In their essays, both Caroline Bird and Robin Wilson express a concern about the rising cost of college tuition. Bird argues that the cost of college makes it a poor investment, while Wilson argues that college is worth the investment. In Bird’s essay, “College Is a Waste of Time and Money” she argues that college is not worth the investment because going to college does not necessarily result in earning a higher income. She claims that college is structured in a way that attracts people who are already “slated to earn more money,” similar to those who come from wealthy backgrounds, and those with higher IQs (Bird 376). Bird also claims that someone from a lower status family who has the same education, occupation, and test scores will earn …show more content…
Bird argues that students should not risk being in debt for the rest of their lives, while Wilson claims that many students graduate with a reasonable amount of debt, therefore going to college ultimately will benefit them. In Bird’s essay, she explains that going to college and graduating with a lot of debt does not always benefit students because jobs in certain fields are scarce, like psychology. College graduates thus do not always get the job they prepared for, instead “most of them wind up doing what there is to do” (Bird 378). Bird refutes the idea that going to college leads to better job opportunities by claiming that the job market is “shrinking” causing a lack of jobs for college graduates entering certain fields. On the contrary, Wilson states that “debt is the best way to pay for education because you’re shifting the cost forward until you can earn more money” (260). She claims that the only reason students graduate with a lot of debt is because they chose to attend the college of their dreams regardless of the cost (257). If students were more reasonable in their college choices, their overall debt would not be so drastic. Wilson believes that even though college students may graduate with a lot of debt, college is still worth the …show more content…
I believe that students should not attend college if they are not motivated, or if they intend to pursue a career that does not require a college degree. Not all professions require a person to go to college and earn a degree. For instance, a more physically demanding job, like an electrician, requires skill rather than an actual college degree. People who intend to pursue these occupations should focus on trying to get a job right after graduating high school in order to gain experience. Many believe that a college education will ultimately lead to a higher income, but according to Bird, “there is no real evidence that the higher income of college students is due to college” (376). Since there is no clear correlation between the two, students should not attend college if the only reason they are attending is to earn a higher income. They should not risk taking out a lot of loans, and graduating with a large amount of debt. Overall, I think that college is not a good investment because not everyone needs a college degree for the career they intend to pursue, and investing in college is not worth risking being in debt after taking out large amounts of
Overall, college is not a good investment for anyone but the college that you’re paying. It costs too much teaches you few life skills, and doesn’t jive with everyone. As such, it’s recommended that you skip out on college and learn how to live how to live in the real world
Those individuals that graduated college were better students in high school. (Vedder, 2012, p. 1) Second a good proportion (more than 40 percent) of those attending four-year colleges full-time fail to graduate, even within six years. At some colleges, the dropout rate is strikingly higher. While college students gain skills that can be marketable from just showing up, others end up taking jobs that are usually given to high school graduates, making somewhat more money but having large college debts and some lost earnings occurred while unsuccessfully pursuing a degree that could have been prevented. (Vedder, 2012, p. 1). Does this mean no one should go to a upper level institution? Of course not. First of all, college is more than training for a career, and many might benefit from the social and non-purely academic aspects of advanced schooling, even if the rate of return on college as a financial investment is low. Second, high school students with certain attributes like family wealth are far less likely to drop out of school, and are likely to drop out of school, and are likely to equal or excel the average statistics. (Vedder, 2012, p.
Many people find the higher education a child receives, the higher the amount of money he or she will earn. Others find it is a waste of time and money to go to college after high school because of all the loans they would have to make up for after college. Many people have different point of views regards to the importance of college. In the articles Is College Worth It? and Why College Isn’t for Everyone, Leonhardt and Matthews have different opinions on the importance of college. Leonhardt argues that college is worth it because one who earns a college degree will be financially stable in the end, while Matthews believes that college isn’t for everyone because of the high-cost teenagers and adults will encounter when it comes to tuitions and fees.
There is a thin line of people who should and should not attend college. That is a huge decision that could either be the best decision they have ever made or it could be a costly mistake causing thousands of dollars of debt to pile up. There are reasons such as costly tuitions, unnecessary fees, no guarantee of a career, piling of debt, and questionable educational quality, that lead me to believe that college is not worth the money people pay for it.
