First off, please don’t call me ignorant for posting this because I really just want to know. My cousins currently live in a third world country and they each pay about $1,000 to go to high school. If they went to a local college there, graduated and then came to America, will their degree be useless? Also, even if they chose to stay, are there really that many white collar jobs that will open up to them? The country I am talking about is Kenya and they are females if that makes a difference.
If you can still edit your title, you might want to. Out of context, it sounds super inflammatory.
No, a college degree from a developing country wouldn’t be worthless. Some occupations in the U.S. have licensing requirements, so they may need more education or training for those. What kind of visa they could get also depends on their education.
Are your cousins US citizens who are currently living in Kenya, or are they non-nationals? For a non-national to get a job in the US they have to get a work visa, sponsored by the company that is hiring them. A new college graduate will have a hard time getting a company to hire them and make the case that they are so special the company just has to have them. What they pay in school fees, the country they are from and their gender are all irrelevant to this particular conversation. If what they study in school is something that is in high demand, and that they can be objectively shown to have hard-to-find skills, that is relevant.
@bodangles Oh, sorry. Know that I re-read it, I can see how someone can interpret it as such.
My cousins have lived in Kenya all their lives. I’m mainly asking because they like to acquire funds to pay for education for the next year before it’s too late. I’m in high school myself and I have about $300 saved up. I would like to send them it, but I don’t want to do it if it will have little to no impact on job prospects for them (in/out of their country).
Not the most important thing in the world, just doesn’t capture your question very well I think 
Do I understand that you are deciding whether to send them money for high school based on whether the college they go to will make any difference in their lives, whether they stay in Kenya or move to the US? wow.
@collegemom2717 Well, listen to where I’m coming from. I don’t even know my cousins, never talked to them, nothing. My mom was telling me about them wanting money for the next school year and I started thinking that I can send them the money I was saving up to buy myself a suit for prom. I don’t care if they come to the US or not. All I’m wondering is if having a degree there actually hold enough weight to make a financial impact on their lives. If the prospects are good and people with a degree actually make a decent living, I’ll go ahead and send them all I have. But, if a college education carries little weight (not that much of a difference in lifestyles with people with degrees vs without), I would rather just by myself a suit (never owned one).
That’s a generous impulse, @AcceptableName. More education is pretty much always better than less, especially for women in Africa. Kenya is doing (relatively) well, in that (last I heard) girls are staying through secondary and into thrid level at higher rates than boys.
But your info doesn’t give enough to go on. The subject they study and how well they do in it will affect how helpful the degree is, same as in the US. Some subjects travel more easily than others, so that’s another factor.
Going to high school and college will make a huge difference for them if they stay in Kenya. Because fewer people in Kenya go to high school than in the US, in part because it is not free and an imposition for families (not to mention th loss of revenue from not putting a child to work when they turn 14) and even fewer people go to college, there are well-paid, qualified jobs for high school graduates, similar to what college graduates can get in the US. So, if your cousins complete high school, and then college, in Kenya, yes it’ll make a huge difference.
Your $300 could, literally, change your cousins’ life.
However, you may want to ask your cousins to write to you: since you don’t even know them and made a big sacrifice of all your savings to pay for their schooling, email them and ask them write to you, get to know each other. (Your cousins may not realize how much $300 means in the US. When you have little and you see that in US TV shows every family has a car or two, a house (with several rooms), a TV if not two, a phone or two or three, and no one seems to worry about college, then it’s hard to grasp how much is “a lot” and how much is “little” in the US. In any case, it’d be a good opportunity to get to know your cousins better.
As for the US, there are very few Kenyans there. Many Kenyans who go abroad choose the UK. However, because they’re under-represented, they’d be welcome at many top colleges - provided they are top students. At the very least they should apply to Berea College and if your cousins are excellent students, they could look at colleges such as Mount Holyoke for instance, not to mention all the “usual suspects”. This will have to be done during their Year 11 (year of their Kenyan Certificate).
To educate yourself you can read:
http://wenr.wes.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WENR-0615-CountryProfile-Kenya-v2.png
as well as
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22875069-i-will-always-write-back
Kenya actually sends ALOT of internationals to the US. As compared to other African countries. Only rivaled by Nigeria, perhaps. Secondly, your cousins, will probably follow the most popular academic track in Kenya. Undergrad in Kenya and Masters in a a foreign country. That said, there are plenty of good unis, not only in Kenya, but also on the continent. University of Nairobi, though being in a “third world country” , is ranked around 650 worldwide. Better than a good number of US unis, lol. Your cousins, might also consider studying in South Africa.
On to your other question, will they be allowed to work in a white-collar job? I don’t know, if you’re imagining, women are only supposed to stay in the kitchen, in Kenya. At this point in time, we’re facing a boy-child problem. With all the policies placed to “rescue” the girl-child, 10-20 years ago. There are more opportunities for women than for men. More girls graduate high school than boys. And the typical boy has to score at least 3 points higher in national exams to gain admission into a university. In courses like Law or Psychology and artsier courses like Communication. Girls have the monopoly. You could walk into a Communication class, and be, the only guy, in a class of a hundred. There is also a 2/3 rule, that prevents, a single gender passing the 2/3 mark in any work[lace.
Lastly, if you’re serious, about helping your cousins, go to Kenya. If Obama and the pope, can, why not you? I’m only saying so, because, you need to know the conditions there in/its a great bonding experience. Your aunts/uncles, could be in well paying jobs. Or politics that can pay well over $150,000. Look at Uhuru, the president, he gets a salary of around $200,000. But he owns a gargantuan amount of investments, that according to Forbes, he’s worth $500 million dollars.
Good luck! Tickets start at around $700.