Is getting a college education worth the cost and time?  A few years ago, this question would have been answered quickly with a definite yes.  However, with college costs rising at ridiculous rates and the low number of jobs available for college graduates many students and parents are thinking twice.  The cost of college continues to climb much faster than the inflation rate making it hard for many students to pay for school.  Most students have to take out loans and many will find themselves in five or six figure debt upon graduation.  Obtaining a higher education is something that is supposed to be done to better ones self and open the door for many opportunities.  However, in the present situation, many students find themselves under a mountain of debt that can take decades to pay off.  The cost of obtaining a college degree should not keep young people from living their lives or becoming independent and successful in society.  The cost of college is a problem because it is putting an overwhelming amount of debt on students who will often have trouble paying it back.  Students are being held back from chasing their dreams, because even if they obtain these dreams, repaying loans will keep them from being satisfying and enjoyable.  Under no circumstances is the current cost of college acceptable, and very rarely is it worth the burden and stress it places on a large number of students.   

I am a current college student with debt.  I am from a small town and I am the first person in my family to attend college right after high school.  My parents cannot contribute financially towards my education, which means I will and have had to take out loans to pay for the majority of the cost.  As a middle school and high school student I was always told to work hard and make good grades so that I could attend a good college and get a scholarship for my good grades.  I did this, making the best grades possible the majority of the time and always doing well above average.  However, when it was time to go to college I found out that my hard work would not result in as much scholarship value as everyone had told me.  By the time I graduate college I will most likely be almost one hundred thousand dollars in debt, all for the chance to get an education and make a better life for myself.  I do not have a problem with paying for your own education but in my own situation the cost of one year of college is as much or more than what I could make working a full time job with no degree, which seems a little ridiculous.  In the long run a college education will surely be beneficial, but it is going to take a long time to dig out of the debt obtained from attending college.  

One of the most important factors for students to look at when determining if college is worth the cost is the area of study that they plan to go into.  The choice of major is probably the most influential part of college that determines if it is worth it or not.  An article in the Economist found that "an engineering graduate from the University of California, Berkeley can expect to be nearly $1.1 million better off after 20 years than someone who never went to college. Even the least lucrative engineering courses generated a 20-year return of almost $500,000" (Is College worth It?").  On the other hand, students that majored in art or lower education rarely expect to make much more than someone without a college degree.  This lines up with the data published in an article in the Huffington Post which shows that students that major in math or science fields will accumulate substantially greater income that most students who get a degree in art, religious studies, or education.  This leads to the obvious conclusion that students who are studying in areas of math or science will be much better equipped to pay off any student loans that they accumulate.  Therefore, it only makes sense for students who are pursuing a degree in math, science, medicine, or engineering to put themselves in debt because they will be able to pay them off based on their income after graduation.  For all other students, a college degree will rarely result in a starting income that is enough to justify their accumulated debt.  These students should forgo college and instead look to obtain experience and knowledge that they can use to jumpstart a career.

College costs are a major problem in the society that we live in.  "There is no product or service in the world that outpaces inflation the way college tuition does.  The price of a college degree has soared a whopping 538 percent since 1985.  The Consumer Price Index, our typical measure for inflation, over that period only rose by 121 percent.  Even medical costs, which have outpaced inflation, too, only rose by 286 percent during that period" (Hennessey).  Most people would not tolerate this kind of price increase on any other product, but colleges are able to do this because they know that people will pay whatever it takes to get a college degree.  Our education system has led people to believe that in order to have a successful life and be financially stable, you must go to college.  However, this is not really true because there are thousands of people in the United States that are very successful who do not have a college degree.  Even with this evidence, students are told that the world is changing and that everyone needs to go to college.  It is a fact however that some students are not college ready and some students just do not like going to school.  It would be an awful situation if everyone went to college.  Everyone in the world cannot be doctors and engineers because someone has to fill in the other jobs.  If everyone went to college then there would not be enough jobs openings for the graduates that matched their degree and there would be no one to fill the jobs that do not require a college degree.  Colleges know this but they continue to tell students that they are the way to success.  They do this while filling student's minds with liberal ideas and saying that a college education teaches students how to think for themselves, while it really only teaches students to think like the colleges do.  Most of the material that is taught in college is unnecessary and only a small amount of quality material is used, which makes a college education an unworthy investment of money and time.

