Argumentative Essay: Is College Worth Its Cost?

There are many downsides about college that students don’t realize. Heidi Shierholz, writer of “New College Grads Losing Ground on Wages”, has found that college graduate’s income has adjusted for inflation and still decreased (Source C). Why would you

Supporters of getting a college degree often point to the statistics that college graduates earn more than their high school educated peers over a lifetime. Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau reports that since 1977, “Adults with bachelor's degrees in the late 1970s earned 55 percent more than adults who had not advanced beyond high school. That gap grew to 75 percent by 1990 -- and is now at 85 percent.” A gap of an 85% pay difference is a huge figure and a clear reason why college is a great option for some people. But there are problems with that figure because when the number of college graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed is taken into account it changes the value of the statistic. In an article by Businessweek’s Richard Vedder we get statistics to counter that argument. He tells of how the number of new college graduates far exceeds job growth in technical, managerial, and professional jobs where graduates traditionally have searched for employment. As a consequence, we have underemployed college graduates doing jobs historically performed by those with just a highschool education. He says we have “more than 100,000 janitors with

This week for PLN I read "Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say" by David Leonhardt is about how college is worth it even with its cost. In the article, it describes how important a degree is. It said in the article that 98% of people with a degree made more money than people without a degree. There is nothing inevitable about this trend. If there were more college graduates the pay gap would shrink. The true cost of a degree is negative $500,000. The unemployment rate for 25 and 34 years old is 3%. That is from having a degree. The average hourly wage for a college graduates has risen 1% to 32.60.

David Leonhardt, the author of “Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say,” makes the controversial argument that even with college debt increasing substantially in the United States it is still worth earning a degree. Leonhardt uses a variety of relevant figures and statistics to support his claim of the irreplaceable value of a college education. The majority of statistics used by Leonhardt concern the earnings advantage of college graduates as compared to their counterparts who decided not to attend college. Among the first issues Leonhardt addresses is the growing concerns prospective students and their parents have with attending college such as underemployment after graduation, debt, and unemployment (Leonhardt 33). To refute these arguments, he cites statistics from the Labor Department concerning inequality of income distribution; these statistics were

Achieving a college degree is worth the time and effort as well as the financial struggle because there is more to be gained besides context knowledge. College is something that has dropped in importance as less and less people attend every year. These students are unsure as to whether it is worth it.Parents push their kids towards college and some even tell them not to go because of financial problems. This pressure students to make a life changing decision. This is all things that may keep a student from a secondary education that could kick-start a new and better life.

The topic of “Are Too Many People Going to College?” was presented by Charles Murray, the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise. In today’s world college is a must due to many employers seeking educated individuals. Murray develops an interesting conversation by demonstrating that many high school graduates who are seeking to go to college do not need a degree depending on their career paths. Murray provides the analogy of a high school graduate who is looking to become an electrician but is not sure if college is the most logical decision. Murray acknowledges the fact that a B.A. does not necessarily led to a higher income than one with a degree. The logical argument of money is brought to attention and is stated “the income for the top people in a wide variety of occupations that do not require a college degree is higher than the average income for many occupations that require a B.A.” (Murray 247). Although this is his main point, he understand that it varies due to the occupation one is leaning towards. There has been individuals without a college degree that are making millions of dollars, but it varies. Murray claims that getting a B.A. is going to be the wrong economic decision for many high school graduates (Murray 246); however not everyone wants to be an electrician or any other hand held jobs that doesn’t necessarily need a degree, but if one wants to be a lawyer, doctor, or anything require a degree, college is the answer. Having a degree in a

College graduates, on average, make a whopping one million dollars more in lifetime earnings than those with a high school diploma. Those with a college degree now make $17,500 more per year than those without — a wage gap that's doubled in recent decades. Those without a degree are four times more likely to be unemployed.One of the biggest and most important reasons for anyone to attend college is the upper hand it gives with regards to jobs and career. A college graduate has a higher chance of landing a job when compared to an individual with a high school qualification. Further, a college graduate also has better options and opportunities to progress in their