Although most will be pushed to go to college some will choose to go out into the workforce immediately and that cannot be looked down upon because that is their decision and that is what they want to do, but with that in mind they must always consider college because in a lifetime it will more than likely be the wiser decision. One who takes the risk and tries to go to college might find out they want to be a biology teacher and not an astrophysicist and that is all due to college and all the experiences that it can bring along that have absolutely nothing to do with education but of broadening horizons and making one see different points of view. That is where the true value of college lies, not with the education and degree, but with the experiences, meeting new people, learning new ideals and cultures, and the ultimate tool you gain is just finding out who you are as a person. During college you learn what you like and don’t like, what makes you happy and doesn’t, you find yourself during college and that cannot simply be overlooked because of a price tag. That is why I believe everyone should consider college and overlook the price tag all to find themselves and further them along as a human being and a
“Why College is Still Worth It Even Though It Cost Too Much.” Money.com (2015): N.PAG. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 11 Oct. 2016 The author of this paper address that a lot of college students feel like the time, money, and effort is not worth it; However, studies show that it does pay off by receiving higher pay, better work hours, and better benefits, such as insurance plans. A poll was done using college alumni to see if they thought that college paid off, and of the 30,000 that were in the poll a majority of them agreed that it did. Also, the writer includes several other polls conducted to show the life-long impacts of a college education, which includes better career and friendship
Many Americans today tend to believe that a college education is valuable financially, yet some others strongly oppose this, since they look at the college education as being both time and money consuming. A person who successfully completes a college education may obtain one or all of the following; an associate’s degree after two years, a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or a PhD. The institutions that provide the college education can be public or private. Whereas a college education might be seen as being very expensive, it actually increases people’s chances of getting higher paying jobs, instills knowledge into them, and raises their enjoyment levels.
In “Is college worth it?” the writer discusses which colleges and degrees will be better for their price and how the careers from these degrees will help pay off college debt. Throughout the article it is discussed how colleges that have lower scores and ranking will not offer financial help to students. To be able to pay off college debt, it is better to go to a college with higher scores. Since the cost of tuition is rising, more people are in need of financial aid, and to pay off this debt quicker, people are needing a career to do so. In order to have a career that makes a lot of money and pay off student loans, you need to get a degree that is in a field with a high demand.
Everyone knows that person from high school that just wasn’t cut out for college. It’s not a bad thing by any means, but if you’re thinking about heading off to college like many American teenagers often do, think about this: going to college can be a waste of both your time and your money. I’m not the first to say it, and I sure as hell won’t be the last. In Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill’s essay, Should Everyone Go to College?, the two authors take a strong economic approach to justify going to college. Owen, an ex- senior research assistant at Brookings’ Center on Children and Families and current research associate at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan center for research on the problems of urban communities, and Sawhill, the co-director of the Center on Children and Families and a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings, claim that the return on investment (ROI) of a college education is overwhelmingly positive on average; However, they also bring light
The second chapter of this book advocates students to attend college, even if they must take on a moderate amount of student loan debt. They give statistics showing the tremendous gap in wages between a college graduate and a non-college graduate. The third chapter of this book argues the opposite viewpoint of the second chapter. The author states that the cost of college today is too high and that there are too many college graduates flooding the job market causing many of them to go unemployed or seek low level jobs that do not pay enough to pay off their student loans. Both of these chapters will help me to show the two main ...
Everyone knows that going to college and getting a degree is the most effective and guaranteed route to ensure a prosperous financial future, right? College is considered by most to be the best investment you can make in life, but what happens when that investment leaves you drowning in thousands of dollars in debt right after graduation day. This is the situation that millions of college graduates are faced with in 2016. Rising college tuition perpetuates student debt and is on a sharp incline and it seems to have no ambition of ever slowing down. The effect of this catastrophe is felt by millions of families across the country who now question, “is college really worth it?”
Although a college education grows more and more expensive every year. People begin to question whether college is a good idea to invest in or not. “As college costs continue to rise, students and their families are looking more carefully at what they are getting for their money. Increasingly, they are finding that the college experience falls short of their expectations”(Cooper. H Mary). Many people believe that the cost of a college degree has outstripped the value of a degree.Studies show that a college degree will increase your earning power. A lot of people say that a college degree now is worth what a high school diploma was wor...
In Caroline Bird’s “College is A Waste of Time and Money”, it’s argued that there are many college students who would be better off if they were to begin working after high school graduation. Colleges and universities can no longer ensure that one will go on to get a better job, getting paid more than they would have without a higher education. However, high school seniors still stress about where they will be attending college, how they’re going to pay for it and what they’re going to study for the next four years. Bird points out how college has changed over the past few decades and how, in turn, it has set many young adults up for disappointment, if nothing else.
College education goes about the way to an effective future for people who are not kidding with it. Currently, a college education has turned in the base necessity in securing a job in different companies and although some people might think college is not worth the debt, in a long run it actually is.
College is a very important thing. If you go to college you will most likely get better pay in your career. Also, with a college degree, you have more opportunities. I believe that everyone should go to college. If you don’t go to college and just go into some job and that fails then you have no backup plan. A college graduate is more likely to be offered employment than another who didn’t attend college, if you have a college degree you will make more money in your lifetime than someone who doesn’t have a degree, if you are considering having children having a college degree is very beneficial to them, you have a higher chance of having better health yourself, college is very beneficial, and if you go to college you will have a better social