Hello and welcome to another Scotch Street article! For those who are not aware of Scotch Street, we write stream-of-consciousness articles about money “told through” a few WEE drams of scotch.

Today, I am very happy to have, Kara, join us from, The Flawed Consumer.

Interested in the rules of Scotch Street or how to participate, you can read this page to learn more: Scotch Street.

When I read about Stock Street Blogs’ Scotch Street guest post, I thought to myself “hell yeah, I’ll drink scotch and write my stream of consciousness”. So, here goes…

Recently, I’ve been wondering about the benefits and detriments of tertiary education. The reason for my curiosity stems from a recent conversation with some friends about how much they earn through mining.

I went to university for seven years and earned three Bachelors degrees, one with Honours. These seven years of tertiary education resulted in a student debt of $52,000 which I am paying back to the Government every fortnight.

Whilst I appreciate my tertiary education from an intellectual advancement perspective and wouldn’t take it back, I do wonder if it was worth the $52,000 from a career perspective. I have a career and am progressing in a manor which suits my lifestyle, but I can’t help but look at numerous people I know who do not have student loan debt and are making almost twice as much as I am simply because they’re in mining.

My friends are both electricians and are earning in the range of $150-$180k per year in the Western Australian desert. In addition to this, they receive rental subsidies of about half of their weekly rent.

Similarly, I know a couple who went into mining and were earning about twice as much for administration and earth moving work as they would back in the “real world”. Neither of these people have degrees or a trade, and therefore have no student debt to pay off.

I do find these stories rather frustrating. This is because, when you’re in school, I feel like teachers make out like going to university is the ‘be-all and end-all’ when it comes to career and money making prospects. Consequently, you almost feel as though if you don’t go to university you’ll end up struggling financially in retail for the rest of your life. However, this simply isn’t true. In fact, I’ve seen more university graduates than non-graduates struggling to find jobs since I graduated from university.

All of this has me wondering as to what’s the best career obtaining path to pursue… Tertiary education, a trade or neither?! I really don’t know. I feel like there’s pluses and minuses to all options. However, what I do know, is that not going to university is not a deal breaker. Like with everything in life, I think you’re career is what you make it. So, go out there and get it!

Interested in other Scotch Street articles? Check some out!