Every year in America, the cost of attending college increases and leaves hundreds of thousands of students in debt. Attending a four-year university in America to earn a Bachelor's degree costs around $80,000 on average and leaves students with an average of $25,000 to pay off. For most graduates, getting a doctorate is required in the field of liberal arts for it to be profitable at all. In today's economy, it is a statistical fact that some majors are more likely to get jobs and receive higher wages than others. This fact proposes the question "Is getting a Bachelor's degree in liberal arts really worth it?" The answer to this question is important because many students are going into a major that is not guaranteed to transform into a career, let alone get a high enough salary to pay off their student loans after they graduate. For this reason, a Bachelor's degree in any liberal arts major is considered almost worthless to the point where some people think that colleges should do away with them. Personally, I believe that everyone should have the chance to follow their passion and do what makes them happy regardless of the stats given. However, the fact remains that the cost of tuition increases every year which causes problems for college students, especially those who have degrees in the liberal arts fields as they are forced into debt just for following their passion. I feel qualified to write about this subject as I have done extensive research by looking through many articles, both informational and argumentative, found statistics for both sides, and have taken college-level classes in liberal arts. 

Just to put the topic in some context, a liberal arts education allows the student to pursue a general course of study and gain exposure to a variety of subjects. Students with an interest in technology may be more inclined to pursue the Bachelor of Science degree because the capitalist economic system provides incentives and rewards to students who focus their studies in technology and science. Unfortunately, there is little interest in many corporate environments for degrees in the arts. However, it is still useful to have an undergraduate degree in the arts for certain professions. For example, a company with an interest in developing corporate responsibility as a public relations strategy may prefer to hire a candidate with some knowledge about the liberal arts. Given the economic situation of today, some analysts and experts express skepticism and doubt about the value of a college education, particularly a liberal arts education. Popular opinion states that if you want to get a college degree that will be worth its time and money, you need to get something in the STEM fields or get a degree in business. After all, it is common knowledge that degree holders in the liberal arts make less money. The problem is that most of the people who argue this point typically do not look any deeper, since more money is obviously better. Most everyone in the humanities and social sciences will concede that STEM and business majors generally make more money. After all, according to a recent report by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, the median salary for an engineering major is $75,000, for mathematics and computer majors it's $70,000, and for a business major it's $60,000. Conversely, looking at the liberal arts, a social science major has a median income of $55,000 and a humanities major has merely $47,000. Since bigger is better, we should then assume that a liberal arts degree is bad. That is where popular opinion leaves it, but is that really the case?

The article," Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts Is a Poor Investment", states that it is time we all accept the fact that a traditional four-year liberal arts education is a poor investment for America's middle class. Student debt is now at the $1 trillion mark with graduates of four-year institutions facing an average of $25,000 in debt. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that in 2012, 1.5 million recent college graduates, or 53.6 percent of those students with bachelor's degrees are jobless or underemployed. There is no hiding that the unemployment rate of a liberal arts graduate tends to be higher than other careers. However, there is something you can do to increase your chances of finding work after graduation. According to a study conducted by Burning Glass, students who graduate with a liberal arts degree can increase their employability by combining the degree with knowledge and skills in a specific career field, such as marketing, sales, social media, or graphic design.

The author of "Top 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Be a Liberal Arts Major" argues why getting a Bachelor's degree in liberal arts is not worth the time or the effort since statistics show that it is not financially beneficial. The article begins by pointing out why other majors are more useful in the long run. For example, the author points out that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers are the future and are the best bet for a successful career in the modern day. Another reason the author feels this way is because of the low starting salaries that liberal arts majors come across. ""Forbes" has a list of the degrees that bring the highest starting salaries. None of them is in liberal arts." Finally, the article ends with the author critiquing the marketable skills argument by stating that "A degree in anthropology might make you a more well-rounded person, but you went to college to get a degree, and the degree is supposed to help you get a job." This article is very biased in favor of more financially profitable majors since he references them non-stop throughout the article. The author is interested in showing people that getting a liberal arts degree is just not worth it but also did not include the whole story and only focused on the cons of liberal arts. 

Another article titled "Ten Ways to Market Your Liberal Arts Degree" was an informational article that explains why one should not regret getting a liberal arts degree and should instead focus on the benefits of having one. The author tells how to make one's self more marketable without showing significant bias against other majors or companies. "There's lots of material out there about why it's a great idea to major in liberal arts, as well as information on how to choose a career that maximizes your liberal-arts degree. But there's not much written about how to actually market your degree to employers," the article states. The author gives examples of what to say during job interviews and gives insight on what employers are looking for. The focus is presented completely as it states its reasoning and methods wholeheartedly, showing both sides of the argument; the article just wants to prove that benefits are there. This article was written in 2012 which proves that people are still having issues finding decent jobs and careers being liberal art majors. However, it also proves that with the right presentation one can find many career opportunities and gain plenty of success in the field as well. 

