teach 22 hours a week and sit at your desk the rest of the time. You get health benefits and they put you up in your own apartment, which is free, but you pay utilities. You can live really cheaply and save money to pay off your debts or save for a down payment on a house or something. I did this for two years. I owed $30,000 in student loans and a little credit card debt and I paid it all off, plus traveled all over the country and a little bit of Asia.

Sure it’s not the job my degree says I should have…. but really, sometimes people let their preconcieved notions of jobs stop them.