It’s that time of year again. Everyone is in the midst of planning out what classes they want to take.
Some students may still need to finish their core classes, major requirements or just are looking for classes to be full-time students. But when we pick our classes, shouldn’t we be more concerned with what we are getting out of it?
How often do we as students really take the time to think about how these classes will help us in future years? What transferable goals and skills will students need? Are they really setting themselves up for success just by taking the easiest classes? Will those classes give students important skills or help them narrow our career goal?
Maybe, but a majority of the time, probably not. Think about it this way, why spend $42,000 to come to a school to take the easiest classes and graduate with little to no skills in over $168,000 in debt? Even if a student receives financial aid, that means that the college and government are working their hardest to allow that person to receive an education.
If in fact students do put the most into their education and receive really helpful grants and government assistance, theconversation.com asks, “are graduates getting value for their money?”
“There is no doubt, those with college degrees earn substantially higher wages. And even though the recent recession was difficult for everyone, the Current Population Survey indicates that in 2011, twice as many young adults without college degrees were unemployed as young college graduates. But our research, published in a recent book, Aspiring Adults Adrift, shows that colleges are too often failing to impart students with critical thinking, problem solving and written communication skills that are important to their success in the labor market.”
Even in different majors, there probably was a time when students thought, “Am I going to be able to get a job after I graduate?”
And that is the problem.
However, we think that education is important and that everyone should be allowed to have an opportunity to have one, but at the end of the day, facts are facts and many people are struggling to find jobs.
“Others struggled to various degrees: seven percent were unemployed and 16 percent worked part-time. Another 30 percent worked full-time in jobs paying less than $30,000 a year, half of them earning less than $20,000 a year,” according to The Conversation. “Considering that most of these graduates had taken out loans to finance their college education and that 30 percent of those with college debt borrowed $30,000 or more, these job market outcomes can pose a formidable financial challenge. Perhaps not surprisingly, approximately three quarters of graduates were receiving financial assistance from parents and a quarter were living with their families two years after completing college.”
So, we are asking, is college really worth it?
