Value Of College Education

“Is College Worth it? Clearly, New Data Says” by David Leonhardt, “The Value of a College Degree” by Emily Hanford, “New study shows the value of a college education” by Hope Yen, and “Is College Worth It Anymore” by Kristen Sturt, all primarily discuss the advantages of a college education and its true value. In the United States, the student debt is over $1.2 trillion dollars. It is the second largest cause of debt following mortgage debt. When the media spends so much time talking about the limitations of a college education, they are discouraging some students from attending college. Regardless of all the debt, attending college and attaining a higher education is the best decision a student pursuing a bright future, could make today.

As of 2013, Americans with a bachelor’s degree earned 98% more an hour on average, than people without a degree. This is a staggering increase compared to the pay gap in the early 1980s, when college graduates earned on average only 64% more hourly. In today’s society, not attending college is one of the most economically illogical decision you can make. According to Mr. Autor, the true cost of not attending college will cost you approximately $500,000. He got this figure by calculating tuition costs and fees. That amount was subtracted from lifetime gap between earnings of college graduates and high school graduates. He made his calculations by adjusting inflation rates and the changing values of money. He arrived at half a million dollars. On the grand scale, college graduates are much more economically stable than those who do not attend college (Leonhardt “Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data

Stable occupations are much less likely to be unemployed. Despite all of the economic advantages, college graduates are much more satisfied with their line of work. People with degrees are generally psychologically and physically healthier. Economist Sandy Baum, an author of “Education Pays,” believes that attending college helps people to do better in life. She says, “There has been a lot of testing done, lots of sophisticated statistical analyses, and they all show that going to college changes you in ways that change the way you behave, the choices you make. And you become… a more productive member of the labor force.” According to economist Tony Carnevale, people who attend college “come out with a certain amount of polish and understanding about how the world works.” With more knowledge, you have more power. Higher education is extremely valuable in life (Hanford “The Value of a College