Summary: Is A College Degree Worth The Money?

Neil Boris
Dr. Coyle
English 101
October 8, 2014
Is a College Degree Worth the Money? Enrolling in college opens up the door for you to receive a higher education in pursuit of a good job and brighter future. Gaining acceptance into college comes with many things, including an insurmountable amount of debt that will most likely take years after completion of a degree to pay off. With this debt, though, comes the fond memories often made during the career of a college student. Many believe that the only way to attain a “good” job with great monetary, health, and employee benefits is through receiving a piece of paper stating you completed four years of education on a specific topic. In certain fields, such as the medical industry, this is
true. It is very unlikely you will find a job as a doctor with no college experience, and if you do, the likelihood of someone allowing you to perform medical works on them is very low. For others in pursuit of a job where someone’s life is not within their hands on a day to day basis, a college degree may in fact not be necessary. After four years of high school, most students leave the graduation stage prepared to take on another path of education with their futures in mind.
A college degree is a monument to the years of hard work and dedication necessary to attain it, and employers often view this monument as a sign of good character traits they seek in an employee. For example, if two equal applicants interview for a position, one having a college degree and the other a high school diploma, the employer will view the college graduate higher simply because of the hard work necessary to graduate college. College can be viewed as an opportunity for students to learn who they are as well; they are no longer under the daily supervision of their parents, and people tend to branch out of their comfort zones when this is true. Unemployment in America is a problem, and according to author Rodney K. Smith in his article, “Yes, a College Education is Worth the Costs” the percentage of people who are unemployed is much higher for those with only a high school diploma. (Smith 29) Statistically speaking, if you get a college degree, it is easier to find a job in the current economy. Points like these make attending college understandable, to
some. Personally, I do not agree with the common idea that college is necessary to be successful.
After years of working construction throughout my summer breaks in high school, I saw the world of blue-collar work for the first time. Although dealing with back-breaking work every day of the week was difficult, I saw the opportunities that could come out of a career in construction or other manual labor jobs. All of the foreman, supervisors, and even the owner from the company I worked for had no college education whatsoever and made triple-digit salaries. For people to state there is no money to be made with no college education is preposterous, those who are willing to work their hardest in order to achieve success can make it happen regardless of their education level. I believe a degree is obsolete if you are willing to work hard enough, because the same amount of effort put into the four years of school could have been used to begin a
career. College comes with many costs: tuition, books, and biggest of all; at least four years of time. More often than not, it takes longer than four years for a student to graduate because of the difficulty to adjust into college level courses. Author Marty Nemko explains how only forty percent of college freshman graduate in four years, and forty-five percent never graduate at all in his article, “We Send too Many Students to College.” (Nemko 32) College costs rise by the year, and students immediately take the loans necessary to enroll, and indebt themselves to a point that takes years after college to pay off. Simply put, foregoing a degree and beginning your career early is the best way to avoid indebting yourself early, and possibly wasting four years of your life. Some college students, like myself, enter their studies simply looking to “test the waters” of higher education. Not all people are able to withstand the amount of work necessary to be successful in college. Enrolling in college costs money, though, and if college is too difficult that money is non-refundable. If every high school student were able to take a free “trial” college course in high school, there would be no such issue, students would know how difficult it truly is to maintain good grades. I feel once this happens, the amount of students entering college and either failing or dropping out would drop significantly. Those that are unsure whether to enroll or not could make the decision without wasting a dime, therefore producing higher graduation rates among students. A compromise like this is simple to achieve, yet it is not yet prominent throughout the country. College is an opportunity to learn, have fun, and succumb a debt that will take years to pay off after finishing. For some, college is the only way they can pursue their dreams, and for those people college is the obvious answer after high school. For others who view the work industry as an open field full of opportunities for all, degree or not, college may be a waste of time. Immediately enrolling into college after high school may be a costly mistake made by an individual who found a career after college where they did not need a degree. By following the lead of others, one may find that they wasted all the time, money, and work they put forward to get the degree their parents explained was necessary. Everyone should look at the jobs obtainable without a degree, and consider whether they are currently making that very mistake.