Why Do Low Income Students Receive A College Degree?

Most Americans would agree that higher education is important. Compared to years ago, when a high school education was acceptable in most jobs, a college degree is now required in the majority of positions. But what if you can’t afford to get a degree? What then?

Most people only consider the direct impact of a college degree on their own lives-but a college degree has a tremendous impact on the well-being of our own families as well, especially our children. Not only are children of parents with a college degree education better off socially and economically, but studies have shown that children in households where one or both parents have a college degree are themselves more likely to earn a college degree. “According to an estimate in 2028 there will be 19 million more jobs for educated population that there are qualified people to fill them”.

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,

Recently there has been a lot of debate about the importance of college education. Students are asking if it’s worth the debt to attend a four year university or community college. Some are thinking what are the benefits of a degree is in the workforce. With college tuition increasing and state fundings lowering, low income students are struggling to attain a higher education. College institutions should have a role to provide students higher education and equal opportunity to students to increase social mobility yet intergenerational reproduction of privilege has produced inequality in education.

College graduates, on average, make a whopping one million dollars more in lifetime earnings than those with a high school diploma. Those with a college degree now make $17,500 more per year than those without — a wage gap that's doubled in recent decades. Those without a degree are four times more likely to be unemployed.One of the biggest and most important reasons for anyone to attend college is the upper hand it gives with regards to jobs and career. A college graduate has a higher chance of landing a job when compared to an individual with a high school qualification. Further, a college graduate also has better options and opportunities to progress in their

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

For most people, going to college and/or graduate school is a necessary evil in today’s society. Although college and graduate school can cost $100,000 or more, those who don’t have a degree may be put at a disadvantage when attempting to get a job. However, what good is your college degree if you can’t get a job in your field and you’re unable to make your minimum monthly payment?

Students from all over the United States are told all through their life that they need to attend college if they ever want to be successful, however, this is far from the truth. Often schools are culprits for driving students to attend money driven colleges, in other cases it is family. While schools all too often make the push on students to continue their schooling, parents can cause the same situation, as they may not have a degree and be working a low-paying factory job. Now kids already don’t want to be like their parents when they get older, so seeing them suffer in poverty or barely above the poverty line can cause some dissatisfaction, further seeking a degree to live a life that they never got. What many

     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

Financial Aid programs in the form of loans, although helpful in paying for college, do little to shorten the gap between high and low income students in higher education. The College Board, which is responsible for the SAT, AP, and other acclaimed standardized exams, states that, about two-thirds of full-time students pay for college with the help of financial aid, most of which is federally funded ("Federal & State AP Exam Fee Assistance,” 1) This is partly because college tuition and fees have surged 1,120 percent since 1978, causing the financial burden taken on by college applicants to become almost overwhelming (Jamrisko, 1). For this reason, financial aid is seen by low-income college applicants as a necessary means to attending college. In theory, the use of financial aids should encourage low-income people to attend college and provide equal opportunity between high and low-class students, however, it has no such effect. According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, which is known for researching trends in professional environments, college enrollment in the U.S. among low income students is still 30% below that of high income students (Desilver, 1). As Tamy Luhby, an economist and author for CNN Money says, high income-students are still 8 times more likely to graduate with a degree. Although financial aid temporarily covers the cost of college, it is basically a system of debt accumulation due to fact that many low income students can only

ii) Three out of four African-American parents do not identify scholarships as a source of aid, compared to half of White parents. Similarly, 83 percent of Latino parents do not mention grants as a source of aid versus 58 percent of White parents (Sallie Mae Fund and Harris Interactive 2003). Most Latino non-college-going youths can not name one source of financial aid (Zarate and Pachon 2006). iii) Two-thirds of African-American parents and 62 percent of Latino parents say they need more information about how to pay for college, compared to only 44 percent of White parents (Sallie Mae Fund and Harris Interactive 2003). d) Some students have inaccurate perceptions of their eligibility for financial aid. i) Many current and former community college students, especially those from two-parent households, assume that their household income is too high to make them eligible for federal financial aid (Matus-Grossman and Gooden 2002). ii) In California, far fewer Latino students than are eligible actually apply for Cal Grants because they erroneously believe that high grades are required (Zarate and Pachon 2006). iii) Many low-income students who do not apply for financial aid believe that they do not need financial aid. Twenty-nine percent of low-income dependent students and 39 percent of low-income independent students say they did not file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

On the other hand lower class families get their information from other people who have beneficial information about it or from their other children who have gone through higher school levels. There’s also parents who decided to not get involved because “they do not believe that their involvement can have a positive effect on their child's college outcomes” (Rowan-Kenyon). Studies have shown that students who have a strong family involvement in their education do much better than others don’t. “No matter a family’s income or socioeconomic background, family engagement is an essential ingredient for student success.” states Otha Thorton in “Families: An Essential Ingredient for Student Success and Excellent Schools”. Any student with family support will do good nonetheless. Encouragement comes from them, giving the student motivation to reach for their goals. Students with family support “attend school more regularly, earn better grades, enroll in higher-level programs, have higher graduation rates, and are more likely to enroll in postsecondary education” (Thorton).

Not only does a college degree increase one’s chances of getting a job, but it can also get a person employer-paid health insurance and pension plans. That is great considering that the

Whereas Sabrina Tavernise, a journalist for The New York Times, would say that this delayed pursuit of higher education is more of a result of my parents not being of the upper echelon of financial individuals, hindering me from attending or even completing college. Where I agree with Freedman’s notion that most top colleges’ reliance on their current business model is preventing their financial support of low-income and middle-income students, I also agree with Tavernise’s claim that education is not achieving its intended purpose and is transforming from a great equalizer of the classes for underprivileged students who had a knack for learning to another gap in the playing fields of society that we find today. As such, I consider that it is the transition of the financial affliction from schools to the students that is causing a reduction in colleges’ support of students, particularly low-income students, resulting in an ever-growing gap between the privileged and

It is said that people earning a middle-class income end up paying 76 percent of their income to cover their student 's tuition. Student loan debt, detrimental expenses, no financial aid, and trying to attend the college of your choice do not mix well in the same stew pot together. I learned this while I was planning to attend the university of my choice a month before my high school graduation. What I didn’t know was in this society our ascribed statuses are what make us or break us when it comes to