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When my cousin passed an entrance exam to study at a university in Ho Chi Minh City, his parents sold a land lot in their hometown for VND150 million (US$6,100) to cover his education expenses.
He graduated, worked for a few years and was able to save VND4.5 billion by 2017.
The lot by that time has jumped in value to VND26 billion. Now it is worth around VND39 billion.
This means that even with his savings my cousin could not buy a quarter of the lot that his family sold.
"Had I not gone to university and just waited for the lot to increase in value, I would be very rich by now," my cousin told me.
Some other people told me similar stories.
My neighbor’s daughter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration but ended up working as a Chinese interpreter.
His son graduated from a prestigious economic university but now works as a delivery guy.
"A university degree does not have much value nowadays," he said.
Even though I still choose to invest in my children's higher education, there is nothing to guarantee that a bachelor's degree will secure a job that matches their expertise and pays well.
*This opinion was translated into English with the assistance of AI. Readers’ views are personal and do not necessarily match VnExpress’ viewpoints.
