Can Going to College Increase your Life Expectancy?
According to California State University, being a college graduate has many benefits, most notably being able to get higher salaries at the companies the graduate works at. A bachelor's degree on an individual’s resume helps them get better jobs easier because it shows someone that they have the experience and problem solving skills to be successful in the position. What no one tells you about being a college graduate is in addition to having an easier time getting a job and having a higher salary, you are also more likely to live longer. Throughout this paper, I will argue that there is a strong correlation between getting a college degree and living longer.
Through the data, we were able to observe that there is a strong negative relationship between the two variables, however, does the percentage of college graduates increasing cause the premature death value to decrease? I would argue yes. According to a study done by Princeton professors Deaton and Case, the average college graduate will live around nine years longer than the average person without a college degree. Additionally, from that same study, the researchers found that out of a possible fifty years, a person with a college degree could expect to live 48.2 years whereas a person without a college degree would only live 45.1 years. That is a lot of years that people without a college degree are losing just because they do not have a degree. For this reason, I dug a little deeper into why a college graduate can expect to live longer than a person without a college degree. The answer is tied with the economy. A college degree provides individuals with more opportunities to get better jobs and higher paying salaries just because they have a degree. A bachelor’s degree is now seen less of a stamp that you are an expert in one subject but, rather, a personification of the skills and knowledge students obtain while in college. That one piece of paper tells an employer that a student has the skills to pick up on the job quickly and opens the door to many opportunities that people without college degrees do not have. These opportunities include higher paying jobs and more ideal jobs that allow a person to have generally a better quality of life. Through this analysis of the correlation between a college degree and premature death, we can conclude that there is a casual relationship between the percentage of people with college degrees and the premature death value. This means that a college degree causes higher paying jobs and a lower chance of unemployment and that causes the premature death value to decrease.
Through the data, we were able to observe that there is a strong negative relationship between the two variables, however, does the percentage of college graduates increasing cause the premature death value to decrease? I would argue yes. According to a study done by Princeton professors Deaton and Case, the average college graduate will live around nine years longer than the average person without a college degree. Additionally, from that same study, the researchers found that out of a possible fifty years, a person with a college degree could expect to live 48.2 years whereas a person without a college degree would only live 45.1 years. That is a lot of years that people without a college degree are losing just because they do not have a degree. For this reason, I dug a little deeper into why a college graduate can expect to live longer than a person without a college degree. The answer is tied with the economy. A college degree provides individuals with more opportunities to get better jobs and higher paying salaries just because they have a degree. A bachelor's degree is now seen less of a stamp that you are an expert in one subject but, rather, a personification of the skills and knowledge students obtain while in college. That one piece of paper tells an employer that a student has the skills to pick up on the job quickly and opens the door to many opportunities that people without college degrees do not have. These opportunities include higher paying jobs and more ideal jobs that allow a person to have generally a better quality of life. Through this analysis of the correlation between a college degree and premature death, we can conclude that there is a casual relationship between the percentage of people with college degrees and the premature death value. This means that a college degree causes higher paying jobs and a lower chance of unemployment and that causes the premature death value to decrease.