Research: Are Colleges Worth The Price Of Admission

Attending college is costly; however, it is often worth the price. That being said, going into college after high school instead of the working world does provide an opportunity cost. By attending a four-year private institution, such as Franklin College, $40,405 is needed to cover the expenses of tuition, room and board, books, and transportation. Over the course of four years, that total sums up to $161,620. While this figure is without scholarship, grant, or financial aid money accounted for, attending college will still lead to a deficit even if college is completely covered by aid. This is due to the fact that income potential is quite limited while attending college; full-time employment combined with full-time schooling is impractical.

Higher education has been known by many Americans as a luxury for only those who can afford it if not being forever in debt with student loans. The price of higher education has been in debate for many years but it still has not ceased to come into an agreement. Should higher education lower its price or is it worth paying for it? As Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus argue in their article “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” there are colleges worth mentioning about how successful their financial management has been correlated with their students success. The issue has also come into attention for Sanford J. Ungar, as he explains in his article “The New Liberal Arts,” although liberal arts education may be have its misconceptions, it does pay for its price. Hence, higher education (whether from a regular university or a liberal arts college) is worth the price, as it prepares individuals for the real world more than any other kind of education, it is an unique time were students are allowed to explore and put their abilities into test and it is the opportunity for many to overcome the many obstacles life has to offer.

From inception, public institutions have been primarily funded by the state they reside in. In the last couple of decades state funding of higher education has dropped significantly, with a dramatic drop during the recession that started around 2008. The drop in funding has pushed an additional loan burden onto students, and has forced universities to re-evaluate and change how they operate. Aside from making cuts, universities have become more creative in generating different sources of revenue.

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.

The ideal purpose of a college education was not to become the greatest financial outlay for a parent or guardian. It’s basic mission was to challenge the minds of younger individuals but instead many are burdened with staggering loans from something that was meant essentially to benefit. It has become a common burden for a family to be in debt six figures behind college tuition and colleges are losing their primary purpose of challenging the mind of young individuals. The essay “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?”, helps the reader to understand how colleges have lost their soul purpose of educating by listing colleges who reinforce the idea that colleges have lost track of their basic mission. These exceptions show the reader how other colleges could possibly be able to gain their purpose again through reformation. The writer cites colleges who have not lost their priority to help reform those who have.

Although college is very educational, I don’t think college is worth the cost. College is very educational. It helps you learn the skills for your future and you get a degree if the course is completed. The degree helps in many ways even if it's a job that doesn't need a degree. For example in source D it states,”A new study even shows that a bachelor's degree pays off for jobs that don’t require one:secretaries,plumbers,and cashiers.” Jobs like plumbers and secretaries don't need a bachelor's degree but it can help to have one. College Is NOT worth the cost, even if you pay all the money for college it is not guaranteed that you will pass the course and have the degree. If a student doesn't get a scholarship they have to pay to get into a

- end with a thesis(The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and socializing with peers if time is spent wisely college may be their key to success )

There are many other issues, of course, related to the high cost of higher education and increased student debt. Tuition rates are rising, there are some poor practices in recruiting and financial aid advising, and high unemployment means there are no guarantees that a degree will lead to a good job. Relying solely on loans to pay for college, or attending an

This then causes students to shy away from the mission, thus affecting their overall performance of acting or learning in class and public. According to Hacker and Dreifus, “...professors must make an effort to reach their students...they must become conscientious, caring, and attentive to every corner of their classrooms” (Dreifus and Hacker 180). While this may be true, colleges are definitively becoming overly involved in satisfying students through specific programs and activities, which results in little concern of actual student welfare and education. If colleges have no concern for their students, then why should students be expected to pay and not receive an acceptable education? Though students have significant qualms towards the expected payment for tuition, they are more focused on

The value of a college education is a topic that strikes debates across the nation. People wonder if the debt and time will be worth in helping them obtain a career to pay off the debt and generate a larger income for themselves than if they did not have a four-plus year college degree. My whole life, I have always valued a college education. At the same time, I know that the higher education is not as important to others. I never understood why someone does not want to obtain a college degree, but after looking deeper into the subject, I understand that money may be one of the biggest setbacks. I decided to research further into the financial reasons that a person may not believe that a college education is with the money. My research

Americans have always believed that going to college is beneficial in many aspects and leads to a promising financial future.Recently, people have started to challenge this belief. Back in the day, if you had a college degree you were almost guaranteed a job. As Sir Ken Robinson puts it “You’re better having a degree than not, but it's not a guarantee”. Robinson has a valid argument; education trumps ignorance, but at the same, you don’t always have a high paying job waiting for you. Common sense seems to dictate that if their isn’t a job awaiting you then why waste money on a degree? This imposes another debate; are colleges worth the price of admission? In Andrew Hacker’s recent studies, Hacker seeked to compose an answer. He concluded that

The problem, of course, is that the cost of college tuition has skyrocketed. Students and their families are getting buried deeper and deeper in debt trying to pay for college. Public universities, once havens of affordable, quality college education, have been hit the hardest. Almost every state in America has cut, and/or is cutting funding for higher education (Ortiz 1). It’s a problem that has quickly become a national crisis. The cost of college is very high compared to how the economy has been and how wages and financial aid have not risen with the cost of tuition. This makes it harder for students to graduate and brings a lot of stress to their lives. Without the funding that is needed many students drop out or take a longer time finishing

The main reason for this is simple: the amount of graduates is increasing faster than the amount of jobs. According to the American Census Bureau, the number of Americans under the age of twenty-five with at least a bachelor’s degree has risen thirty-eight percent since 2000 and the job market is not even close to accommodating all of these young graduates. With government policies giving incentives to increase the amount of degrees given and people like Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee saying that having fewer graduates risks “the very foundation of the American Dream,” it is easy to see where the problem stems. Graduating college is no longer an accomplishment powered through ambition; it is a chore. It’s almost socially unacceptable to not go to college now that more than forty percent of adults in America have a college degree according to the Washington Post. This pressure exerted on students leads to many people having degrees that never needed them, but now those people have debts to pay. The really nasty thing is, only certain majors make the money needed to pay off such debts.

College is worth the cost. Although now a days it is tough to get hired; it is wise for students to take the opportunity which not only builds up an adult’s character but also offers the chance to work in a setting you will appreciate being a part of and achieve in having a stable future.

Many Americans that are young adults state that college is too expensive for them, so they say that college is not worth its cost. A majority of college graduates, on the other hand, claim that college is definitely worth its cost. To me, I also believe that the cost for college is worth it. It helps the college graduate have a mentally matured mind and a more successful career than those who have never gone to a college.