Preview

The Cost of College

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
602 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Cost of College
The Cost of College
THE PROBLEM: The cost to attend college is high, and has been rising for many years. The cost of college is too high, a lot of people can’t afford it, and unemployment rates are sky high. Why is the cost of college so much? The best answer would be our economy. Our economy has a great effect on the rising prices of everything, including college tuition. Another factor influencing the price of college is the demand for a higher education, for a well-paying job is more than ever. The problem of the cost of college right now is that many people can’t afford to go to college, and it puts them in debt even though it may be worth it.
Works Cited
Adams, Caralee J. "Mid-Income Students Incur Higher Debt." Education Week 29 August 2012.
English, Ed. "Cap In Hand: The High Price Of Higher Education: A College Degree Has Become An Indispensable Credential In Today’s Workforce. But With The Cost Of Postsecondary Education Soaring, A Degree Is Also Slipping Out Of Reach For More People. What’s Behind Tuition Inflation, And Can Its Trajectory Be Altered?" EconSouth 2011: 6.
Luhby, Tami. "Is College Worth It?" Careers and Colleges November 2000.

Articles about College Tuition:
The cost of college is rising, and has been rising for many years. Even though the prices can be more or less depending on what state the college is in, what degree students plan on getting, and what type of college students go to, the costs are still very high. At a private four-year college the total cost would be over $40,000. At a public four-year college the cost would be more than $20,000. The cost to attend a two-year college would be more than $14,000. Most jobs require employees to have some sort of degree. Even though the prices keep rising, more and more people are going to college to get a better education, so they can get a well-paying job (English). Another issue with the high costs of college is the debt that comes along with it. Sure, some people get



Cited: Adams, Caralee J. "Mid-Income Students Incur Higher Debt." Education Week 29 August 2012. English, Ed. "Cap In Hand: The High Price Of Higher Education: A College Degree Has Become An Indispensable Credential In Today’s Workforce. But With The Cost Of Postsecondary Education Soaring, A Degree Is Also Slipping Out Of Reach For More People. What’s Behind Tuition Inflation, And Can Its Trajectory Be Altered?" EconSouth 2011: 6. Luhby, Tami. "Is College Worth It?" Careers and Colleges November 2000.   Articles about College Tuition: The cost of college is rising, and has been rising for many years. Even though the prices can be more or less depending on what state the college is in, what degree students plan on getting, and what type of college students go to, the costs are still very high. At a private four-year college the total cost would be over $40,000. At a public four-year college the cost would be more than $20,000. The cost to attend a two-year college would be more than $14,000. Most jobs require employees to have some sort of degree. Even though the prices keep rising, more and more people are going to college to get a better education, so they can get a well-paying job (English). Another issue with the high costs of college is the debt that comes along with it. Sure, some people get scholarships, and others have the money they need, but some people don’t. The people that don’t have enough money or don’t get a scholarship that want or need to go to college have to borrow the money. Borrowing these large amounts of money causes a lot of debt. Graduates can have thousands of dollars in debt. Debt can cause many problems all throughout life. Since most graduates cannot get a well-paying job right out of college, they have problems paying the high amounts of debt off (Adams). Others think that the cost of college should not be a problem because it is worth it. Going to college means that graduates will be able to get a better paying job than they could without a degree. Having a better job will eventually allow graduates to pay off loans and thrive in the real world. People who have a Doctorate or Professional degree earn between $120,000 and $150,000 per year. People who have a Masters or Bachelor’s degree earn between $80,000 and $95,000 per year. People with only a high school education only earn about $45,000, and people with less than a high school education only earn about $30,000. It is important to have a job that will pay enough to live a good life and even support a family. Even though the cost of a college education is ridiculously high, it is completely worth it. Getting a college education and having better job opportunities to get a well-paying job helps people in many ways throughout their lives (Luhby).

