Is Getting A College Degree For Thousands Of Dollars?

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.

In today's world many people question or education system and question whether or not the cost is of college is worth it just to continue your education. Although you inquire a lot of debt in college. Getting a degree is almost necessary in today's job market because most jobs require one and jobs that do not require a college degree are getting harder to get, as the unemployment rises. Therefore a college degree is worth incurring significant debt. Earning a college not only provides you with job security and provides potential for greater lifetime earnings.

The rise of college tuition along with room and board have lead many to believe that college isn’t worth the money. This among with the other factors of how getting a job into society is more difficult and that a college degree no longer competitive due to the high abundance of them. On the other side, many others urge the importance of a degree. They bring up how more jobs today require degrees, the return investment, and many other things.

Is getting a higher education worth the price? I think it is. In the book, “they say I say” the author, argues that not getting an education doesn’t necessary mean not having a good job or a good position. I disagree. I believe education is really important. You may think you have a good job in your possession or a good secure position, but later in life when a promotional opportunity arises, you’ll always fall short without the degree at your fingertips. Jobs requiring minimal or no education usually involve strenuous labor and lack the opportunities to advance. These jobs generally won’t be in the office. People with a higher education stand out in society, not just because they might necessary

The U.S. is home to some of the greatest colleges and universities in the world. But with an overwhelming 1.3 million students graduating with an average student loan debt of $29,000 each and with youth unemployment elevated, the question of whether or not college tuition is worth the money arises (The Institute for College Access & Success, 2013). Higher education faces intimidating challenges: continually rising costs, access and completion problems, constant changing of technology, and responsibility pressures from state and federal officials. But no challenge is more intimidating than the fundamental question that many Americans face to ask themselves, "Is college worth the cost?" As a result of the economic turn down, many students who graduate are not finding well-paying jobs, either within their field of study or not.

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

Attending college or pursuing a higher education is worth it because a degree ensures a stable, well paying job and provides a better quality of life. In Document A, “Earning and Unemployment Rates Based on Educational Attainment, 2015” compiled by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, a higher educational degree, such as a Doctorate or Professional degree, corresponded to a lower unemployment rate with a higher pay, while little to no educational degree corresponded to a higher unemployment rate with a lower pay. This means people who received a college degree had a better chance of finding and retaining a well-paying job because they are typically skilled in one profession that cannot easily be replaced, such as a doctor or engineer.

A very popular topic these days is College tuition. For what seems to be ages, people didn’t give much attention to the cost of tuition. However, in current times theres been a dramatic change. It seems that everyday, several people are coming to the harsh realization of how high tuition has gotten over the years and they wish to see a change. In this essay, I shall attempt to cover a very serious and hard topic. I say that because in the process of finding information for this topic, there are several articles showing examples of people attacking administrations in serious anger. Little to no information was found giving an example of college staff and administration trying to defend or speak up. Before beginning research for this paper, I believed there would have been several arguments made between enraged parents, students, graduates and administration. Though, upon examination I found my thoughts to be confirmed as false for the most part.

Many young people see going to school as a chore and only go because they have to, some students skip school because it’s boring and “unnecessary”. Many individuals are raised with the belief that one needs a college education in order to succeed in life. There’s a saying by John Green that says “every year, many, many stupid people graduate from college and if they can do it, so can you,” but as technology is constantly advancing and computers running 24/7, is a college education really necessary? There are some people who have never been to college and are doing better than people who have achieved a master’s degree. These people (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs) portray unrealistic expectations in youth. Is the cost of college worth a degree? The possibilities are endless because there are views from both sides that contain a valid argument.

I have always been told that a college degree would get me a good job, and it would help me live a better life, but is it really worth it? I believe that a college degree is very worth it, not only to my future but for my self being. A college degree would bring me great satisfaction, to be able to accomplish something that nobody in my family has ever imagined to obtain. I do not rely on the fact or hope that a college degree will get me a job because either with or without it, I will still work my very hardest to make something out of myself.

“… A college degree is the surest ticket to the middle class,” says President Barack Obama (10, “College Education”). However, many disagree. Only 44% of people say that college is worth it from a previous 75%. This is understandable because tuition is the highest it has ever been and is still rising; meanwhile, student debt has surpassed $1.2 trillion (4, “Is College Worth”). Is college really worth the money? It depends on many factors such as the student, major, college, and time taken to graduate. But for the average student, it is definitely worth it; in fact, a college degree has never been more valuable because it increases the chances of having better wages and benefits, more job opportunities, and marketable knowledge. Anthony Carnevale from Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce says that ““the only thing worse than going to college is not going to college,” meaning students must decide between risking lower wages and higher chance of unemployment or paying for college (4).

David Leonhardt explores the question of whether or not college is worth it in his article. He discusses the challeneges that college graduates often face that make many students wonder if its all really worth it. Because there is growing concern regrding things like student debt, the struggle to find work and being stuck in a job you feel overqualified for its easy to draw the conclusion that college just isnt worth the trouble. However, Leonhardt goes on to explain why not only college is valuble, but why having a four-year degree has probably never been ore valuable. Leonhardt sites data based on an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Economic Policy Institue in Washington which shows

Many people throughout history have said more or less the same words in many different ways, from Presidents to philosophers, from dictators to martyrs, men all through history have come to the same conclusion; knowledge is power. The question of knowledge being equal to power is not the question that has so many people preoccupied in the current economic climate. That statement as fact has been branded into the minds of young people in America and all across the world for so many generations that the point seems hardly worth debate. Now the question has become, “Is knowledge money?” The cost of a college education has skyrocketed to the point that many would be students are asking themselves, is college worth the cost?

David Leonhardt shows that “a new set of income statistics answers those questions quite clearly: Yes, college is worth it, and it’s not even close. For all the struggles that many young college graduates face, a four-year degree has probably never been more valuable.” (Web)

In the essays, "Learning by Degrees" by Rebecca Mead and "What Do You Do with a B.A. in History?" by Ken Saxon, the authors discuss what they believe the importance of college is. Mead explains the differences between different college degrees using statistics. She continues by stating the difference in income between those who attend college and those who do not. Although she shows these examples to prove why going to college can be beneficial, she discusses the cost of going to college and whether or not it is worth getting paid extra with a college degree to only have to pay back all the college loans.