Final Paper Commentary

Final Paper Commentary

Anthony Hillukka

Professor Gipko

12/12/14

Have you ever taken college classes outside of high school? Maybe you have loans out for one class; or maybe you have several loans out for a year’s worth of classes? How about two or four years of college? If anyone has taken a college class, even one, outside of the high school you should know how much the tuition costs one person. Do you really think that college is worth it? I believe that college is worth it because you can get better paying jobs, you are more likely to succeed in life, and most of the jobs today require at least a two-year degree.

There is so much to say about the cost of college. I think that it is worth the amount the student pays depending on which career field they are going into. Yes, there are definitely some college educations that are cheap and the loans (if needed) can be paid off within the first year or two after graduation. However, there are still going to be a majority of the colleges that charge an arm and a leg for tuition. The cost of just attending college itself is outrageous. There are a bunch of colleges that don’t have their full price included in tuition. There are the hidden fees, extra charges here and there, and also a good chunk of money per each credit.

Something that I don’t understand is why the tuition has to be as high as it is. Don’t colleges make their money from the government and along with all of the students that attend there? It seems as though the tuition is one thing that is driving potential students away from the colleges. The student debt just keeps on increasing and has already passed the $1 trillion mark. This is an absurd amount of debt for all students to have (Leonhardt, 2014). According to the 2014 annual survey of college and university administrator directors, the colleges are having a harder time achieving their goal on admission numbers. Well, why do the tuitions keep increasing if this is the problem? The cost of college just scares everyone away. The percentage of people that believe in college being “very important” has dropped tremendously. It has gone down from 75 percent to 44 percent. This has dropped incredibly in the four year gap (Board, 2014).

Deciding on whether college is worth it, has almost everything to do with if you graduate or not. If you don’t graduate, well then of course college isn’t going to be worth it. You are still going to have to pay for your tuition, even if you dropped out of school. Most people who don’t think that college is worth it are usually the ones that struggle from being in debt with their college loans and they can’t afford to buy a house and can’t save enough money up. These people will claim that many jobs don’t need a college degree anyway. I can see why these people would claim that you don’t need a degree for a job. However, I don’t agree with them. Technically, you can get a job without a degree yes, but how good of a job? Can you afford to live a good life with a family? I wonder if they can afford to have fun with their jobs. I doubt that most of these people are even enjoying their job. It is pretty crazy that about 3.6 percent of the college graduates were unemployed compared to the 7.5 percent of the high school graduates in 2013. (College Education Pros and Cons, 2014)

I know that there are several facts and opinions that could conclude that college isn’t worth it. For one thing being that the student loan debt increases tremendously each year. The number of students with college debt has increased from 25 percent to 43 percent within the last ten years. The average student debt is around $20,326. Just imagine, you could buy a brand new current year car with this amount of money. When you have this incredible amount of debt, you have to worry about paying these extra bills on time. If you miss a payment, your credit score will be affected, making it harder to get loans for anything else. There are a lot of students that are forced to live with their parents because they aren’t able to live anywhere else with their college loans out. So, this is why I can see why some people think that college isn’t worth the money you have to pay (College Education Pros and Cons, 2014).

Another thing is that there are jobs that don’t actually require a degree in college. According to the Department of Labor in 2008 about 17 million college graduates had a job that didn’t require a college degree. This is an incredible amount of students. So what was the point of their college if they don’t need it at their current job? Even if you go to college, you aren’t guaranteed a job, although, you are more likely to get one. About 50 percent of the graduates in 2011 didn’t even have a job, or they were only working part-time jobs. I know that it would be a waste of time for me too! People that believe that college is a waste of time can succeed without their college degree (College Education Pros and Cons, 2014). I personally know someone that succeeded without a college degree. My father’s cousin dropped out of high school in 10th grade, he started up his own trucking company and is currently a retired millionaire. He didn’t even finish high school, but I believe that this was pretty much pure luck because there are not many people out there that can do this. Along with my dad’s cousin dropping out and becoming successful, there are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. They are now famous and have impacted the world in some way.

The tuition has definitely increased tremendously. This is making it a lot harder for anyone to pay for college without any debt. With the student loans and going to college, many students are

...