Shinyeng WuFeng

English 11000

Ian Murphy

November 11, 2021

Is college really worth it?

Intro

Many high school students were trying hard in high school just so that they could get into their dream school. The problem is that, is the effort and spending worth the outcome? What are some outcomes of college? Do college students regret going to college? Trying hard in high school is already very stressful. In this passage, I will showing some basic factors that might help in distinguishing whether college is really worth it. 

How does a high school graduate differ from a college graduate?

In the data where USAFACTS provided, they stated that we can see the number of non-professional specialties still has a high percentage of people with college graduates. One example is cleaning and food service, the amount of college graduates working within the field increased from 6.9% to 19% within 20 years of the 21st century. We can see that the amount of college graduates who did not pursue their major related career increases. That means that college just turned into a label for people to look professional. Of course, there are a lot of causes that make college graduates not get the job they were pursuing. 

According to statista, data were collected and found that the percentage of U.S population who have completed college reached 37% of all Americans in 2020. This can lead to inflation which provides a big amount of workers for a specific major. This will make companies and colleges very selective, which causes a big amount of college graduates not able to get a job related to their major. On the other hand, high school graduates have less concern about non-professional jobs. 

Source: Statista , “Percentage of the U.S. population who have completed four years of college or more from 1940 to 2020, by gender” [5]

How does college affect one’s mental health?

There are a lot of factors that will affect one’s mental health regardless of college. Some factors worth considering are health, financial status, social life, achievements, and stress. Although we can not indicate that everyone will be in the same state of mental health, we can indicate the possible outcomes of happiness after college. In a youtube channel called “Income Over Outcome”, Hisham Khan mentioned that people are most likely to be happy with an income above $6000 per month. It can be very difficult for a high school graduate to get a non-professional job that provides over $6000. Some might say that college graduates will suffer from a large amount of debt after college, worrying about their financial status. The average loan debt of a college student is about $30,000 per year. This can make college students very stressful during their 4~6 years of college because they will have to worry about their financial status and school as well. However, there is an option for students to choose to go to a not very prestigious school, and the financial aid will decrease the amount of debt they owe.

How does social life in high school differ from college?

College students are more likely to meet more new people when they attend college. In the debate video on youtube of “Millionaire Dropout VS College Grad”, Hisham Khan, the college graduate, mentioned that college is worth it because he was able to make friends that he will talk with in the future and enjoy the social life in college. It is hard for high school students to find more new friends after high school. There will be a limited social life when adolescents become adults. College graduates might also have a more mature way of socializing, as they have more experience in making friends. If someone lives in a dorm, they could just see their friends from a few steps away and have sleepovers any time. 

What can you get from college and how much more can you make?

Although college does not guarantee a job for you, college provides a guide and a permit for you to work on professional jobs. According to the news article from UWIRE Text, the author mentioned “if you are looking into becoming a chef, a college degree may not be the ideal path as there are culinary schools specifically for that area of specialty”. Here, we can tell that the author is telling people to look for what they want in the future and make a choice whether or not to go to college; To choose jobs that will make them happy. It is still worth considering going to college if people are not sure about their future because college is a place for people to explore and find passion as they study through the years. Obtaining a bachelor degree allows you to get jobs that have higher income. Depending on the college you are going to, you will also get a lot of student loans. From the data provided by USAFACTS, we can see that on average, a college graduate earns about 1.2k to 1.3k compared to an average high school graduate earning about 0.5k to 0.6k. Also, it is really hard for a college graduate to find a job because a lot of jobs want to select the best people so they require a higher degree such as a master’s degree or doctoral degree. Getting a higher degree will also result in higher tuition. 

How long does it take to pay off college loans?

The graph below is selected from Douglas A.Webber’s peer reviewed journal. This graph shows the cumulative earnings paths of Average college Costs and debt.

The average college costs and debt for students who are going out of state in America is about $30,000 per year. In his estimate, we can see that on average college students  pay off their college debts at the age of 30~40. On average, at the age of 30 or older, a college graduate’s overall net income exceeds a high school graduate’s income. In his journal, he also mentioned that the average interest rate is about 4.3%. Depending on the major, on average it takes about $120,000 to $270,000 to obtain a degree. Higher degrees will result in more debt, which leads to a longer period to pay off debts. It takes about 10 to pay off the debt and to earn about the same amount as the college graduate. We can see that the intersection between High school and other college students is between 30~ 40 years old. The graph below is provided by the National Center for Education Statistics. The data is gathered by the government and it shows the average time of student loan repayment in the U.S. 

