The Price Of Today's Education: Why Is College Not Worth It? (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: Why Is College not Worth It? Thousands of students spend more than five figures on their tuition fees, opting for a distinguishable institution. They do not want to join the cheap state schools. The students under the pressure of their colleagues really care about the price tag and want to go to prestige schools with big names. They do not care about the quality of education or the number of fees they are going to pay. However, this is not worth it at all. At this competitive century, students are told that they could do anything and achieve what they want in life if they put their minds on what they wanted to be. In college, everyone is special, and all believed they would land to their dream jobs through their hard work in class. Parents believe that giving their children quality college education will translate to a brighter future for them. But what they do not know is that currently, quality means expensiveness. There is very little utility felt in schools after paying the huge fees. Another reason why I think college education is not worth it is the bubbled student loans. In 2017, on average, a single college student owed the government over $33000 (Hess). This is a very high amount comparing to about two decades ago where the value was almost half of this even when including the factor of inflation. The increase of the loan debts currently in the United States of America is directly proportional to the housing crisis. The main reason behind this is the constant rising of the subsidized lending. This has therefore caused an upward pressure on the college tuition. When talking to people in the job market who graduated from college, they find that their education was not worth it. Many people regret going to the expensive colleges. It is not that the quality of education they received was low or that what they learned does not apply in the real-work environment. The main reason behind this is that practically, less than 10% of interviewees want to know the college you went to (Mackie). They may inquire during an interview, but that will not be of any advantage. The employers are more interested in the amount of industry knowledge that one has. This shows that there is a very big gap between the expectations of the college students and the reality outside there. This therefore makes college education worthless. Also, tutors at these expensive colleges always deceive their students that their degrees will earn them the best paying jobs available in the market. Therefore, college students in the United States of America may expect to earn more than a million dollars in a lifetime more than a person who did not proceed after high school. This is a very huge amount, considering that the college graduate will depend on salaries or wages. However, the high-school leaver will have almost a four-year head start either in the labor force or in the business environment. Having all the factors constant, the high-school leaver will have a chance to have a better life than a student who went to college. Firstly, concerning the student’s loan, the high-school leaver will not have any burden of offsetting the debts since he or she did not get the chance of borrowing it. The college student after completing his or her studies, will be required to pay off the loans regardless of whether he or she has been employed or not. In this competitive job market, getting employment has even become harder since a lot of people have almost the same qualifications yet only a few positions are required. As mentioned above, almost a third of the students graduate with a debt of more than five figures. Also, in colleges, what one decides to pursue will have a great impact on his or her life. For example, an engineering or medical graduate from an expensive college will expect very high salaries and direct employment (Ellis). On the other hand, people taking art courses may expect lower salaries than those taking technical ones (Norton). Therefore, the college has created a negative perception for some students where ones feel more superior than others. This can have major negative effects to students who wanted to pursue the technical courses, but the grading system could not let them. Despite the high tuition fees paid in the colleges, the students are not assured of top-quality education and services (Newton). This has seen the increase in number of dropouts from the colleges. The main reason behind this can be the delayed graduations or the lower effect on workforce participation. Moreover, if the student is a woman or a person from a different race, there is still gender and racial discrimination at the workplaces even after paying huge sums of money. This therefore makes the college education appear worthless especially to the women who have graduated from expensive colleges but have not yet been employed. Another main logic behind the argument that college education is worthless is when analyzing the figures of people entering college and those graduating. Colleges are now enrolling a very big number of high-school graduates as never before. However, the amount of people completing and graduating from college does not correspond to that of those joining. The reduced number of graduates is a clear indication of a public dissatisfaction on the college education. Also, one factor that has undermined the college educa...