Education vs Experience
Education vs Experience
Is thirty thousand dollars of debt, the reality of a low unemployment rate, and the uncertainty of finding the right career path really worth the papers, tests, and endless late night cigarette breaks? In the current state of our economy, these risks raise important questions concerning the value of a college education. I will examine why finances, the current employment rate, and choice of career can effect whether or not the choice to pursue a college degree is essential.
President Benjamin Franklin knew how valuable a college degree is for a person to be financially successful. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return.” According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The median earnings for a young adult ages twenty five to thirty four with a bachelor’s degree was forty five thousand dollars. This is fifty percent higher than the median earnings of a young adult with a high school diploma or equivalent. I see this as evidence that choosing to go to college and get a degree is second to none in insuring a good financial future.
The opposing argument though, is that getting a degree is not free. Reading the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistic data, the average cost of a degree is over fifteen thousand dollars a year. Getting a four year bachelor’s degree comes with a large amount of debt. There are many jobs, one being trade work, which pay very well and don’t require a degree. In my own experience as a Qualified Member of the Engineer Department, (Q.M.E.D) on small river cruise ships, I was making an annual income of forty eight thousand dollars. I was not required to have a college degree, I just needed to have experience in the trade and pass a Coast Guard certification test. Jobs like the one I had allow a person to have a good financial standing without having to pay
Is thirty thousand dollars of debt, the reality of a low unemployment rate, and the uncertainty of finding the right career path really worth the papers, tests, and endless late night cigarette breaks? In the current state of our economy, these risks raise important questions concerning the value of a college education. I will examine why finances, the current employment rate, and choice of career can effect whether or not the choice to pursue a college degree is essential.
President Benjamin Franklin knew how valuable a college degree is for a person to be financially successful. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return.” According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The median earnings for a young adult ages twenty five to thirty four with a bachelor’s degree was forty five thousand dollars. This is fifty percent higher than the median earnings of a young adult with a high school diploma or equivalent. I see this as evidence that choosing to go to college and get a degree is second to none in insuring a good financial future.
The opposing argument though, is that getting a degree is not free. Reading the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistic data, the average cost of a degree is over fifteen thousand dollars a year. Getting a four year bachelor’s degree comes with a large amount of debt. There are many jobs, one being trade work, which pay very well and don’t require a degree. In my own experience as a Qualified Member of the Engineer Department, (Q.M.E.D) on small river cruise ships, I was making an annual income of forty eight thousand dollars. I was not required to have a college degree, I just needed to have experience in the trade and pass a Coast Guard certification test. Jobs like the one I had allow a person to have a good financial standing without having to pay