College Education, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Each and every year a fresh crop of college fresh women and men will be going to school, hoping to master abilities that will enable them to land a job that is well-paying after their graduation and start settling the heap of student loans taken by them for payment of their school fees. With the current economic situation, some can argue that acquiring a degree from college or beyond, is a necessity for finding a good job. However, education’s value, in both academic importance and dollars terms, has never been questioned more, and several people have started questioning whether education from a college is actually worth it. With approximately one in every thirteen workers in need of a job not able to find one, this paper is an exploration of the hypothesis that education from colleges is still worth the cost.

Note should be taken that there has been a careful study by economists of the job market returns on the investment of people in their human resources through tertiary education for about 50 years now, in several countries. While various disparities are present across many countries and periods of time, there has been a remarkable consistency in the findings. Both direct costs of education and the value of the time of students in school are taken into account by these studies and benefits for time and paid taxes are discounted. In most instances, other factors are also taken into account, like the socioeconomic status of an individual and measured academic capability, which may assist in explaining higher salaries of graduates (Bennett and Wilezol 10).

The recurring result is that most people have been paid off well by higher education. Characteristically career life graduates are paid enough more than equivalent non-graduates get, which is a 10% yearly return on their early investment. This is very similar to calculated proceeds on physical resources investments by governments and businesses. It should also be noted that society’s returns on its ventures in higher learning, in the form of advanced productivity of the worker and taxes remitted, lower costs of dependency of graduates, among others, are in general found to be correspondingly favorable (Martinson 26).

In the meantime, when there is a disappearance of jobs, the best secure haven for waiting for the recession to be over and making one’s hiring prospects better in expectation of recovery is college. Indeed, workers educated in colleges have the ability of most likely being employed than their counterparts educated in high schools, even when there is a recession. Regardless of the reigning conditions of the economy, college needs to be considered as a lifetime investment decision by individuals (Hartman and Stewart 23). Similarly, the investment prospect for development of the economy is supposed to be gauged in decades as opposed to yearly budget cycles. Shortening or missing college on the grounds of a heading or even some years of bad news on the economy is not wise for individuals who have careers that will span for 40 or more years of job life. Averagely, missing out on an associate degree will lead to a high school graduate incurring a cost of half a million dollars in income, and missing out on a bachelor’s degree will lead to a cost of a million dollars in possible earnings over life.
It is argued by many that college worth is on the decline while its tuition is on the rise. However, even though it is factual that the cost of attending college has been on the rise faster than the rate of inflation, the wage premium of college has increased even faster, both in the cost of attending college terms and the rate of inflation. The greatest measure of college’s value is the remaining present value of attending college. Here, the lifelong earnings are discounted by the actual rate of interest, the principal, and payments of interests from being given a college loan are discounted. Once that has been done, the most precise assessment of the standard worth of college schooling over high school schooling still remains at one million dollars, which is the net worth currently (Tar 5).

Forthcoming research indicates that not enough graduates from college have been produced, and they have been under-produced by nearly ten million since the year 1983. It can also be found out from Help Wanted that throughout 2018, up to three million jobs, which need postsecondary training and education, will not be fulfilled because of lack of supply. The jobs’ share for people with high school training or a lesser amount of education is shrinking. In the year 1973, graduates from high school and those who dropped out accounted for 72% of jobs, whereas, by the year 2007, this was 41%. The opposite is true for people who have at least attended college: the jobs’ share has increased to 59% by 2007 from 28% in 1973 and is expected to increase to 63% by 2018. Similarly, national wage income share from workers educated in college has increased from 38% to 73% since 1970, and it is believed that this tendency will continue (Bennett and Wilezol 98).

Recently a study in Georgetown University indicated that the economy’s development has become less industrial and based more on knowledge, hence increasing the demand for workers with college training. In 1973, 72% of job requirements were an education from high school or less. In the year 2010, the figure reduced to 41%, and by the year 2020, it is estimated to be at 36% (Bennett and Wilezol 186). For students, education from a college can still be the correct decision, provided informed decisions are made about their path of education. Going to a state school, which is honored and taking up a technology, mathematics, science, or engineering discipline, will averagely lead to the production of a better investment return. This is compared to borrowing a heap of loans meant for students to pursue sociology at either an average private university or one that is below average. For college education to be worth, students must eventually graduate because almost half of the students who take up four-year colleges do not finish (Lankford 134).

University graduates, in particular recent ones, are jobless and underemployed at considerably higher rates than it was before the start of the Great Depression or Recession. This is characteristic of economic sluggishness periods. However, those who have graduated are still doing much better than those who do not have advanced education. A recent study in America puts the rate of unemployment for recent graduates from college at 6.6%, compared to recent graduates from high school, which is at 24%. In addition, things will get better eventually (Bennett and Wilezol 98).

Therefore, it makes little sense for a person to refuse to enroll in higher education for the reason that he or she is concerned about the present labor market, or afraid that he or she will not be paid off eventually by higher education. In fact, this is the best time to join from the point of view of one part of the equation of cost, what will be referred to as the opportunity cost of the time students spend in school, by economists. In the event that unemployment of those who are less educated is high, and earnings are inert, opportunity costs of going to school are fairly low. For this reason, several organizations of higher and postsecondary training are being faced with strong pressures to make an expansion of their enrollments now (Hartman and Stewart 249).

Conclusion

The expense of college education is still worth it. This is because graduates from colleges make 84% more in earnings during their life than individuals who only have a high school education. That percentage is not yet double, but it is edging closer to double each year. Even in this tough economy, a job is likely to be found by a college graduate. Typically, the rate of unemployment for graduates from college is almost half of that for graduates from high school, and that is true to date. With an education from college, one is in a position of finding a job, which is enjoyable and satisfying for their entire lifetime. If the family of an individual has been brought up with hardships in finances, obtaining college training is the greatest way to increase one’s power of earning. It also offers an example of being economically independent to the children, and improves the future of the family financially.

Works Cited

Bennett, William J, and David Wilezol. Is College Worth It?: A Former United States Secretary of Education and a Liberal Arts Graduate Expose the Broken Promise of Higher Education. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2013. Internet resource.

Hartman, Kathleen, and Thomas Stewart. Investing in Your College Education: Learning Strategies with Readings. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.

Lankford, Ronald D. The Rising Cost of College. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print.

Martinson, Lee. A Heavenly College Education: On an Earthly Budget : Double Your Financial Aid, Double Your Degree’s Value. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing, 2008. Print.

Tar, Adam. Today’s Perception of a College Education. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2011. Print.