Kyle Rosa Mrs. DeGregorio English 3 07/05/2015 Degrees Are Not Worth the Struggle A majority of unemployed workers in today 's workforce have degrees. As of 2012, about 53% of unemployed workers have degrees, while about 47% of unemployed workers do not have a degree (Appendix 2). This is because the value of a degree is currently falling. Every year, its value drops. Kids are now able to find work without having to go to college, and some are actually doing quite well for themselves. A lot of jobs offer on-the-job training and that in itself allows people to be qualified for work. College degrees are now only becoming measly pieces of paper that people only want just to say that they have it. The value is diminishing not only …show more content…
Degrees are not as valuable as they used to be, and that is a huge issue. Colleges are becoming too expensive, and now people are making names for themselves instead of going to college. The total cost of a 4 year college is now more than double a bachelor 's degree earnings. People who currently hold a bachelor 's degree are either unemployed or underemployed. The costs of a 4-year college take into account tuition, rooming, and board costs. It has been 35 years since colleges began to become more expensive, and their prices are only increasing more and more to this day (appendix 1). With all this information, it goes to show that there no longer is a positive financial return on education. If one pursues a higher level degree, it will not change the financial return. The cost will scale with how much longer you are going to school for. It is no longer beneficial to attend college. If it is no longer good for you, why do people go anyway? People still go because teachers, principals, family members, essentially everyone, tells you that college is good, and that you need to get into a good college to get a good degree to get a good job for a good future. People are ignorantly praising college and the nonexistent benefits that come with attending college. They don 't know that the value of a degree is decreasing literally day-by-day. The value of a degree will continue to decrease if we do not reformat our education system. Throwing kids in a room
In today’s society, a college degree has become a requirement in order to obtain a well occupied profession. Prior to the recession, which the study defines as the period between December 2007 and June 2009, bachelor's graduates were already more likely to be employed than were associate degree holders, who were more likely to be employed than those without any postsecondary degree. After the recession, employment of college graduates dropped 7 percent, while associate degree holders experienced an 11 percent drop, and employment of high school graduates fell 16 percent. The percent of people excluded from the workforce, meaning they were seeking work but couldn’t find it, rose 31 percent for college graduates, 37 percent for high school graduates, and 50 percent for associate degree graduates, though associate degree holders were still excluded at a lower rate than high school graduates (Tilsley, 2013).
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
A college degree is a valuable asset that could ultimately lead to a productive life in society due to the received education, but people without a college degree do turn out more than adequate in regards to societal success. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the forecasted 30 fastest growing jobs between 2010 and 2020, five do not require a high school diploma, nine require a high school diploma, four require an associate 's degree, six require a bachelor 's degree, and six require graduate degrees to get the jobs (College). In an article called “College Education” by ProCon.org,
A lot of people will argue, that college is too expensive. Not everyone can go to college, for financial reasons. Also, they may get into college, but end up having to leave because they cannot afford the remaining balances; or, they received financial aid, but end up having to take out loans they are going to be paying back forever. It is like once they graduate they will be working mostly to pay off their student loan debt. This also discourages some students. In some cases, they will not even take the initiative to try because it is so costly. I do not understand why it cost so much to want to better yourself, and possibly put us in debt for the rest of our life just to receive a higher education. Not only has the cost of college risen over a period of time, but it continues to go up. Yes, they have alternatives for paying student debts, but what if you do not qualify? Lastly, you are not guaranteed a job just because you graduate and have a college degree(s).
When it comes to achieving success in the work force and finding a fulfilling and lucrative career there are few things more important that higher education. Going to college and getting a degree is essential in finding success in the work force. The problem is when the cost of gaining that degree outweighs the financial compensation the career that follows is able to supply. Very few people are able to pay for college out of pocket. The result of this is that students seeking higher education are forced to take out massive student loans. This means that they are entering the work force
There is a big difference between having a college degree and a high school diploma. To be exact, there is about a $400 per week difference in what is earned between those who only have a high school diploma and those who have bachelor’s degree. There also is a major substantial difference in unemployment. With a high school diploma, you are looking to earn $1.2 million, but those with a bachelor’s degree can look to see an increase which is $2.1 million. Also, people with a master’s degree look to get around $2.5 million over a lifetime. These are all reasons why college is important to intend. The only thing in the way costs of tuition for most people. If we helped lower the cost with some revenue from the NCAA and colleges that receive extra than it could help create more opportunities for people in
Too many jobs require degrees when a high school diploma would be sufficient. This problem is due to the excessive amount of college graduates being produced and results in a highly competitive employment system as well as a high underemployment rate. Many people without a college degree may be just as qualified as someone with a degree to perform a certain job, but because so many people have a degree, employers have the ability to set higher standards than necessary, and the college graduate will get the job every time. If fewer jobs required degrees, the jobs would still be there and it would even out the competitive playing field
Many jobs recently are requiring people to have at least a bachelor’s degree to even consider someone for a position. Now jobs are beginning to want people who have a master’s degree instead; for example “between 1973 and 2008, the share of jobs in the U.S. economy which required postsecondary education increased from 28 percent to 59 percent. According to our projections, the future promises more of the same. The share of postsecondary jobs will increase from 59 to 63 percent over the next decade” (Carnevale, pg 1). With that being said it seems more important know than ever for people to have a college
A recent study demonstrates that “nearly half of college graduates in their [twenties] are underemployed” (Selingo). The result signifies that employers do not expect the graduate to hold a bachelor’s degree. In reality, Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, notes statistics that reveal there are “16,000 parking lot attendants with bachelor’s degrees, … 83,000 bartenders and 115,000 janitors.” Graduates must learn to acquire jobs that mirror the effort employed to obtain their bachelor’s degree. Therefore, this allows businesses to hire overqualified workers for their less paying job positions.