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Student Debt Essay

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Student debt in on the rise. It arises from the increasing college tuition costs. It makes college attendance prohibitive to many people. Additionally, it translates to a higher student loan debts. College is expensive, to a point that many people consider it a dream come true to attend college. The current developments in the world mean that there are an ever-increasing number of new courses. Moreover, the costs are on the rise to remain current with educational developments. Individuals who are disproportionately affected include people of color and the poor.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Graduating with six figures ' worth of debt is becoming increasingly common.” (179) In the essay “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission” Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus discussed about how the price of college education is increasing, while the quality of some teachers is decreasing. Hacker and Dreifus gave tips on how to make college education successful. Hacker and Dreifus included the tips they discovered including money, faculty-student relations, classes that should be taken, graduate schools, and teaching techniques; the two also visited schools across the United States from University of Mississippi to Western Oregon and figured out what those schools were doing right to have a good success rate.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    College debt is pretty much inevitable for anyone wanting to have an education after high school. I, and most teenagers, do indeed want to go onto college but are scared away by the high cost. I know my family and I are definitely freaked out about the high cost of college. These students, including myself, shouldn’t be scared away so easily, as the high tuition isn’t so high at all. Colleges now have what would be called a sticker price. The first number you see is the sticker price, and what you don’t see is all of the deductions you can make to it.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scott-Clayton makes many valid points here. The cost to attend college in terms of monetary value is outrageous. On average, 66% of college students graduate with debt from student loans. For many people repaying these loans will take all their life. There is also the possibility the college students could run out of money before completing college and must drop out. This is just monetary costs but as stated there are also psychological…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “Between 1999–2000 and 2009–10, prices for undergraduate tuition, room, and board at public institutions rose 37 percent, and prices at private institutions rose 25 percent, after adjustment for inflation.” ("Tuition Costs for Colleges and Universities") Everyone tells students to go to college to get an education, because without one, one will go nowhere in life. If I had a dime for every time I heard that, I would be a millionaire, therefore not needing to be in college. Although having an education is very important to make any sort of significant amount of money in one’s life, sometimes it is impossible for many middleclass…

    • 928 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is College Worth Anything

    • 846 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The reason why colleges and university are worth the four plus years and the high cost of tuition is because of the amount of money you can make afterwards. An article written by Catherine Rampell can help you see the advantages of receiving a degree from an institution. She showed that of the American earning more than $150,000, 82 percent of them carried a bachelor’s degree. Only 6.5 percent of those Americans who earned at least $150,000 did not receive a high school diploma and around 7 percent did have a diploma. This illustrates the need for more people to go to college to receive a degree because it will get them a job that will increase their income by 20 to 30 thousand dollars. In the long run, this can affect your standard of living. With that extra cash you would be making, you can pay off your college debt which a lot of people are saying is out of control and one of the reasons college is not worth it. The bigger picture is that you can pay off the college debt in the first five years and then use that money to pay for a new car or a bigger house. This is the reason why the standards of living will increase.…

    • 846 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The college has been thought to be increasing The article States “ The much-discussed cost of college doesn't change the spot according to the paper by Mr. Autor Published Thursday in the journal Science, the true cost of a college degree is about negative $ 500,000. that's right: over the long run, college is cheaper than free. not going to college will cost you more than half a million dollars.”Clearly, that going to college and taking in the “ average college debt of $25,000 “ isn't compared to what not going to college will cost. The articles state “ the Unemployment rate in April for people between 25 and 34 years old with a bachelor's degree was mere 3 percent.” Therefore you are more likely to be unemployed is a bachelor's degree. The Article also States “ as the economy becomes more technologically complexed the amount of medication that people needs will rise. at some point, 15 years or 17 years of education will make more sense as a universal goal.” Therefore we will need that bachelor's degree with our growing technology to be aware of our…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Surviving in today economy can be a great challenge. One of the greatest challenges people have trouble with the most is the pricey cost of college tuition. Many people feel it’s difficult to provide the high range cost of college tuition each semester, and find it impossible to work their way through a good education. So with that said, with the outrages prices of college in today’s economy, it can be difficult or hinder one to afford a college education.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It’s just extremely disappointing and aggravating to have paid all that money and have nothing to show for it other than debt.” proclaimed Michelle Polyakov, an English graduate from Drake University. Polyakov obviously feels that college is not worth the cost and that all someone has to show for the education is debt. College has been deemed, by some, that it is not worth the cost because of the financial loss, the future job security, and the need for “blue collar” jobs. Finances, job security, and the need for manual laborers are all major factors in the debate of college and its cost. The reason being is because not all people are meant to go to college, or their situation just isn’t ideal. College is a privilege, and not every job requires you to have a higher form of learning, but most do. By viewing the debt of a student after graduation, the job security of graduates, and the need for manual laborers, one can infer that college is not worth the cost.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The cost of a university education has increased 12-fold in the past three decades. Most students pay for college with a combination of family, work, grants, scholarships, and loans. Few students have families who can pay for their education entirely. To pay for college, a student needs to work more than 48 hours a week on minimum-wage. Add that to the time needed to be successful with a full load of classes, and simply working your way through college today is impossible. Even a maximum federal Pell Grant only covers the cost of attending a community college, it leaves a large deficit on the bill for a university’s tuition. Everyone is competing…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lifetime of Student Debt

