Many graduating high school students find themselves faced, not with an open decision over their future, but instead, increasing pressure to attend college. However, college does not suit every student and for several, is not worth the cost as there exist numerous safer, steadier careers which don’t require college. Additionally, attending college often leaves students with crippling debt and the payoff for college does not come close to matching the cost.
There are countless steady jobs which don’t require college degrees. In fact, many of Google’s highest earning technical and electrical engineers never spent a day in higher education. Crawford 09 further extends that several of the jobs which don’t entail college, from plumbing to mechanics, …show more content…
Pew research polls have found that the majority of students graduate with a substantial amount of debt, and nearly half of graduates reported their college debt has interfered with covering other costs. Moreover, poor credit scores and high debt prevent recently graduated students from buying houses, cars, or accessing insurance and further necessities. In Wieder 11, Peter Thiel, the cofounder of PayPal, states that college debt is “a mistake that’s hard to undo for the rest of your life.” Consequentially, countless people spend years of their life trying to pay off student debt after taking out loans for entirely unnecessary degrees. Leonhardt 11 attempts to claim that once financial aid is factored in, average college costs border on affordable for most students. Nevertheless, this claim cannot be applied to all students as average are calculated with heavy outlier influence. For example, if one student received a full ride and two more had to pay full price, the average cost would be deceiving low despite the majority of the students having paid the full amount. This makes attending college a risky investment, which can indeed stay with you for the rest of your …show more content…
Within the past few years, inflation has drastically distorted the economy and the value of the dollar. Conversely, the wages of college graduates has only decreased, failing to match the changing economy. An article published in a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank (Shierholz 11) found that the wages of college graduates have deteriorated from 2000 to 2010. Hence, students find themselves unable to pay off the thousands of dollars of debt they have acquired. The Pew Research Center attempts to claim that, on average, college graduates earn approximately $20,000 more than non-college graduates. However, this is once again a measure of calculated average, which is subject to influence by outliers. If three students attend college and three don’t, and one of the attendees becomes a millionaire, then of course the average pay for the graduates will be higher. Furthermore, the Pew Research center concedes that these results vary between careers and are not a constant set. Accordingly, there are several jobs in which there exists much less
There are countless steady jobs which don’t require college degrees. In fact, many of Google’s highest earning technical and electrical engineers never spent a day in higher education. Crawford 09 further extends that several of the jobs which don’t entail college, from plumbing to mechanics, …show more content…
Pew research polls have found that the majority of students graduate with a substantial amount of debt, and nearly half of graduates reported their college debt has interfered with covering other costs. Moreover, poor credit scores and high debt prevent recently graduated students from buying houses, cars, or accessing insurance and further necessities. In Wieder 11, Peter Thiel, the cofounder of PayPal, states that college debt is “a mistake that’s hard to undo for the rest of your life.” Consequentially, countless people spend years of their life trying to pay off student debt after taking out loans for entirely unnecessary degrees. Leonhardt 11 attempts to claim that once financial aid is factored in, average college costs border on affordable for most students. Nevertheless, this claim cannot be applied to all students as average are calculated with heavy outlier influence. For example, if one student received a full ride and two more had to pay full price, the average cost would be deceiving low despite the majority of the students having paid the full amount. This makes attending college a risky investment, which can indeed stay with you for the rest of your …show more content…
Within the past few years, inflation has drastically distorted the economy and the value of the dollar. Conversely, the wages of college graduates has only decreased, failing to match the changing economy. An article published in a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank (Shierholz 11) found that the wages of college graduates have deteriorated from 2000 to 2010. Hence, students find themselves unable to pay off the thousands of dollars of debt they have acquired. The Pew Research Center attempts to claim that, on average, college graduates earn approximately $20,000 more than non-college graduates. However, this is once again a measure of calculated average, which is subject to influence by outliers. If three students attend college and three don’t, and one of the attendees becomes a millionaire, then of course the average pay for the graduates will be higher. Furthermore, the Pew Research center concedes that these results vary between careers and are not a constant set. Accordingly, there are several jobs in which there exists much less