College Graduates Are More Likely To Have Health Insurance
With skyrocketing healthcare costs, having quality health insurance is essential for your well-being. However, purchasing health insurance on your own can be prohibitively expensive. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the benchmark premium for single-person policies purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace is $462 per month or $5,544 per year.
What does that have to do with college? You may not realize it, but there is a significant correlation between college education and healthcare coverage.
College graduates are far more likely than high school graduates to have employer-provided coverage, offsetting their healthcare costs. The College Board found that 64% of workers with bachelors degrees and 70% of workers with advanced degrees had employer-provided coverage, while employer plans covered just 52% of high school graduates.
Argumentative Essay: College Education Should Be Free
Getting ready for college is hard for some people because they dont have enough money for college. Also, all their hard work for entering college has gone to a waste since they dont have enough money. College education should be free because it could give students the life that they want, it could also help students concentrate on their studies, and lastly some people cant afford the money. Generally speaking, college education should be free. College education should be priceless because it could give students the life that they want.
You Learn A Lot Inside And Outside The Classroom
In college, youre not just learning concepts and taking exams. Your classes help you build skills youll need in the workforce, like problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork and organization. Yeah, you could gain this experience in other ways, but its part of what makes the college experience a good investment for a lot of people.
College is also a great opportunity to branch out and meet people from all walks of life. You never know what you might learn from someone with a different background than yours. And universities are usually melting pots of cultures, religions, political views and other beliefs. While your core values will probably remain the same, youll hopefully gain a better understanding of where others are coming from.
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The Education Delivery Method
The way you are obtaining your education can play a large role in the overall cost of your college experience. Almost always, you’ll be looking at one of two methods of education delivery: face-to-face learning and online learning.
Face-to-face education is what many people think of when they hear the term “college education.” This is the traditional on-campus experience, with classes being held in physical classrooms with a group of classmates and a professor lecturing or leading discussion. Online education takes the same principles of hands-on teaching and immersive classroom experiences and applies them to a virtual format, usually through discussion boards and text- or video-based assignments. While both are great options that deliver the same high-quality education, typically, online education will be cheaper, simply because there are fewer overhead costs to contend with. For instance, an institution with a physical campus must account for the cost of maintaining grounds and powering buildings, which can drive up the costs of tuition.
If A Degree Won’t Lead To Professional Success
College offers a lot of professional, personal, and intellectual benefits. Even if youre not sure what you want to do after college, a degree will afford you some flexibility. But you dont have to go to college in order to be successful – depending, of course, on what career options youre considering . Some people argue that you can be just as successful with self-directed learning as you can be with a college degree.
If you know you can graduate from high school and immediately start working towards your chosen career path, college might not be the best choice for you. Alternatively, if youre interested in a career that requires trade or vocational school, it might be smarter to apply to those programs instead of applying to a four-year program. This way, you can work toward building professional experience earlier rather than later.
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Quality Of Education Greatly Varies Across Colleges
Another disadvantage of college education is that the quality of education greatly varies across colleges.
In fact, while some institutions like Harvard or Princeton offer world-class education, many community colleges only offer rather limited educational quality and degrees from those colleges may therefore not have too much value.
Hence, if you really want to go to college, make sure that you choose a good university that really is worth the large amounts of money you have to spend on it.
College Education May Lead To Better Job Opportunities
One important advantage of college education is that you will get better job opportunities on average.
In our nowadays state of the world, employers often require college degrees, even for many entry positions in companies.
Hence, you can consider a college degree as a sort of entry ticket for many jobs and if you dont have this ticket, it will be hard to get into many highly reputable companies.
However, also note that a college degree is only an entry ticket, no guarantee that you will get a good job afterward.
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Opportunity Gaps In Higher Education
Achieving success through effort and education is a prominent theme in American meritocracy, but the gap in college opportunity means that not everyone makes it to the starting line. Many low-income and minority students lack equal access to quality schools and academic resources, with these disadvantages beginning at an early age.
Closing the opportunity gap in higher education starts with primary and secondary education, and recent data indicates promising trends in these areas.
Many low-income and minority students lack equal access to quality schools and academic resources, with these disadvantages beginning at an early age.
According to the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis, achievement gaps for minority students in reading and math declined sharply in the 1970s and ’80s before stagnating in the ’90s. Fortunately, these gaps have narrowed dramatically in the last 15 years.
Going to college can have a lifelong positive impact, propelling students into good careers and the middle class however, the upward social mobility that college promises is often withheld from students who lack proper college prep and financial support.
Remedying this situation requires both funding and policy changes, as well as rewriting college admission practices that have known exclusionary effects, such as standardized testing requirements.
List Of The Pros Of Going To College
1. There are numerous financial and career benefits to consider. If you go to college and come away with a bachelors degree, then you can earn almost 60% more per year than those who only have a high school diploma or a GED. The median earnings for workers with a bachelors degree in 2017 was $1,173 per week. If you only had a high school diploma, then you were earning $712 per week. Even an associate degree can give you a boost in pay.
