Is College Degree Worth Incurring Significant Debt: Argumentative Essay

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The average student debt of a recent college graduate is $37,172. Trade Workers and craftsmen are in decline. Without these people, daily life will become very difficult. College was once necessary to be a success. College degrees aren’t necessary because college puts students in debt, they are not required for people to get most jobs and most people can make more money without a college degree if they choose the right jobs.

Students are attending college less and less now compared to before because it puts them in debt too. Before students attend college they usually don’t think about the debt after they graduate college so they end up paying debt their whole life. Most of the time they think they can afford college at the time but in reality, they really cannot, so they end up in debt. Research shows that “A college degree isn't the stepping stone it once was to a better job and a better life. In fact, studies show that while less than 20 percent of college graduates leave campus with a job, a staggering 80 percent leave buried in debt. One student's experience illustrates the difficulty: Karen Mora Lopez recently had to drop out of a work-study business administration program at Pepperdine University because she couldn’t afford the steep tuition and already had a full-time job” (Spencer). Debt is killing dreams. Recent studies have revealed that “young adults are delaying major life milestones due to the sheer mental weight of college debt. They're putting off buying a reliable vehicle or a first home, waiting to get married or have children, and shelving any hopes of traveling to experience new places and cultures”(Spencer). College students should focus more on buying a car, house, etc. before they spend their time and money going to college so they don’t end up going into debt and then not being able to buy stuff they need later in life. Most college students end up paying their college debt their whole life because it’s expensive. Make sure you’re financially stable before attending college so you aren’t in debt your whole life.

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College degrees are becoming less important each day because there are a lot of jobs that you can get and make more money than some jobs that require a degree. College degrees have lost their importance over the years because people that go to trade schools to find a profession are making more money than people with degrees because the world is in need of trade workers. What matters more is having the skills to do the job, not a certificate that shows you have spent 4 years studying a subject. Instead, you can look at other opportunities like internships, trade, travel, and opportunities that could earn you money while you find out what career you really want to have. Based on research,” there is a major difference between degrees, too.CBS News ran an article about the 20 worst-paying college degrees. Coming in dead last was Child and Family Studies, with a starting average salary of $29,500 and a mid-career average of $38,400. Art History was 20th, with a starting average salary of $39,400 and a mid-career average of $57,100.On the other hand, the average plumber made $53,860 a year, and the average electrician made $53,080 in 2015”(Andrew Syrios). A college degree will not guarantee you a high-paying job. It will not even make you a skilled leader with a shot at the corner office. You should not try to force yourself to take a career path you do not want to take, you should just explore the jobs you are interested in and try to have a fun and successful career. If trade workers were not making so much money without college degrees then degrees would probably be more important. If you do not think you are ready for college then try to find a job that still pays nice, does not require a degree, and is something you might enjoy.

The cost of college has been increasing, day by day, slowly but surely and kids are not able to afford it. Over the years, college prices have been increasing rapidly so some kids are not able to afford it. Nowadays not everyone can afford to go to college. And those who are able to afford a bachelor's degree carry an ambition that they are going to make a lot of money once they graduate. Some degrees pay for themselves but most degrees will not pay for themselves. College degrees are becoming more expensive each year, you must mortgage your life to pay the price of a certificate, and the return on investment for these college degrees is often much below the burden of debt acquired. Recent studies have shown that “college tuition continues to skyrocket year after year. The current sticker price of a moderate in-state public college is around $25,000 per year. A moderate private school averages about $50,000 annually”(Spencer). The unfortunate truth is that student-loan debt now outpaces mortgage and credit-card debt combined in the United States. Several decades ago, the United States educational system simply worked. A college degree was affordable, and graduates secured offers for higher-paying jobs by virtue of earning those degrees. College costs have been rising roughly at a rate of 7% per year for decades. Since 1985, the overall consumer price index has risen 115% while the college education inflation rate has risen nearly 500%. If the price of college was more affordable, then more kids would probably attend it if it was in their price range. Most of the time kids will still go to college if they can afford it at the moment and once they actually get to college and have to pay stuff off they depend on college loans, etc, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, birth rates declined during the 1990s. (While the numbers increased in the early 2000s, they dipped again from 2007 through 2011). There may be several reasons for this decline, but one factor is the increase in women who are in the workforce. They’re more likely to delay marriage and childhood. Fewer children mean there are fewer students attending school. The Hechinger Report notes that there were 81,000 fewer high school graduates in 2017, and this trend is projected to continue. Currently, southern and western states account for almost three-fourths of all high school graduates. However, the West, Midwest, and Northeast are projected to experience steeper declines in the next few years. And this means fewer students attend college in part because there are fewer candidates. College prices are too high and they should consider lowering prices to have more students attend.

If you are not actually interested in college then you should not attend it and you should just try to find a career that does not require a degree so you do not get put in debt. A college degree is not going to guarantee you the best job in the world making the most money so sometimes not going to college is the better option. Finding a trade job instead of getting a degree could be a better option because you can probably enjoy your career more and make more money.“The problem is that people attend college with the mentality that they are going to find a dream job and make a lot of money once they graduate. People need to understand that just because someone attends a college that does not guarantee anything for them, except being in debt for a long time”(Centeno). “The numbers show that nearly 50% of students who start a bachelor’s degree never finish. And the average student loan debt for students in America is $30,000”(Centeno). Most of the time the reason why students do not attend college is that after high school they never know what they want to do as a career so they are not interested in college. Nowadays more kids don’t attend college because they have no plan and because of the price of college increasing each year. However, Durvasula isn’t surprised that affordability would be a problem. “Four to six years is a long time to stall income generation for many people and to simultaneously be incurring debt.” As a result, she believes that affordability is critical and that higher education is not within reach for many Americans. By last summer, Americans owed more than $1.3 trillion in student loans, more than two and a half times what they owed a decade earlier. Young people and their families go into debt because they believe that college will help them in the job market, and on average it does. People who have dropped out of college about 40 percent of all who attend earn only a bit more than people with only a high school education: $38,376 a year versus $35,256. For many, that advantage is barely enough to cover their student loan debt. And not all have even that advantage: African-American college dropouts on average earn less than white Americans with only a high school degree. Meanwhile, low-income students of all races are far more likely to drop out of college than wealthier students. Even with scholarships or free tuition, these students struggle with hefty fees and living costs, and they pay the opportunity cost of taking courses rather than getting a job. The value of a college degree also varies depending on the institution bestowing it. The tiny minority of students who attend elite colleges do far better on average than those who attend nonselective ones.No other nation punishes the “uneducated” as harshly as the United States. Nearly 30 percent of Americans without a high school diploma live in poverty, compared to 5 percent with a college degree, and we infer that this comes from a lack of education. But in 28 other wealthy developed countries, a lack of a high school diploma increases the probability of poverty by less than 5 percent. In these nations, a dearth of education does not predestine citizens for poverty. It shouldn’t be here, either: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer than 20 percent of American jobs actually require a bachelor’s degree. By 2026, the bureau estimates that this proportion will rise, but only to 25 percent.

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Is College Degree Worth Incurring Significant Debt: Argumentative Essay. (2023, February 24). Edubirdie. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/is-college-degree-worth-incurring-significant-debt-argumentative-essay/
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