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Data from the U.S. Education Department showed that around two-thirds of students graduated from a four-year college with roughly $19,202 in debt, and students to attended public colleges had an average debt of $17,277. Likewise, the cost of going to a private college was at a higher $21,957(258). Robin gives the averages loan rates of medical and law school graduates, which far exceed others’ at over $100,000. In contrast, Anthony P. Carnevale says that, “debt is the very best way to pay for education because you’re shifting the cost forward until you’ll be earning more money”(260). In essence, Patrick M. Callan believes that its better to take money out for loans than not at all, because you will make more money with that college degree.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The New York Times reports that in the long run, “the true cost of a college degree is about negative $500,000”. The journal of Science calculated this number by taking into account the cost of tuition and fees, the lifetime gap between the earnings of college and high school graduates, inflation, and the time value of money. Although this is number is not precise for all students, it’s still accurate. The Washington Post cites many studies that show that college is worth the money. For example, economists Orley Ashenfelter and Alan Krueger (he served as President Obama’s chief economist!) discovered that “people with one more year of schooling than their twin, earn, on average, 12 to 16 percent more”.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The cost of college is very high compared to how the economy has been and how wages and financial aid have not risen with the cost of tuition. This makes it harder for students to graduate and brings a lot of stress to their lives. Without the funding that is needed many students drop out or take a longer time finishing their degree. Going to college is stressful enough without the need to worry about how you’re going to pay for it and what other costs will continue to rise with getting a degree. The cost of college is too high compared to the amount Americans make and how much they are expected to contribute.…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    College Tuition

    • 1071 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Most high school students feel pressure by not only the family, but also peers and teaching faculty to go to college because it’s “the smart thing to do”, but some may be hesitant to choose the college route because they believe their experiences will be different and the benefits of getting the job and making all their money back won't apply to them. Economic research concludes that more students would gain from college rather than opting out from it, and choosing a different route. Yes, there are many careers that require little or no further education after high school that may be considered successful jobs, such as construction and more hands on jobs, but it is averaged that over a lifetime those who attend college make about $500,000 more than those who do not. “Seven out of ten college seniors (71%) who graduated last year had student loan debt, with an average of $29,400 per borrower. From 2008 to 2012 debt at graduation … increased an average rate of six percent each year.” (The Project of Student Debt). With all of the debts, not covered by either scholarships or financial aid, accumulated over the course of an individual’s schooling, the amount of additional money made becomes less substantial; if the tuition and fees were…

    • 1071 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With the cost of postsecondary education rising in leaps and bounds, potential students may wonder if the college education system is still worth investing in. Niall Ferguson (2012) states that at a sample of public colleges, average tuition and fees for in-state residents have risen by 25 percent since 2008; for private schools, these tuition and fees rose by 13 percent (p. 20). Similarly, over half (56 percent) of students are enrolled at four year schools with tuitions and fees of up to $9,000 a year with high-ranking institutions reporting costs upwards of $40,000 annually (Walker, 2010, p. 28). Although this cost has been offset for many students by the increase in government funding for education in the form of grants and entitlements, postsecondary expenses can be daunting. Yet, findings discussed later in this report reveal the vital importance of a college degree, not only in short-term job hunts but as a long-term investment over one’s lifetime.…

    • 1832 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays