this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025

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Showerthoughts

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293

We shouldn't have to go to college in order to afford a house by 30. (lemmings.world)

submitted 1 day ago by theoneandonlyeggboi@lemmings.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

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[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 3 points 40 minutes ago

We should go to college for free if we choose to and also be able to afford a house regardless of our employment type I agree.

Reasons for going to college....

Our president sucks balls in every way possible and you would like to be president and do good via the knowledge gained.

You would like to design spacecraft.

You would like to give others brain surgeries with successful outcomes.

Your bus in never on time and you would like to fix that or have a say in the reasons why a bus might be late.

You like cheese and would like to discover new types of cheese via biology and chemistry. Oh shit, you accidentally invented antigravity, there goes your cheese.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 points 32 minutes ago

Yeah.

Honestly, I'm just avoiding having kids and hope we don't start killing each other for food and water by the time I die.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 hour ago

Depending on the field, going to college might not significantly improve your chances.

[–] frustrated@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

38 with a masters degree. No house in sight. Good luck. Remember, there is always [redacted].

[–] MrMcGasion@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Squatters rights?

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Only good way to get a house by age 30 is to become a plumber, electrician or other type of job that pays well with minimal study and save up while living at parents or sharing a flat with 3 mates.

Then you need to save heavily and invest in stocks and/or bonds with the saved money so you can beat inflation. With around 30k saved per year it's possible to get pretty early onto the property ladder.

Going to college and living somewhere in NYC for example will get you nowhere close to 30k a year with student debt and if you have a kid you're screwed.

[–] LucidiaDiamond@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

The necessity of college more indicates that our public education system doesn’t go far enough. High school should go up to the bachelor level and masters/Phd programs should be extended. There just isn’t enough time to catch up to the latest science. Our knowledge is expanding after all.

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 4 points 1 hour ago

High school should go up to the bachelor level

The reason college/university exist is to allow people to chose what to learn specifically. There is no way to extend highschool to a bachelor level, since there are so god damn many different bachelors. It is not realistic to extend highschool so much, that you can teach people a bachelor degree in, as example, physics or engineering.

[–] atcorebcor@sh.itjust.works 38 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

What makes you think people with degrees can afford a house by 30?

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 hours ago

I usually hear people say US wages are great, and yet we managed to buy a house in our 20s when I was on near UK minimum wage. That was a couple of years ago as I am not in my 20s anymore. But I can still save up hundreds a month without even trying very hard.

No degree, no driving licence. The internet gave me the impression it wasn't this easy. I would acknowledge only having unstable work at best must suck a lot more though.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

And especially after goibg to an US college.
All I heard so far, you will be even further away from reaching the house goal.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I think people with degrees are less likely to own a house by the age of 30, because they studied longer and have to pay off debt first. The only reason i own a house is because i found one for super cheap and renovated it myself.

[–] TronBronson@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

That’s probably the best strategy. Or buying a duplex and renting half of it. Either way now-a-days in America you gotta be willing to put ALOT of sweat equity in the get a shelter

[–] Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 hours ago

Or buying a duplex and renting half of it

That's just buying two houses to rent one though

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 26 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

You kidding me dude? I'm past 40 and not chance to own a house. Grad and masters degree, working in IT. Ah and uni was good and free. granted that was in the developing world, now living in 1st world, but still no house.

When I was 7 my parents owned a house AND bought a beach house.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

what happened to all the money your parents had from those houses?

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 1 hour ago

If they're anything like mine they squandered it on expensive shit they didn't need. Mine even sold their nice old house to have a new smaller one built in a cramped housing development with an HOA and they broke even. I don't know wtf they were thinking.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 4 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

You dont have to go to college to afford a house by 30.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Likewise, going to college alone does nothing to ensure you're going to get a job that can afford a house.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If anything I suspect it may hinder your chances. 3 years not earning and debts to pay back.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

The hard reality is that if you are pursuing higher education and you're not also part of the culture of connections and schmoozing and socializing and having your parents party with the parents of faculty members and deans and heads of this and that, your chances of getting a job with your degree are about the same as your chances of just lying on linkedin.

Speaking as someone who landed a corporate tech job from lying on linkedin, and seeing friends with degrees flipping burgers if they're lucky.

[–] rmrf@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Louisiana baby. 2100 sqft 0.3 acre 4 bed 2 bath recently renovated for 130k

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Exactly and those sorts of deals are everywhere.

Now is the house in some place you would want to live. Well that is another question.

[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 5 points 7 hours ago

Yeah. But that one would me living in Louisiana.

[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm over 40 and could only buy a house somewhere in nowhere land with massive commute needs.

It's not feasible and I earn way over average salary.

[–] ThunderQueen@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

What is "way over average"?

i know people in their late 20s that are buying houses on salties of like 80k-120k. I make like 45ish on average, but people my age are buying houses

[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 1 points 19 minutes ago

53% above average of my country.

Buying a house without signing up for a lifetime crippling dept is plain impossible in large cities.

To get into a cost range where my wife (same salary) and I feel comfortable to take on a loan requires us to move roughly one or two hours train travel out into the countryside.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I make 150K and to buy an affordable home that isn't a teardown, say under 600K, you need a two hour commute from the downtown area. Anything inside an hour of the downtown is more like 800K+ and being bought up by people with family money or 300-400K yearly incomes. someone making 45K in my city needs to live multiple people to a bedroom to afford rent.

But it's all about where you live and the incomes. Where I live 150K income puts you only in the top 20% of households. And I don't have family money backing me like most of my peers in the housing market. Most of my friends got 100-200K gifts from family to buy their homes.

[–] burgermeister@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 hours ago

I had a house before 30. It was okay I guess. Sold due to divorce, now I rent again. I'd love to own another house but not the glorified trailer I had before

[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 17 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I got an MS in a STEM field and wasn't able to buy a house until I was 36, supervising multiple employees, and married to someone who also contributed.

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[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 2 points 11 hours ago

At least 3 years of only saving my pay to afford a shack. Still better than what Americans get.

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