Can you afford that foreign degree (2)? BY ’ USIERE UKO

The author of ‘Practical Steps to Financial Freedom and Independence,’ Usiere Uko, continues on the subject of acquiring a university education without going bankrupt

I ran into an old friend some months back at the old wing of the domestic airport in Lagos currently undergoing renovation. He works for an international oil company and is based outside Lagos. He was trying to catch a flight back to his base. We exchanged pleasantries as his protocol officers helped with his checking in. I asked what brought him to Lagos. He came to visit his son at the University of Lagos. I asked him why he did not join the bandwagon of sending children abroad. He sure could put down the money as the rest of his colleagues.

He explained that he was not ready for a project of that magnitude in addition to some personal projects he was handling. Secondly, since he needs to keep an eye on his son, the best option would be to relocate his family abroad, a concept he did not subscribe to – running two homes. With the current uncertainty in the oil and gas sector, he wanted to be sure he had a solid financial foundation in the event his employers sprung a surprise on him. If his son wants to go abroad for a master’s degree, he can get a job and pay for it himself, he concluded. As he headed towards the boarding gate, he reminded me that I advised him to put his house in order a couple of years back. He was doing just that.



An industrial age mindset

The concept of “go to a good school, get good grades and get a good job” is an idea from the industrial age, a relic from an age gone by decades ago, replaced by the information age, which belongs to entrepreneurs (including entrepreneurial employees). The underlying belief beneath the idea of getting a good job is that the child will settle down and take care of the parents – in this case, parents who, though rich, became poor so that their children can become rich through acquiring a foreign degree. In the mind of such parents, this is a fool proof investment with guaranteed returns. Abel in part 1 of this article discovered otherwise the hard way. There is nothing wrong with expecting your children to take care of you in old age, but if your children are the only financial security you have, you may find yourself broke for a long while.

When the focus is on getting a job and living happily ever after, the child is not taught at an early age to be street smart and financially independent. Rather than think through creative ways to make money and learn how to invest when the money gets into their hands, they become dependants, who sometimes maintain a higher standard of living than their sponsors, learning at an early age to be hyper consumers rather than producers.

In part 1 of this article, I mentioned that African and Asian parents pay for their children’s university education while in the west, parents tend to hands off after secondary school. While I am not recommending we adopt the western model wholesale, there is wisdom in making our children learn the dignity of labour and value of money while in the university or even earlier. Interestingly, businessmen who made their money from scratch understand this more than folks who came upon money or are highly paid. They make their children work and earn their way up. They fly first class while their children fly economy class until they understand how money works.

I still remember when I needed to paint my boys quarters some years back. I gave the job to two lively young men who I later realised were students of the University of Lagos. I have run across many artisans who are university students trying to work and save for school. A young lady knocked on my gate last year asking for a cleaning job. Upon questioning, I found out she too was a student of the University of Lagos. Some students own a thriving business on campus while in school.

With this type of mindset, these youngsters will not be idle when they eventually graduate. Rather than put on the toga of applicants, fold their hands and do nothing or become a nuisance to society, they will fold their sleeves and get to work, putting their God-given ingenuity in action.

When a parent bankrupts himself to send his child to a foreign university, hoping that when the child graduates, he will take care of him or her, if the child fails to get a job after coming home with a foreign degree, what next?

A foreign degree does not guarantee a job

The number of young Nigerians with foreign degrees is growing by the day while the number of available jobs is shrinking. The US unemployment hit double digits in 2010 and currently stands at 7.2 per cent, but the bad news is, most of the jobs are low level jobs, not the dream job a graduate is hoping for. Detroit is bankrupt. The American dream has migrated to China. Back home in Nigeria, oil theft has shrunk revenues by about 40 per cent and the government’s ability to fund joint ventures has been adversely affected. States are crying and some companies are tightening their belt. If ever a foreign degree was a guarantee for a job, this is no longer the case.

If a foreign degree is no longer a guarantee for a plum job, is it wise to wipe out your financial security to also send your child abroad? Foreign trained and locally trained applicants have one thing in common – they are all applicants. The option of a local university is always there, if that is all you can afford without wiping off your reserves. There is no shame in cutting your coat according to your cloth, irrespective of what you or others think your size is.

There is nothing wrong in sending your child or yourself abroad if you can afford it. This means your financial independence plan is firmly in place and you have an asset paying for this luxury. Have at the back of your mind that jobs are no longer guaranteed and job security went with the industrial age. Academic IQ is no longer enough in today’s marketplace. The child needs to develop emotional intelligence and financial intelligence. That child may not be in position to take care of you sometime soon. He may move back home to parents after graduation, foreign degree, foreign accent and all.

As times change, we need to change with the changing times rather than remain frozen in an old paradigm. Do not put your financial future in the hands the company, pensions or your children. Take control of your financial future by attaining financial independence and live life on your own terms.

Punch