As Jeremy Anderberg stated,
“the college experience is part of the American experience.”
There have been multiple arguments whether a college education is actually worth getting. For most people, a college degree can be a major life achievement. There are many people around the nation who have different views about attending college and asking themselves if it’s worth spending a great amount of money. Attending a college can be worth it because people can learn different skills and apply to jobs to help them create their future and live a long, happy, and healthy life.
Many students chose hands on/trade careers. They are becoming more and more popular as time progresses. Today, more people want to fix cars and build houses for a living. In college, students are able to take easier classes, such as simple algebra courses or general English classes than taking more of the advanced classes in a university. It can also be a better alternative choice if the students first career choice doesn’t work out for them in the long run. Alan Blinder stated that,
“you can’t hammer a nail on the Internet.”
Being able to actually work for a college degree is better to attend a college where the students aren’t sitting in front of a screen all day. Then, without the learning share in the student’s own hands, means that the world won’t be the same. Stated by an unknown shop teacher, “without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” Some two year colleges include nursing, diesel mechanics, construction, and the regular general classes. Many benefits of attending a two-year college can be smaller class sizes ranging from 10–20 students. Tuition is at a lower cost if students plan on attending a college that is in the state that they are currently living in. Lastly, course credits that are taken at a community college can be easily transferred to a bigger school like a university.
In today’s world, college has of course changed since the past in multiple ways. Throughout the years, there has been an increase in scholarship options such as ones from colleges, high school clubs and activities, banks and different businesses, and FAFSA. It’s also said that college is a better investment than in the past. There’s also bigger and better benefits. Students can make more money with all the different jobs that the campus can offer. There’s better career opportunities open for students who attend a community college or a university. Then, students can have a better investment in their own future. In the past, there wasn’t a lot technology being developed. There weren’t that many computers to help with homework, look for scholarship options or talk with parents if the student went out of state for college. There were also no online textbooks. Financial aid has also changed throughout the years. The most famous financial aid out there is the FAFSA program. FAFSA was created in the early 1950s and didn’t come to the Internet till the late 1990s. From that, people from before the 1950s didn’t have a chance to experience the great feeling of getting a lot of money for college.
From the community college of two years comes the university of four years. While attending a four-year college, students can create long-lasting relationships with their classmates and professors as someone to keep them company while they are away from home. Throughout the student’s four years at a university, professors can be the best connection and mentors someone can have. As a professor, they are there for a reason, to help students in class for some homework they don’t understand or to have someone to talk to if a student is struggling with something other than school work. Staying in college for at least four years can change a students worldviews dramatically. It’s able to expand a student’s mind to new things they had never thought they would do or something they had never heard of before. Then, if students stay home and not in the dorms during their college years, they won’t be able to grow intellectually or emotionally as a college student. Four year universities can offer STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs to give college students more of a learning experience in field career such as medical careers. Most universities require these fields. Gaining experience from a four-year university is a little different from a community college. Students are able to understand deadlines and consequences from missing those deadlines such as getting fired from a job or getting bumped down a position from work. Students are also able to set long term goals from where students want to live to what job they are going to take. Attending a four-year college can be beneficial to you and your future job. With more experience, comes a greater future.
People in today’s society have shown that they are more happy and healthy while attending college or after college. 80% of college students have actual finished their internships before they graduate, showing that they are ready for the real world and real work for their future job(s). After the internships, students can receive valuable employment before entering the big job market. Students can also have a better life after college because of all the experience they had from the classroom to their internships. There’s bigger employment rates, bigger salaries, and better work benefits. In a recent study, younger kids with parents that have gotten a college degree are more prepared for preschool on up. This study was from 1970 to 2009 in a Lancet medical journal. “18% more children aged 3 to 5 years old with mothers who have a bachelor’s degree could recognize all letters compared to children of high school graduates.” Another study showed that, “on average, college graduates live six years longer than high school graduates.” It’s also said that 83% of college graduates reported being in fantastic health and 73% of high school graduates did the same. “College degrees were linked to lower blood pressure in a 30-year peer-reviewed study and lower levels of cortisol by a Carnegie Mellon Psychology department study.” These studies can give students a better understanding that college is important to attend.
People can argue that college is not worth it for different reasons. Yes, college is becoming more and more expensive as time goes on like textbooks and tuition, but that’s where scholarships and renting or borrowing textbooks come in. It can also be difficult to pay off student loan and debts because some adults today are still paying them off or trying to at least. And of course, students got stress, upon stress, upon stress. With stress comes health problems; 40.2% of college students report feeling “frequently overwhelmed.” According to the University of Florida’s Counseling and Wellness Center, “The competition for grades, the need to perform, relationships, fear of AIDS, career choice, and many other aspects of the college environment cause stress.” Students don’t realize that there’re moments to fix the stress in a snap of a finger. Balance work, school, and friends. Buying planners or a notebook to keep track of due dates of homework, work hours and a couple of hours to catch up with friends going to a movie or out to eat from lunch. Students should take a break every once in a while for 15 minutes. Taking a short break with give your brain a moment to re-fuel. Also eat well and stay active. Keeping snacks near while doing homework or running a mile every once in a while with help students stay alive during classes or driving home from college.
As the argument between whether attending college like a community college or a university is a good or bad thing for a person, there can be no right or wrong to an ending argument like this one. As students get to know about a community college or a university, or experience the college life of the past and present, they as the students can decide whether college can be right for them during a time in their live. Even if you need a year or two after high school to collect more money and get more organized, attending a college at any given point in your life, will make you feel happier and more good about yourself when you get handed that degree at the end of your college days.