Due to the increase of the amount of workers in the U.S, now a lot of professional jobs require a higher level of education or years of internships. In this graph, we see that higher degrees will lead to longer time to repay student loans. Some professionals like lawyers and medical doctors , they spend almost half of their lifetime paying for student loans. Even though the outcome is super rewarding, it takes a long time to repay the effort. The educational data also mentioned that “The average medical school graduate’s salary is not sufficient to make their student loan payments… 241,600 is the average student loan debt for a medical school graduate”. There are a lot of risks in becoming a doctor or a lawyer. The amount of time doctors take to study is almost half of their lifespan and resident training will take a few more years of their life. The amount of stress and worries that people have to consider is a lot for people who goes to prestigious schools.  

Which one will make you happier?

Overall, college students are reported to be happier but also more stressed. College creates more chances to socialize with other people, while highschool graduates are more limited. On average college students are more stressed because of irregular sleep patterns and there are a lot of things to be worried about. In the youtube video of “Millionaire Dropout VS College Grad”, Hisham Khan mentioned that college actually made life easier because it gives guidance for people who do not know what they want to do with their life. The skills learned are worth the money paid to college because it is very difficult to find motivation and learn without any guidance. One example given by him is that college provides real life experiences for college engineering students for better learning. They also provide a base for internships and working experience which increases the chance of being hired. The millionaire counter argued that “everything can be learned from the internet”. Although his argument is true, the motivation, guidance, and in real life experiences create stronger bonds and better learning for a student. Over a lifetime, college students are happier. 

How many college students regret going to college?

According to the survey taken by Payscale, there are about 66% of the students who regret going to college. The graph is shown below.

School loans and areas of study are the most common reasons for people who regret going to college. The survey also mentioned that older people tend to have less regret than young adults. The main cause of this might be due to the increased price of education and a not very stable outcome. About 11.2% of the students mentioned that there was poor networking in college which means that colleges do not provide enough information and needs for people who are pursuing their major. Networking also means poor communications between students and peers. One cause of poor networking in college is that the student body is too big which makes everything hard to manage. Students will have very little communication with each other due to the big classroom.

Is the value of college decreasing?

The answer is yes and no. On average there is a 60% dropout rate in college. Most of the dropouts resulted from high stress conditions, like health issues, family problems, financial concerns. Everyone has their reason to drop out of college. Some of them can say that they find no value in college, which makes sense because it is not guaranteed to get a job. Some very popular majors like English and psychology are extremely difficult to find a job after college. There are also very limited jobs for them resulting in high unemployment rate for those specific degrees. The value of college is decreasing because of the unemployment outcome and increased cost in tuition overtime. The value of college is not decreasing because there are a lot of jobs that require a degree which pays about twice the amount of a non-professional job. The skills and better quality teachings are also growing overtime in college. 

Work Cited

Douglas A.Webber, “Are college costs worth it? How ability, major, and debt affect the returns to schooling – ScienceDirect (cuny.edu)”, peer reviewed journal. Accessed 25, October. 2021  [1]

Social media: “Is College Worth It? Millionaire Dropout VS College Grad.” youtube video, by Income Over Outcome, posted May 10 , 2021. Accessed Oct 25, 2021. [2] 

Website: “Is college worth it? The price of college is rising faster than wages for people with degrees”, web article, by USA FACTS, published on April 29, 2021. Accessed Oct 25, 2021.   [3]

newspaper/magazine: 

“Is college worth it?” UWIRE Text, 30 Sept. 2021, p. 1. Gale OneFile: News, 285c10e. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021. [4]

Statista , “Percentage of the U.S. population who have completed four years of college or more from 1940 to 2020, by gender” [5]

“College Regrets? Most say yes”, web article, by Payscale, revised on Oct 27, 2021. [6]

Hanson, Melanie. “Average Time to Repay Student Loans” EducationData.org, August 17, 2021, revised on november 2 , 2021.[7]