As it is heavily believed and statistically proved by Document A, Earnings and Unemployment Rates Based on Educational Attainments (2015), the higher the degree earned, the more money attained, similarly the higher the degree earned, the lower the unemployment rate. This proves the worth of college by giving numerical comparisons of those who invested in it verses those who didn’t. The median weekly earnings of $1,730 from someone with a professional degree put up against the $678 from someone who only graduated from high school shows a very obvious difference. This information greatly supports the decision of going to college by displaying the “in the long run” advantage of college through the amount of money you can make in the future with the degree you earn

Many students today look towards the future scared and frightened debating their future, all of them asking the same question. Is a college education truly worth the cost and the amount of debt that a student acquires over a four-year period? Many ask what are they doing this for, a piece of paper called a degree. That’s what the articles “Five Reasons Why College is Worth the Cost,” written by Reyna Gobel and “Is College worth the cost? Many recent graduates don’t think so,” written by Jeffrey J. Selingo both address. The articles take different standpoints and views on the topic. Gobel’s article siding with the view that college is worth the cost. While Selingo’s article argues that college is not worth the cost.

Sometimes a college degree does not pay off as one might hope, and sometimes the competitiveness of certain schools or programs make the cost issue even more prominent. When all is said and done, college might lead to debt and the shattering of dreams. Hence, the resounding question is, “is college worth it?” The answer to this questions is even more daunting for today’s average family and prospective high school graduates.

Despite the fact that hourly wages for college educated people are decreasing,”college educated in 2000 were $22.75, but that dropped almost a full dollar.”(C) ,the wage gap between college graduates and those with only a high school diploma has in fact increased.”(D) Last year the gap reached 83 percent.” The gap is bigger than it has ever been , making the option of going to college better than it was before.

In “The Great Debate: Is College Still Worth It?” author Ricardo Azziz endorses post-secondary education by stating its economic advantage in today’s society. The author begins his article by introducing a survey done by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, which shows that the majority of college graduates believe college education is worth its cost. Not only are people convinced of the value of a college education, adults with a degree of some sort (bachelor’s degree or associate degree) tend to earn more than those without one. But also, post-secondary education gives people a better chance at achieving the “American Dream” through diligence and hard work. Azziz states that “college graduates were 5.3 times more likely to leave the bottom quintile than non-college graduates”. In addition, in times of an economic downturn, individuals with a college degree are often able to better cope with the difficulty than those without. However, amidst the benefits of college, Azziz does not forget to address the reality that attending college is still, without a question, an expensive endeavor.

In Stephanie Owen’s and Isabel Sawhill’s article “Should Everyone Go to College” the return on the investment in college is briefly broken down. The article “Should Everyone Go to College” opens up with a widely known claim that a college degree is necessary to enter the middle class. Owen and Sawhill test this claim by comparing the return on an education of general types of degrees and colleges. The article states that on average high school graduates make around $15,000 less a year than graduates with a bachelor’s degree. To further the prove the return on your investment in education the articles states that by the age 50 a person with a bachelor’s degree makes around $46,500 more a year than a high school graduate. This accumulates to

The typical college education is worth the cost. Following a degree, graduates earn more money over an hourly and weekly span than one with only a high school diploma. According to David Leonhardt, managing editor of analytical journalism at the New York Times and author of the article, “Is college Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say.” Americans with a four year college degree make 98% more an hour on average and that the true cost of college is negative $500,000, which makes going to college cheaper than not completing college courses. This leads readers to believe by going and completing college, you could potentially make more money per hour than your counterpart. Comparatively, College graduates can earn more over their lifetime, which improves

The public is in debate whether or not college is worth its’ lofty price. College graduates will earn 73 percent more than high school graduates. Someone with a graduate degree will earn an average of $49,900. Compared to that, someone with just a college or Bachelor degree will earn $35,700, and someone who will only graduate with a high school degree will earn $30,800 (Kelley). Strictly looking at those statistics the price of college seems like a fair trade. “The advantage for