According to the University of Maine, while popular opinion focuses completely on total salary and says the higher equals better, a recent study by the Center for Health and Well-being at Princeton University explored the relationship between job satisfaction and household income. What they found is that a household income (the combined personal incomes of all members of the household) of $75,000 per year brought the maximum amount of day-to-day happiness or, as they put it in the study, emotional well-being. Below that amount, households may not have enough money to pay for certain necessities, such as quality food, housing, and health care. Conversely, making more than $75,000 has ambiguous benefits in terms of happiness, with much of the extra income going towards buying pleasures, since necessities are already taken care of. Thus, while having a household income in excess of $75,000 may be motivation for some people, especially those who pick a college major based on future salary expectations, those individuals who are not motivated by money, such as many of those students who pursue liberal arts degrees, will likely be completely content with the "meager" earning potential of their humanities or social sciences degree. What we find by viewing these studies and surveys is that while students who get a degree in the humanities or social sciences will most likely not make as much income as their friends in the STEM fields or business, they will likely have enough income to be truly happy. The moral of this story, then, is to go towards what you love. Whether it is a STEM field or business or the liberal arts, you will most likely make the salary necessary to be happy with your life choices.

There was an informational article that speaks not only of liberal arts majors but college as a whole and asks the very important question "What's the point of college?" As an article attempting to find answers, examples and evidence are used very often. The article also finds a way to go into detail about said sources, mentioning big names such as M.I.T and Caltech while also giving stories of people in different professions from STEM to liberal arts majors. According to the media/business community, the college degree is more important than ever to have a good career. Because of this, families are pressured to save up ridiculous amounts of money just so one of their own can get a degree regardless of what that child actually wants to do with their life. Students in the United States have been reported to pay around four times more than their peers from overseas. As more students graduate, the higher the costs for the next generation. However, the wage gap between those with graduate degrees and those who do not have any degree is getting smaller and nobody has an answer for this. Perhaps the strongest argument for caring about higher education is that it can increase social mobility, regardless of whether the human-capital theory or the signaling theory is correct. " ... it is that there is no guarantee of a payoff from very practical, work-based degrees either, yet that is all those degrees promise. For liberal arts, the claim is different and seems more accurate, that it will enrich your life and provide lessons that extend beyond any individual job. There are centuries of experience providing support for that notion." 

The value of getting a degree in liberal arts tends to be controversial since it questions how one values a higher educational experience. One might say that only financial gain is valuable while another might say that the college experience itself is valuable and will impact one's life more than money ever could; it is all about perspective. All of the sources listed agree that college is costly, that tuition is increasing every year, and that there is risk in going into the liberal arts field. However, the sides differ in if there is a high-enough reward for that high risk or not. Pro liberal arts majors believe that there are many benefits including highly marketable traits and information literacy while the opposite side believes that liberal arts are a waste of time, money, and effort considering that statistics supposedly show that there is little financial success. 

So why is getting a Bachelor's degree in liberal arts worth it? Well ... it's not, at least not without pursing a higher degree afterwards. Statistics show that getting a Bachelor's degree in liberal arts is not enough to become successful in the field. While I do agree that people should follow their passion, it is difficult to persuade skeptics that going to a four-year university and spending over $80,000 for a degree in liberal arts is worth it in the long run since it is less likely than other majors to find economic success. While the skills found in these majors are great and worthwhile, it does not change the fact that a Bachelor's degree in humanities is not likely to make the money to pay off that college loan; at least, not without a well thought out plan, close connections, and a huge amount of determination. Having only a Bachelor's degree would not be worth the time or money since it is unlikely to have employability, a worthwhile income, or opportunities to share your newfound knowledge with the world. Even if the student is passionate and strives to receive their doctorate in liberal arts or the like, statistics show that the average cost for a doctorate degree would be nearly $180,000 and counting. This outrageous amount would put anyone in debt after college if paid out-of-pocket. Other majors such as those in the fields of STEM are more likely receive high salaries or scholarships than liberal arts majors. It is truly unfair since subjects from history to art are the basic foundation for how human society functions. The fundamentals of these majors should be preserved for all time but are unfortunately looked down upon for not being profitable enough. Students who want to find success in these areas should take a few college level classes or take advantage of modern day resources (internet) instead of forcing themselves to pay obscene amounts of money for little to no reward. However, a college education has many benefits beyond increased income and if you have no current debt or previous commitments, your life will generally be better if you pursue your main interest. The cognitive dissonance caused by a society that tells its youth to "follow their dreams" through messages in media but then punishes them for not choosing safe, money making careers in adulthood truly shows the state that our society is in. Hopefully things will start looking up not only for liberal arts majors, but for all college students who are forced to face huge amounts of college debt for an opportunity to live out their dream ...  

