Why Is It Important To Get A Degree

The higher a degree one has the more money they make. As one’s degree goes up, as does their earning gap. “...individuals with a four-year college degree earned about 43% more on average than those with only a high school degree...” (FRBSF Economic letter). The more education you have the more money you make. If you have only a high school diploma then you will make significantly less. College is an investment and it pays itself back the farther you get in the working world. “...the difference between earnings continues such that the average college graduate earns over $800,000 more than the average high school graduate by retirement age...” It also drastically lowers the rate of unemployment, ” (FRBSF Economic letter). You are earning close to a million dollars more than you would otherwise with a degree. Making money is key in survival, this day and age. The more money, the more power, and success in the business world.

In today’s society, a college degree has become a requirement in order to obtain a well occupied profession. Prior to the recession, which the study defines as the period between December 2007 and June 2009, bachelor's graduates were already more likely to be employed than were associate degree holders, who were more likely to be employed than those without any postsecondary degree. After the recession, employment of college graduates dropped 7 percent, while associate degree holders experienced an 11 percent drop, and employment of high school graduates fell 16 percent. The percent of people excluded from the workforce, meaning they were seeking work but couldn’t find it, rose 31 percent for college graduates, 37 percent for high school graduates, and 50 percent for associate degree graduates, though associate degree holders were still excluded at a lower rate than high school graduates (Tilsley, 2013).

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.

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,

Why is it that in today’s society, people merely believe that a person can be successful if they have a degree from a higher education? In the article “The Case for Working With Your Hands” author Mathew B. Crawford talks about his life as a mechanic and the decisions and revelations that got him there. Crawford claims that a good job is defined to meet an individual’s passion and to see the “effects of the world” (Crawford). Crawford is saying that a person does not have to have a degree to have a good job. With Crawford’s claim, in the article titled “The Case for Working With Your Hands,” that a person should find a job that satisfies their own passions and desires I would agree with the author’s stance based on my own personal experiences as well as his information he presents.

Many college students choose to also get more than one degree while attending college to earn more income and further their education. College graduates have the choice of get higher level degrees and training resulting in earn even more income based on the different higher level degrees earned and training received (this means the more degrees and training you have the more income you may receive). People with higher level degrees and training earn more money that those without degrees. In 1996, for example, workers with bachelor's degrees had median annual earnings of about $36,000, while college graduates with more advanced degrees earned around $40,000 (Mittelhauser 3). This is a four-thousand dollar difference in income; this is only one of several examples of how people who graduate college make more money than the average high school graduate and that of people with lower-level degrees. The median annual wage for a bachelor’s degree in 2010 was $63,430. While the median annual wage for a person with a doctoral or professional degree in 2010 was $87,500 ("Employment by Education and Training Assignment, 2010 and Projected 2020"). This is almost a twenty-four thousand difference income just based off of median annual wage of different degrees. The income difference from college graduates than to those of high school graduates is great. College graduates are getting better wages and job openings than those of high school graduates (“President’s Perspective:

There have been a study that most jobs in future won’t require a college degree According to the Times(, eight out of the ten job categories that will add the most employees during the next decade including home-health aide, customer-service representative, and store clerk—can be performed by someone without a college degree. It’s true that this small jobs don’t require a college degree but if we see ourselves and our history we have been developing too fast and in that development life got harder, and requirements for opportunity increased. The world is changing, the job that once required no education are now demanding GED or high school diploma and need not to be statistics that soon that requirement would change to college diploma as the world is advancing at a fast phase that it never did. It was 6 to 7 years ago when need a of computer skill wasn’t even a question and now whole world is

In her article “A Lifetime Of Student Debt? Not Likely”, Robin Wilson discusses how expensive a college education has become. Wilson notes, “It used to be that, 10 to 20 years ago, if you went to a four-year public institution, had a low to moderate income, and worked a reasonable amount part time in school, there was enough aid. And public institutions were better financed, so you could come out with no debt. That same student now would have to borrow to get their

Research in 2015 has also shown that those who have a higher education level usually have a lower rate of unemployment.

The higher the education level the higher the wages. That sounds fair because people with a higher education level worked hard and put in the time. Nevertheless, life isn't fair either. An essay titled Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say by David Leonhardt states that the pay gap from graduates of four year college and people without a college degree has risen.

Although there can be economic struggles when attending college, such as student debt, in magnitude the majority of people will nonetheless earn a better living for the future. In other words, as your level of education increases, your earnings will also rise. As a result, unemployment rates fall as well. To elaborate, as stated in Source A, “Workers with a bachelor’s degree, for example, earned about $415 more a week than workers whose highest level of education was a high school diploma. And the rate of unemployment...was about half...” For this reason, even though it is not uncommon for students at the

With a degree from a first-rate college connections are made with potential jobs; job applicants without degrees are looked down upon by employers. By attending college, young adults make connections and earn preferable jobs. According to Hill, many college graduates are given jobs over those who did not go to college because of the connections they made while in school. John Siva, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities, urges all young people to attend college because they are more likely to be hired by future employers. Silva also proclaims that the number of jobs which require a college degree is rapidly increasing (Hill). Some highly acclaimed people are adamant in their opinion that college will give its graduates connections to future jobs. In addition, college graduates receive jobs over applicants who do not attend college. In “College Graduates Fare Well in Jobs Market, Even Through Recession” by Catherine Rampell, a New York Times economist, it is reported that unemployment for college graduates is 3.9%, while unemployment for the workforce as a whole is 7.5%. According to the Labor Department, the number of college-educated workers with jobs has risen 9.1%, whereas the number of non-college educated workers with jobs has decreased 9% (Rampell). The number of workers without a high school diploma has dropped 14.1% as shown according to Rampell. These statistics only reiterate the fact that employers are hiring college-educated workers over those without a

A recent study demonstrates that “nearly half of college graduates in their [twenties] are underemployed” (Selingo). The result signifies that employers do not expect the graduate to hold a bachelor’s degree. In reality, Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, notes statistics that reveal there are “16,000 parking lot attendants with bachelor’s degrees, … 83,000 bartenders and 115,000 janitors.” Graduates must learn to acquire jobs that mirror the effort employed to obtain their bachelor’s degree. Therefore, this allows businesses to hire overqualified workers for their less paying job positions.

The individual would have a bothersome time finding a job. The majority of employers look or expect a GPA on a resume. Dan Black, the director of recruiting for the Americas at professional services giant Ernst and Young, said he expects to take notice of a GPA on resumes. Dan Black, the director says that grades certainly do matter when we’re recruiting students. It’s admittedly one of the only indications we have of a student’s technical ability or competence to do the job. Students that goes to an entrepreneur with excellent grades shows that the individual is able to deal with daily tasks since the individual was able to be successful in

The public is in debate whether or not college is worth its’ lofty price. College graduates will earn 73 percent more than high school graduates. Someone with a graduate degree will earn an average of $49,900. Compared to that, someone with just a college or Bachelor degree will earn $35,700, and someone who will only graduate with a high school degree will earn $30,800 (Kelley). Strictly looking at those statistics the price of college seems like a fair trade. “The advantage for