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McCook Gazette

Our opinion

Editorial

Investment in your mind sure to pay off

Thursday, August 3, 2017

If you haven’t checked your 401K lately you may be pleasantly surprised at the gains you’ve made in the past months — the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 22,000 for the first time in history Wednesday.

It’s sure to drop again in the future, but there’s one investment that’s much better than the stock market — yourself.

We’ve always thought that anyone who lived in McCook or North Platte who hadn’t completed a college degree was missing a bet by not taking advantage of the local Mid-Plains campus.

Online and distance learning have made college more accessible to everyone, as have new campuses in Imperial, Broken Bow and Valentine.

MPCC will begin a new fall term the week of Aug. 20. Students can sign up for a class through the first week that it is offered.

If you’re holding down a full-time job, night classes, typically lasting two or three hours one or two days a week, or Sunday College offerings could give you a chance to upgrade your computer, medical, accounting, foreign language or other professional skills.

You might want to learn how to take better care of your body through weight training or aerobics, or care for others through first aid or nursing courses.

You might have a hobby you’ve always wanted to pursue, such as welding or cabinetmaking, or even ground school toward your pilot’s license.

Keeping your mind active as you age is just as important as staying physically active, and Mid-Plains offers a special discount for students 62 and older. Qualifying senior citizens pay only 35 percent of the current tuition rate, but other fees still apply.

If you’re interested, call (308) 345-8112 in McCook or visit http://www.mpcc.edu/course-schedules for more information.

There’s not you can do with your stock market portfolio other that watch and hope for the best, but improving your mind through education is an investment proven to pay off.

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  • Two points...1)why does Trump not get credit for the great increases in the market and the national media just focuses on Russia collusion, which collusion is not a crime and with all the investigations no proof of any collusion between Trump and Russia has been found (some big smoking guns on Clinton and Russia though). 2)I can not see why parents would not send their children to MCC for their first two years. They would save thousands of dollars and get a quality education that could then transfer to a four year college or university.

    -- Posted by dennis on Thu, Aug 3, 2017, at 3:39 PM
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  • Let me first agree with Dennis that the media is focused on the "side show" (Trump and Russia) and has chosen to ignore the smoking guns.

    President Trump like former Presidents will "take the good news of a rising" market to their advantage. At the same time markets generally move on policies that have been in place 12 months or better. Just speaking in general I would say the spectacular rise in the markets since the election of President Trump are due to: Low Interest Rates 35%, Proposed lower business and personal taxes 10% and 5% respectfully, Health Care Reform 5%, Proposed Deregulation 10%, Increased Corporate Earnings 25% and a Weak Dollar 10%.

    So President Trump in my "book" gets 30% of the credit.

    MCC attendance makes perfect economical sense for many students in the area. I'm confident that many other factors influence the college choice for students right out of High School. Other factors that come to mind are family tradition, tolerance of both student and family to extend time at home (time to fly the nest), scholarships and ROTC availability to name a few.

    I wish all market participants well as well as college students to be. Just remember like trees markets only go so high before they require a pruning. I see significant potential for those who choose Trade Schools with the shortage of skilled labor in construction for example.

    -- Posted by dameister on Sun, Aug 6, 2017, at 12:24 AM
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