The Cost Of College Is Too High For Every Student

Higher education in America is facing many challenges, i.e., low retention, low graduation rates and less funding. Postsecondary institutions are scrambling to remain a competitive entity within society. In order to do so, students must remain in school (Talbert, 2012). The Office of the White House states (2014), educational attainment is critical to our county’s economic success. In essence, the work force is creating more jobs requiring more education and a higher level of skill than was previously achieved. Individuals with only a high school diploma will not make into the middle class sector because of

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

Many young people think that obtaining a college degree is the best way—perhaps the only way—to get a good job anymore. So is it still possible to get a good job without one? According to Professor Blanche D. Blank, attaining a college degree doesn’t always guarantee success. In his published article “Degrees: Who Needs Them?”, he argues that American college is not teaching young adults the actual skills they need for the workforce, instead the education system is becoming a jumble of generalized credits that amount to a degree. College is becoming a mold for one to fit in the technological culture, rather than to release one to actively engage in the pursuit of knowledge. Blank begins building his credibility with personal experiences and

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,

There are many colleges around the world and most people like to attend one. Students study hard and try their best just so they can get an acceptance letter from their dream college. However, college tuition is not that affordable; college tuition is increasing in price every single year while the yearly salary of a father stays the same or barely increases. College tuition should be affordable to everyone regardless of his or her family status and position. Students should be able to attend a college without being in a debt consisting of thousands of dollars. There are scholarships, grants and financial aid available but that does not help everyone. A middle class family cannot fully afford a child going to a 4-year college and make a living, which is comfortably in residence. A change in college tuition is definitely required for American students and the students around the world to have a better education at low cost.

“What’s the key to success in the United States?”(Steinberg,2010), author Jacques Steinberg starts off his article “Plan B: Skip College” with a powerful question that has been asked by many Americans. Majority of Americans first thoughts would be higher education. The ideology that obtaining a degree is the best and sometimes only way to be successful in the American economy. This has been instilled in numerous children growing up. Steinberg states “perhaps no more than half of who began a four-year bachelor's degree program in the fall of 2006 will get that degree within six years according to the department of education”(Steinberg,2010). Students who tend to not excel in high school often take longer, or at times finish a higher education at all. These

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

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).

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.

“By 2020, 65 percent of the jobs in the United States will require at least one post-secondary education Community colleges serve close to half of all American students, enrolling 10 million students each year, but just under 20 percent earn an associate’s degree within three years.”(Georgetown recovery: job growth and education requirements through 2020) In contrast to the 20th century, a high school diploma was sufficed enough to fulfill

Colleges are struggling to adapt to society’s changing requirements for adults entering the work force. John Fawell laments this change and states that humans intrinsically desire to learn more for the purpose of knowing more. However, the focus has shifted away from this and has become more career-oriented. This shift is not well supported in the current college system. The education system is aware of this change and some have modified their programs, but they are too narrow and a broad college education is lost. Even though it has become almost mandatory in society, a college degree does not prepare students for a real-world work environment and is not necessary for most occupations. Many, such as lawyers or doctors, do require further education and a system that instructs them while also training the majority of the workforce would be an improvement.

Getting a “good” job is not straightforward as it used to be. In past generations, someone in an entry-level position could work their way up the ladder simply through hard work and determination; whether or not one had credentials or a diploma mattered very little. This is not the case today. Higher education is now critical to obtaining a better job because the demand for skilled labor is rising. For this reason, the value that a degree offers is higher than that of one’s actual intelligence or merit. Furthermore, workers without college degrees will quickly be outpaced in position and salary by degree

The prohibitive cost of a four years College is a terrible investment. According to National Center for Education Statistics, The average published tuition and fee price for in-state students enrolled full time at public four-year colleges is approximately $16,000 per year. Plus assume another $10,000 in living costs, books, etc. $26,000 in total for a complete cost of $104,000 in a 4 year period. Private college is even more expensive. $104,000 definitely is not a small numbers of money, not every family has such financial ability to afford their child to go to College. Under the uncertain economy outlook of American, College is going to become a private land for the wealthy. Incidentally, we are making a huge assumption that you can graduate

“And yet, we still live in a country where too many bright, striving Americans are priced out of the education they need. It’s not fair to them, and it’s sure not smart for our future” (Obama). In my opinion, in this country where a lot of people come to live the “American Dream” there are so many benefits for the low income families, where we can receive food stamp, WIC, financial aid, free health insurance, free child care etc. When I was listening to this speech, all I could think of the massive amount of people that could enjoy college through financial aid and at least cover their first years in school, but don’t do it. Many of them because they are afraid to lose their “benefits” and get out of their comfort zone. One of the change I would do to this system is to give privilege to those who really wants to succeed. Education should not cost nothing to the parent of a child who wants to have a career, at the end that child will be contributing to our society and our nation would benefit from the knowledge of that person. There should be a balance on where the benefits go. There are middle class family that can benefit from some of these. In my opinion not all the benefits should go to the “low-income families” like he said: “When what you’re

Educating is very important to become a better person and have a better living. According to Center of College Affordability and Productivity, “80 percent of college bound students have yet to choose a major” (Vedder, Gillen, Bennett, et al., 28). Freshmen students do not know what they will encounter during the first year of college. This high percentage of students not knowing what they want to study demonstrates that, even though there will be a reduction in college costs it will not benefit them as much. Even when having a major chosen the typical undergraduate will switch their major two to three times. It’s good that they are seeking ways to increase graduation rates, but is it really worth it if people do not know what they want to study? The problem with college students is that they are taking classes that they do not need. Colleges need to have strict regulations imposed in order to have higher graduation rates in college students because obtaining a three year bachelor’s degree is not a reliable it does not have established metrics, finding a job when graduating with a three year bachelors can be difficult, and not a real college experience.