Is College Worth the Cost

Is College Worth The Cost? College is getting more and more expensive as the years go on. The question is; is it worth the cost? In three different articles, authors will tell you their opinion and give evidence behind their reasoning. Derek Thompson writes “What’s More Expensive than College? Not Going to College,’ Amy Phillips writes “Is college worth the money?” and Justin Pope writes “College Costs: New Research Weighs the True Value of a College Education.” First, author Derek Thompson’s main claim is there is still something more expensive than going to school, very often that is not going to school. Thompson uses data and charts as evidence to prove his theory of the cost of college. This makes it very affective to his article because there are detailed charts helping to prove his opinion. His purpose for writing his article is to make sure the people who don’t know that not attending college can make you suffer in the real world with your job. The intended audience for his article is the people who don’t plan on going to college because they need to see what mistake they are making. In the chart in the article it shows us the unemployment rates from people with a Doctoral degree to people who only had less than a high school diploma. Obviously the rates for people who had less than a high school diploma were over 12 times the amount of a Doctoral degree. He also states within the article that college grads earn more than 80% than people who don’t go to school period. That’s a staggering amount of money that’s could be earned but people don’t chose to take it. I believe his evidence definitely supports Thompson’s main claim. Next, Amy Phillip’s main claim is that education is not worth the cost because to many people have a degree. Phillips uses sources to give her evidence behind her main claim. She claims that the saying “spend more money to achieve a better standard of living” is wrong. She states that yes going to college does earn you more money but you also have student loans to pay for. And also the extra money is not promised because due to a released report by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows that one in five porters and bellhops have college degrees. Phillip’s goes on to talk about how if we really do know what we want our career’s to be, instead of forking out loads of money at a four or more year college we can attend vocational schools. To get our degrees faster and only learn that particular study. I believe her evidence is not very affective because the evidence she gives does not give a reinsurance to do the things that she is writing about. She is intending her audience to be to the people who are wasting their money in four or more year colleges. Her purpose for writing this was to stop the lying to a whole generation by telling them that obtaining a college degree will make life better. Finally, Justin Pope took a different direction then his fellow writers. His first claim is that the middle-class is getting particularly squeezed with student loans in the pursuit of one. And his second claim is that students from middle income families rack up more in student loan debt on an average than other. With his first claim he gives data to support his evidence. The unemployment rate for all four-year graduates is 4.5%. For recent graduates, it’s 6.8%. For recent graduates trying to work with only a high school diploma, it’s nearly 24%. These statistics show that not going to school gives you a higher unemployment rate than most graduates. With his second claim the evidence is that federal grant aid targets the low-income families. Meaning that the high-income families have no problem with paying their tuition fees and with low-income the government is helping them but for the middle class families they don’t have enough money to pay their whole tuition but they also don’t get assistance. So by time graduation middle class families have more student loan debt than anyone. The purpose for Pope writing this is to let the middle class know that he understands where they are coming from. I believe his examples are very affective because his evidence shows who is doing more of the suffering. And finally his intended audience is to the middle-income families. In conclusion, my opinion on college be worth the cost is, that yes I believe college is definitely worth the cost. The author that I think had the strongest argument was Derek Thompson. His way of explaining his evidence made me understand more of his main claim. Going to college not only means a lot to my mom but it does to me too. Yes, Amy Phillips does have a point with her main claim; with what I want to do when I am older I could easily go to vocational school and earn my degree a lot faster than going to a four-year college. But I think jobs would hire people who have the extra education than the people with little education. Becoming a nurse is my main priority, since it is in the medical field there is more competition for jobs. So having that higher degree and longer time in college shows that I am more dedicated to becoming a nurse and it also gets me paid more than the people who just went to vocational school.