The University of Waterloo´s Experiential Education to Help Undergraduate Students Recieve Employment

In the essay “College Value Goes Deeper Than the Degree” author Eric Hoover claims a college education is important to one 's well-being so they can get a job and be productive in other parts of life. Promoters of higher education have long emphasized how beneficial college’s value and its purpose. Many believe the notion that colleges teach students are life skills to apply anywhere, they also work hard to earn a degree and learn specific marketable skills which they can use to get a good job. Though obtaining a college education and a degree is helpful in countless of ways, it is not necessary to pursue a college degree in world where a college degree is seen different now, people without turn out fine, the growing average of debt that students who attend college have to pay off and people without a degree can obtain many jobs that do not require college degrees.

Typically, all students are told that college is their best option. Without college a well-paying job cannot be obtained. However this may not necessarily be true. Stephanie Owen, a senior research assistant for the Brooking’s Center on Children and Families, and Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies, argue that college is not the best option for every student. Instead students should review the information on various colleges to decide if college is beneficial for them. To support their claim, the authors use data on the return of investment for various colleges and suggestions for ways to make information more available for students. Combined, these tactics strengthen their argument so that it is rather effective.

Over the past decade, it has become evident to the students of the United States that in order to attain a well paying job they must seek a higher education. The higher education, usually a college or university, is practically required in order to succeed. To be able to attend these schools and receive a degree in a specific field it means money, and often a lot of it. For students, the need for a degree is strong, but the cost of going to college may stand in the way of a successful future. Each year the expense of college rises, resulting in the need for students to take out loans. Many students expect to immediately get a job after graduation, however, in more recent years the chances for college graduates to get a well paying job

It has been a heavily debated topic over whether college is worth it or not. In “College’s Value,” college professor Eric Hoover explains his studies of college degrees and concludes that attending college has greater benefits than we expect. Nowadays, when families think of college, they think about the amount of financial burden instead of what they will gain from attending. In this article, Hoover states, “Yet the perceived benefits of attending college go well beyond the dollars” (Hoover 1). He writes how diplomas help receive better and higher paying jobs. Hoover is persuasive by using statistics, interviews with undergraduates and graduates, and acknowledging the opposing views as well as refuting them.

College education is an important investment that demands both time and money. Most students depend on college loans to cater for their costs of attendance, including tuition and fees. The lenders expect the students to pay back the loans in full amount after college. However, the ability of the students to pay back the loans is dependent on their success in the job market, particularly their earnings. Some college degrees lead to careers with good pay while others do not. In this regard, an evaluation of the return on investment (ROI) of a college degree is important. The ROI evaluates whether the benefits of attending college, usually the future earnings, outweigh the costs. It is important to choose a college that guarantees a better ROI to earn back the tuition costs and offset the student loans. The current evaluation compares the ROIs of two college majors (business and engineering) and two different types of schools (public and private).

Many people are confused on why to invest time and money of attending college. A reason for obtaining a higher education is that a college degree can possibly earn a much higher salary than the majority of the people who have a high school diploma. College can be expensive and time consuming for the most of the people that do not have enough money and spare time to go to college. Stephen Rose, a research professor at the Georgetown University, wrote an article on “The Value of a College Degree” to explain if a college degree can be valuable to people to have. Eleni Karageorge, an author on the United States Department of Labor, wrote an article “Is A College Degree Still Worth It?” to give some details on job occupations that compares with employees having a bachelor’s degree or a high school diploma on how much they annually make on their job. Finally, Paul E. Barton, a consultant and a writer for topics related on education, wrote an article “How Many College Graduates Does the U.S. Labor Force Really Need?” on giving details on how valuable to have a college degree in the near future are needed when certain occupations are on high demand with a requirement on having a least a bachelor’s degree. We need to know why going to college is so important for anyone who wants to have professional occupations.

