What Can College Do For You Analysis

English 1A
25 June 2014 What Can College Do For You
What do you go to college for? The argument of having a college education starts with some people agreeing that a college diploma will get the higher paying jobs, where others can do without higher education because it is simply not needed and is deemed useless. In the society today, students can not answer why attending college is beneficial, and most do not have a clue as to what they are attending for. Many people do not have the urge to attend college because of the unknown competencies that can help make college students experience more beneficial and not a waste of time.
With the fall in the economy, college students have had an issue with the high expenses of attending
schools such as higher rates of college tuition and purchasing expensive school books. Not all students have the luxury of affording these expenses, so most work and go to school at the same time. Rebecca Mead, author of “Learning by degrees," states a quote from Professor Richard K. Vedder, professor at the University of Illinois, “Some of them could have bought a house for what they spent on their education” (829). Here, Vedder explains the high rising costs of education and compared the cumulative price of college to the price of a house. The essential courses needed to obtain a degree are priced from an estimated 40-200 dollars a unit; that does not include housing, transportation, meals and school supplies. People might look at these rates and will want to back out on college altogether, but most students are not informed about the many ways to receive financial assistance for school, and do not have the knowledge how to go about applying for help. Financial aid is offered to those who meet the income qualifications; with the money received, most if not all unit fees and book expenses will be covered. For those that are not lucky enough to receive financial aid, scholarships are also awarded to those who applied and won. Winning a scholarship can not only make school affordable, but can also help get into a selective college and looks good on a resume. Scholarships are mostly overlooked because students do not know how many scholarships are offered each year, so attending financial information meetings at colleges or universities can be beneficial to a student needing help to pay for education.
The beginning years of college is the time to find yourself and find what it is that you want to do.
It is seen all too often where a student comes into college to pursue a major their parents had already preselected since birth. Mark Edmundson, author and English professor at the University of Virginia, states in his video, “Many students come into school having been primed by their parents and their teachers to go into business school, to go into an economics major, into a science major, whether they are a scientists or future business people in their hearts or not.” Here, Edmundson explains how students are easily influenced by their parents and usually go to college to major in something that make students unhappy. The effects of pursuing undesired majors are high dropout rates and throwing away thousands of dollars on degrees that people are not happy with. Aliena Tugend, author of the article, “Vocation or Exploration? Pondering the Purpose of College,” explains how a university should be a place to explore and experience other areas such as art and history (2). Being exposed to the humanities such as extracurricular activities, history, art, music and so forth, gives students more of a choice of what it is they want to do; it gives students more knowledge and more of a deeper meaning beyond just “required” prerequisite course and allows students to acquire the tools they need to succeed while in college and
after.
While pursuing a major, internships might be required in order to obtain a degree, or it can be used as a tool to gain skills for that specific job. Working for free might not sound intriguing to a struggling student, working to make ends meet, but it could be the reason why a student applied at the job of their dreams and ended up not getting it. Tungend states in her article, “If you do not like what you do, you won’t do it well” (1). It sometimes takes an internship to realize a certain career path was not the best choice, but with the humanities learned in college, it can shift your interest in another area of learning. Not only do you learn hands on skills from an internship, but it makes getting a job after college greater. The benefits of doing an internships are establishing relationships, college credit or certification, introduction to the field acquiring new skills, and getting a taste of what a real world job is like such as experiencing long hours. The real benefit of internships is possibly obtaining a job after the internship has ended. Companies that spend time training, and molding an internee do not want to spend time and money to train another person, so they hire on the person that is already experienced and qualified for the job.
More and more people have a mindset of thinking a college degree is useless.
Successful businessmen such as Steve Jobs and Bill gates are the prime example of that idea. Mead explains how Steve Jobs did not finish college and was only enrolled a semester, and Bill Gates obtained his degree honorarily after he made his billions (830). The problem is that in the society today, several jobs now require a college degree. Entry level jobs, which were once easy to obtain by everyone, are now shifting towards people who have an associate, bachelors or masters background. According to Mead, “The safest of all degrees to be acquiring this year is accounting: forty six percent of graduates in that discipline have already been offered jobs” (829). Those forty percent of people with an accounting degree can expect job's offers after graduation and secured financial freedom. This does not mean that everyone should go out and pursue an accounting major, but it states how obtaining a degree can be beneficial for a persons future. It is known for the college educated to have increased employment rate and how lower unemployment rates are the effect of the increased rates. The benefits of having a college degree, obviously is making money, but it can also give the student increased career options, opportunities, and career
freedom.
Having the opportunity to experience college and to be able to obtain certain competencies without seeing the negative outcomes is beneficial in itself. Some people might not need the assistance of college, but those people are one out of million. Not everyone can succeed from a college experience, but what a person is gaining from it will benefit in the long run. College does come with it's positives as well as it's negatives. Not being able to afford college can lead to applying for financial aid and applying and winning scholarships. Not knowing if your major is the right fit leads to learning humanities and getting to explore other possible majors. Working for free at an internship leads to a foot in the door, realizing if the career chosen is a right fit and possibly obtaining a job, and lastly, obtaining a college degree can lead to many opportunities such as making more money, more career opportunities, and financial freedom. Without the college experience, a person does not get to mold themselves into the person they are supposed to be. The outcomes of college can benefit a person greatly and mentally. College is not for everyone but if you're looking to better your life, college can be the right choice for a prospective student.