Post #1 The Price of a College Degree in the U.S.

https://thebudgetnistablog.com/2015/student-loan-tips

Average Student Debt in America

• The United States of America has approximately 5,300 colleges, ranging from Cosmetology school all the way to the Ivy Leagues. However, how many of these colleges are actually affordable for students? According to the College Board, the average cost of college tuition in 2017–2018 America can range anywhere from $9,000-$35,000 and the amount is only getting higher as the years go on. Most college students cannot afford tuition and often take out many loans. Loans as many may know are granted to students in college, however they must be paid back as the years go on after college. On top of the actual loan, an interest rate must also be applied. On average, the rate for loans is 7.2 percent… So, in the end, a student can be roughly paying back thousands to even hundreds of thousands of dollars in students debts alone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/opinion/college-useful-cost-jobs.html

• Ridiculous right? According to an opinion article of Ellen Ruppel Shell of the New York Times, she explains “Young people and their families go into debt because they believe that college will help them in the job market?” However, is this actually true? What if one cannot pay their college debt even with their dream job? Many college graduated adults are paying back student loans for most of their life. In an article written by Farzon A. Navhi “Im a Doctor and Even I Cant Afford My College Loans” he explains that after college he owed approximately $180,000 in student debt. Navhi explained that whole on duty he would often sneak around expired patient meals, just so making his monthly debt payment of $700 would be a little easier. Yes, not many people have this much to pay back in student debt. However, if a very well payed medicine physician struggles to pay student debt back, imagine the rest who don’t have such a well paying job with still a great amount of debt. It is insane to think that many people will be paying college debt for most of their life, and this is an issue that does not get spoken enough about, nor will it ever.

Are People Dropping Out of College Because of The Cost?

• Due to how much college tuition in America costs, it is no surprise that may students drop out of college because simply they cannot afford it. In a New York Times article written by David Leonhardt, he provides a graph comparing lower wealth groups to higher wealth groups, and it is easy to see that the lower class have a lower graduation rate. Any coincidence? Leonhardt states, “For the poorest wealth group, college attendance has risen, but college graduation has not.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/opinion/college-graduation-gap.html

• From the chart alone, it is pretty obvious the reason as to why many Americans do not finish college, and that is simply because of financial issues. Leonhardt explains in this article to view college as “Adulthood’s first obstacle course. People who complete it learn how to overcome other obstacles as they go through life. People who don’t finish suffer a blow to their confidence. They also typically have to repay college debt without the extra earning power of a degree. It’s the worst of both worlds.” This is a very good way to view graduating college, however many people do not view it this way. Sadly I️t all comes down to one thing, in American society today it is very hard to find a well paying job without a college degree. However, it is also hard to find a job with a degree once being done with college. This is the trickiest part of life, people have loads of student debt with no actual job to help support it. This is a huge problem in America today. A degree is necessasry for certain jobs, but there are not enough jobs for the people with degrees. So, what is the solution going to be? Will more jobs be offered? Or will people with the job requirements need to wait and work part time jobs until their dream job that they have worked so hard for in school is available?

Is College Really Worth I️t?

• In my opinion, I believe that college is the ultimate gateway to success, with obstacles of course. Like life, college is not easy and it is a very stressful and overwhelming period of someone’s lifetime. I️t is barely my second year of college and I have never been more stressed in my life. College was never not a choice for me and although it is very challenging, I can only hope for the best results once I️ graduate. The stress of getting papers done and studying numerous hours is not forever. Yes, the student debt may seem endless but I believe that if college will give me my dream job it is just another bump in the road that I can jump over. Many might say “college is useless” yes, for some people school is absolutely not for them, but I truly believe that if you work hard the results will be very much rewarding. So the big question, is college worth all of the school debt?