Many recent college graduates have faced record levels of unemployment. This situation has lead people to question what they value about higher education. Some high school students and their parents are wondering if a college education is worth the cost. Others, however, believe that a college prepares students for more than just a job or career. Many people then present the counter argument that people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg did not have a college degree, but unlike them most people are not geniuses and do not have the same entrepreneurial opportunities available to them, let alone the innovative ideas and proper timing. A college education is worth the cost because it is a requirement for many jobs, college graduates make substantially more than high school graduates, and college provides more opportunities for personal growth and networking.

A big concern in todays’ world for graduating college students is being able to find a job right out of school. More times than not, there are many problems that occur when a student chooses a specific career path. In the short exert “Why Focusing Too Narrowly In College Could Backfire”, written by Peter Cappelli, he discusses in his opinion, as well as many others, the right path students should be taking. The lead way students should be following to secure they get a job in a field they will enjoy. Many students have trouble picking a college to go to let alone what major they want to focus on. Students are told to pick a major and start taking the classes for it as soon as possible without realizing they might not even enjoy that field of work. There are many struggles in college with picking the correct classes and

The average college student will graduate with 37,173 dollars’ worth of debt and 40 percent of college students will drop out. (Cite should everyone go to college) Despite this, higher education typically allows an individual to follow their passion and make a living off it. In addition, college provides an intrinsic value that enlightens the individual. Although higher education requires a large investment that may not return its original value, I contend that this investment provides one the ability to typically earn significantly more money and pursue their passion.

Although the future of higher education may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over unemployment. With the way the job force has changed due to the fall of the economy, we can no longer rely on our trade or jobs that were lucrative and provided enough income for our families in the past. As it has been proven at Evergreen State College, “despite the university’s reputation as a countercultural bastion, 82 percent of its graduates found full-time employment within a year, and 93 percent of those who applied got into graduate schools” (188). This idea alone proves the fact that one has a larger change of attaining a job, if one has a college education. The notion of having a better likelihood of obtaining a job, or broadening my options, puts my mind at ease about unemployment.

In the article “A Rational Optimist View of American Higher Education” Dr. Lane A. Glenn writes about the value of higher education. He combats common misconceptions that deter potential students from investing in college. For example, he tackles the topics of cost, completion, and competitiveness. He uses facts to inform cynics that there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about higher education in America. He keeps his target audience of potential students in mind and uses rhetorical devices that are affective on them. Dr. Glenn makes a well-thought out and convincing argument that “a college education remains one of the best investments you can make” (21).

Colleges have been snowballing into profit making machines throughout the past 15 years. Students wishing to pursue higher education nowadays have to take loans and do everything they can to make minimum payments to try and pay tuition for the college of their choice. The rate of inflation of college tuition has risen immensely as opposed to the stagnant average income for most American households. College has also become more and more crucial to getting jobs and it is predicted that in the near future over two thirds of all jobs will require a college degree. With the need for a college degree increasing at an insurmountable rate the difficulty for finding the funds has also increased at the same rate. Although many believe that colleges

There was a time in America where college was based solely on merit, higher education and pursuing the American Dream to obtain a career and gain social status to be successful in society. According to the Economist newspaper, rising fees and increase of student debt, shared with dwindling financial and educational returns, are undermining at least the perception that university is a good investment. Now due to high cost of an average good university, students are leaving college owing back over $100,000 and are not getting the job of their original dreams.

Today colleges are growing more and more necessary for attaining a solid path towards a successful career, yet the rapidly increasing cost of tuition is driving students away from their dream of attending college, due to the preposterous amount of money that is now being demanded by colleges across the nation and world as a whole. It is sad to see students being turned away from a successful future due to the money-hungry nature of the universities that dot the globe. More and more impossible it is becoming to have a “rags-to-riches” scenario that used to highlight the American Dream, as if a student doesn’t have the riches to afford a higher education and the tuition that is drug upon its coattails, then our society is doomed to be clothed in rags forever, unless major changes are brought about to restructure and end the indefatigable growth of tuition rates across the board.

Although this limitation can become a barrier for the experiential learning theory Rogers’ developed, it is possible for this to overcome this with patience. As the main purpose of this theory is to allow personal growth within the student, we must note that personal growth appears differently for each individual learner. The role of the facilitator is to help engage all types of students in self-motivated learning to help them improve their overall growth from significant information.