It is harder for a person to get a decent job without going to college, yet so many students fear graduating and being unable to find a job.
There are reports that have been produced in the last couple years that state nearly half of college graduates work in jobs that do not actually require a degree. Even though these students are technically employed, they can be considered underemployed and often having trouble repaying their student loans. The student loan debt can be crippling if students are not able to find the type of job in which they studied for. Many students are not able to find jobs in the salary range that they expected while others do not earn degrees that have much value in the job market at all. In some of the reports that have emerged it is not uncommon to hear that a sample of taxi drivers had a large percent of their workforce that held bachelor's degrees.
Educated employees are needed everywhere. They can work at any job position as they are required. People’s who have college degrees, don’t have to be worried about recessions and less chance to be fired than those who don’t have college degrees. If high earnings or many job openings are a priority, they need to learn which occupations have the best prospects. In “The More Education You Have, the Greater Your Career Options Will be” Olivia Crosby and Roger Moncarz say, “College-educated workers’ higher earnings and lower unemployment are good reasons to go to college, and these benefits are also evidence of the demand for college graduates. Higher earnings show that employers are willing to pay more to have college graduates work for them. And lower unemployment means college graduates are more likely to find a job when they want one.” As professional job requires educated employees, employers want to have the right person who meets the job requirements. Graduates don’t worry about a recession because they always are going to be wanted, but those who have local jobs might be worried because their jobs can be done by any person. If sick people need a doctor, they are looking for the right person not just anyone can help them get back their health. A broken car needs persons, who have knowledge on how to fix car, because of that, graduates have more opportunity to keep their
It seems in the society we live in today, having a college degree is a necessity. Years ago it was the norm for people to just go right into a full time job after high school, if they even finished high school; they did this to support their families. In today’s society a person has a difficult time getting a decent job without a college degree. During an adults working life, bachelor degree graduates will earn about $2.1 million and a high school graduate can expect to earn an average of $1.2 million (Day and Newburger, 2002). This is quite a difference and it puts a college education in
Getting a job in a different occupations than what one received a degree seems to be easier than fighting the other 250 people applying for that one desired job. According to Alana Semuels in her article “College-Educated Workers are Taking Jobs That Don’t Require Degrees”, in 1970 under 3% of firefighters and taxi drivers had college degrees. However, today over 15% of workers in these occupations have college degrees, along with 25% of retail workers. This proves how difficult it is to get a job in the area that a person studied in. The job market is more competitive that it has ever been. Also, the entry level positions that college graduates can get do not pay very well. A college graduate might be able to find a job in their desired field. However, it cannot pay the bills. So one might decide to be a taxi driver so they are able to pay their bills.
A four-year degree costs students “more than $19,000” (Stieger), and in this day and age it is nearly impossible to survive with only a high school education; being well qualified for a specific career position is very important to employers. George Leef, author of “Why on Earth Do We Have a ‘Student Loan Crisis’?,” says it best when he states that “college graduates are somewhat more reliable and easily trained than people with only high school diplomas … if there is a large enough number of [people] with college degrees, employers don’t have to bother with people who don’t have them” (Leef 29). That being said, I wonder how young people are expected to obtain some sort of degree, when higher education is nearly impossible for some families to afford. Although very significant changes have been made by our government offering improved financial aid to current and future students, more can still be done. Our politicians could increase the Pell Grant maximum to coincide with rising tuition costs, increase taxes on irrelevant goods and services to provide students with more direct funding, set up a “reward system” that would place more responsibility on the students (rather than themselves), and most importantly, our two main parties in office need to agree on specific changes.