     Some people argue that college is worth the cost because it will result in better paying jobs.  An article in the Huffington Post makes the claim that "according the U.S. Census Bureau, those with bachelor's degree enjoy a median income twice that of those with only a high school diploma. That is a significant difference that can affect a person for their entire working life, and into retirement. In fact, a study of the most recent Census report suggests that the single most important factor in determining a person's income is his or her education. Choosing to forego a college education is a choice that will have life-long implications. While the burden of college debt is real, it is also finite; it lasts for a relatively short period of time. The burden of a lack of education has a life-long effect on one's standard of living (Mangukiya)."  This suggests that college graduates might have a hard time paying off debt for a short time, but will be better off in the long run.  While this might be true for many students, there are many different circumstances and situations that students have that might not make this a reality for all.  It also fails to show that many students are having to put off getting married, buying homes, and making other "normal" life decisions because they are in debt as a result of going to college.

According to an article in the Entrepreneur, "the average college graduate leaves school with $33,000 in loan debt. There is an estimated $1.2 trillion in student loan debt nationwide" (Hennessey).  The figure of 33,000 dollars is ridiculous but many students from lower class families who cannot afford to pay much for education have to borrow even more, sometimes accumulating hundreds of thousands dollars of debt.  This debt is not just about the money either but the extreme stress and pressure that comes with it.  Students know that they have to graduate and get a degree and find a good paying job right out of college in order to pay off these loans.  If they were to fall behind at all during the process of getting their education or finding a job, the interest accumulated from the loans could amount to a value that is unrealistic to think could be paid off in any amount of time. 

Hannah Appel and Astra Taylor wrote an article titled "Education with a Debt Sentence: For-Profit Colleges As American Dream Crushers And Factories Of Debt" that contains stories of student's struggles and concerns over college loans and tells how colleges are getting the best of students.  It also tells how colleges do not educate students on the potentially negative impact of attending college if you have to take out a large amount of loans.  Instead colleges promise a road to financial wellbeing and a middle class life when college can result in having almost unrepayable amount of debt, and does not always teach skills that translate to the workforce.

The rising cost of college is not something that can be solved or fixed overnight, and may never be completely fixed.  It will take a change from colleges, companies, and students and their families in order to begin to make an impact.  To lessen the cost of college on students and their families, colleges need to discuss each situation and their options for paying for school.  They also need to make sure that they can provide the quality education that the student is seeking and be active in training the students to function in the workforce.  Companies also need to become involved and demand that colleges stop using their own agenda for what is taught and instead teach students how to succeed in the profession that they will be filling once they graduate.  Employers need to look for the most qualified applicant to fill the job opening when hiring and not who has the best degree.  They should also pay employees based on performance and not what a degree supposedly qualifies them to be paid.  Students should also look at what they think they need to do in order to be successful and stop following the path that colleges tell students that they have to take in order to become financially stable and happy.

The question of why college costs are so high and why students have to take out loans is not easily answered.  The issue is something that is very prevalent in the world today and has many sides to it.  Most people agree that getting an education is beneficial but many wonder if the cost of obtaining the education is worth it.  College gives the opportunity to obtain a successful life in the long run but having students put their lives on hold so that they can attempt to pay back their loans is not something that should have to be done.  The current costs of college are outrageous, unacceptable, and so ridiculous that students should demand that colleges lower tuition rates and provide them the quality education that they need in order to function in the career that they seek. 

College is not for everyone.  Only students who can afford to pay the price directly and students who are majoring in engineering, medicine, law, or related fields should make the choice to attend college.  All other students should refuse to pay the outrageous price tag that comes with higher education and educate themselves.  Colleges and Society would then see that it is not the degree that makes the person, but the work ethic and desire to succeed that each individual has.  Young adults who would have to borrow large amounts of money in order to attend college would be better off finding a job they enjoy doing, learning, and gaining as much experience as they can while making money.  This would result in people who are responsible, know how to work and succeed in the real world, and start out life climbing from ground level instead of beginning under a mountain of debt.

