Education >
Adult Education
Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedIs a college education still cost effective?
Results so far:
| Yes | 48% | 109 votes | Total: 227 votes | |
| No | 52% | 118 votes |
Yes
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesA good college education, as good Mastercard prose would say, is priceless. When considering the cost of a college education, consider this: college debt is probably the best debt you can have, and if you later default on your loans, the bank cannot repossess your education!
When it boils down to cost effectiveness with a college education, there is nothing more cost effective. You initial investment in your own or a relative's college education can reap some pretty big returns further down the road. Consider the intial investment for just a bachelor's degree. Four years of college run between $12,000 and $36,000 for 63% of full-time undergraduates attending four year institutions (College Board). The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that a person with a bachelor's degree will earn over one million dollars more than a person who has just a high school diploma (USBLS). Based on these data and statistics, that is a whopping 2,700% ROI (return on investment) over a 50 year period (lifetime) for $36,000-worth-of-col lege. If the rock solid statistics do not sway you, then job security will. The unemployment rate, again for just a bachelor's degree, is 2.2% lower than a person who holds only a high school diploma (USBLS).
Not only is a college education the best investment that you can make for yourself or a relative, but it is also the best controlled. An investment with a guaranteed and fixed return, the only thing better would be if you could control how much your investment is; with a college education, you can. Families typically spend years saving up for college, so it is usually fairly simple for someone to venture off to a school and return with little or no indebtedness, but a valuable degree. Also, financial aid really aids you financially. You can receive government loans at low interest rates (sometimes even subsidized while you're in school) in addition to a plethora of grants, scholarships and tuition waiviers. Buying books used and procuring state residency if attending a public institution can greatly reduce your initial investment for the degree being sought.
The benefits to be reaped from a good college education are priceless. Even so, there are also ways to lower the overall costs of attending a four year institution. But no where in the current state of the economy will you find something more cost effective than a college education.
References :
(College Board) http://www.collegebo ard.com/prod_downloa ds/press/cost06/tren ds_college_pricing_0 6.pdf
(USBLS) http://www.bls.gov/e mp/emptab7.htm
Learn more about this author, Mr. Aquarist.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
As changes occur in our society and in the job market, college may once again become a luxury that only an elite few can afford. To go to college either someone needs to be paying your living expenses (or part of them) or you need to be financially stable. Otherwise, it's just too difficult.
High school students hear their teachers and sometimes their parents ramble on and on about the benefits of college, but is attending college really worthwhile? This depends heavily upon which industry you plan on going into, your current financial status, and your resourcefulness. Many people find themselves having to take out huge loans to pay for their schooling only to find that once they graduate, they won't be able to find work.
Some career fields are guaranteed such as medical, information technology, and business. More and more people are beginning to look into trade school because it's cost-effective and having a trade can do much more for you than having a degree in some cases. I attended trade school for web design and now, a year later, I have my own business. True my business may be struggling and it takes a lot of time, effort, sweat, and tears to maintain, but in the long run this trade will do more for me than I ever thought possible. As time passed, I started getting more and more projects and now I don't have to worry about trying to find a job only to get fired or laid off.
College has never been cheap and now with tuition costs on the rise and more people in need of more substantial income, time, or in some cases, both college seems to be becoming an option that is lesser sought after. When weighing the difference between trade school and college, trade school seems more appealing to many people and it's easy to see why.
Not all of us are entrepreneurs, either. So what of those people that really need a good nine-to-five? Find recession proof jobs that require little or no schooling. They are out there. People just need to be willing to look for them. Also, don't get into a field that you hate just because it's popular (like nursing). I have a lot of friends that jumped the "nurse bandwagon" and found themselves miserable. There's always something out there for each person. It just requires a little more effort than it did before.
College is still a wonderful thing, if you have the time and money for it. But these days, I'm not sure of many people that do.
Learn more about this author, Deborah Lawwill.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