What does this mean over the length of a career? If you earn an undergraduate degree in whatever field you prefer, then there is an opportunity to make $1 million more than if you never went to college in the first place.
2. You have a chance to make a life for yourself. When you make the decision to go to college, then you are putting yourself into a position where you are more likely to get married. This advantage also means that you are less likely to be living in the home of your parents through your 20s. Research indicates the attending college has more economic benefits for Millennials than for any previous generation. You have an opportunity to create a life for yourself because of the experiences that occur with these advanced learning opportunities.
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Employment Opportunities Widen From Having A College Degree
Those who hold a bachelors degree or higher consistently report higher rates of employment than those without one.
Whats more, studies suggest that the need for college-educated workers isnt slowing. In fact, research by McKinsey Global Institute predicts that by 2020, there will be 1.5 million fewer college-educated workers than the economy needs in the U.S.
In addition, research by Georgetowns Center on Education and the Workforce estimates 55 million job openings in the economy through 2020. Of these 55 million jobs, 65% will require some form of post-secondary education, like an associates, a bachelors degree, or higher.
But what about those big names like Oprah and Bill Gates who succeeded in spite of not finishing college?
We may be able to think of many famous names who quit school and cite their success as supporting evidence for why a college education isnt worth itbut these cases only describe a portion of all those who do not obtain a college degree, not necessarily the norm or majority.
How Committed Are You
One of the biggest things you need to take into account is your commitment to attaining a college degree. Some people go to college just because:
- It is expected. Maybe your family, teachers or guidance counselors have pushed you. In some families, the prospect of not going to college is unthinkable.
- Its what you should do. Sometimes people go to college simply because society has placed importance on higher education. The fear of being looked down on for not following societal rules pushes them to apply as soon as they can.
- They believe they have to. Many people have had it drilled in their heads from an early age that the only way to succeed in life is to get a college degree.
While there is nothing wrong with others motivating you to go to college, it should be your decision whether or not you want to go. People who are not motivated to attend college may quit before graduating. This leads to a mountain of debt with nothing to show for it.
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Many College Students Feel Lost In Life
Many college graduates also feel rather lost in life once they completed their degree.
This is due to the fact that many college graduates simply dont know what they want to do with their lives.
Therefore, if you want to go to college, make sure that you have plans for your future so that you really have a goal to work for.
Youll Have Access To More Opportunities
Internships are one of the best ways to gain on-the-job experienceand maybe even a job offer. But many internships are only available to current college students.
A typical college campus should also have guidance counselors, career centers, job fairs, clubs and volunteer opportunities to help you gain the experience youll need to make yourself stand out in the job market. Many colleges work hard to make sure that a high percentage of graduates move directly into the workforce in their fields of study. Thats a win for you and for them.
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College Education Gives You The Opportunity To Expand Your Horizon
In general, since you will experience so many different things in college, you can also expand your horizon in various different directions.
You can take many different courses, figure out what you really like and go with it.
Moreover, college will also give you the opportunity to talk to many people from different cultural backgrounds with different social norms.
All this can give you a much better impression regarding how the world really looks like.
Graduates Typically Enjoy Higher Pay
A college degree can be very expensive, but in many cases, the investment is worthwhile. A bachelors degree holder typically makes an average of $32,000 a year more than someone with only a high school diploma. Over the course of a lifetime, bachelors degree recipients earn approximately $1 million more.
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Should You Go To College
We can conclude from the previous discussion that there are many advantages and disadvantages of college education.
In my opinion, you should ask yourself whether college education brings you closer to your goals in life or not.
If it can help you to achieve these goals, go for it.
Otherwise, you may want to go in a different direction instead since you can save plenty of time, money and effort if you dont go to college.
About the author
My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.
As I went to university and got my Masters degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.
After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.
Wanna make a contribution to save our environment? Share it!
High Level Of Education Is Crucial For A Working Society
Apart from the individual opportunities of college education, it can also have strong positive effects on our society as a whole.
In fact, education is crucial for a peaceful society and also that people know whats going on in the world.
It is also important to prevent the rise of radical political movements.
Therefore, high levels of education are crucial for a working society in various different ways and college education can also help in this regard.
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You Might Not Need A Degree To Do The Job You Want
A college degree can open doors, but what keeps those doors open? Hard work! Some of the worlds wealthiest businesspeople didnt even finish collegethink technology trailblazers Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Michael Dell. Theyre proof the traditional college route isnt the only path to success.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that about 43% of college grads are working a job that doesnt need a degree.4 Plus, as of 2018, the employment rate of 25- to 35-year-olds with no college education is 72%not too shabby, considering the employment rate in the same age group with a college education is only 86%.5
Dont look past alternatives like trade schools, community colleges, apprenticeships and entrepreneurship to get you the job you want. Its hard to beat the price difference. For example, a typical two-year community college degree costs less than half as much as an in-state four-year collegeand it’s 80% cheaper per year than a private four-year university!6
Digital Skills Are Often Missing In College Education
In our nowadays state of the world, it is also crucial that students learn digital skills since those skills will be required on the job market in the near future.
In fact, many jobs that require manual work right now will be automized in the future and therefore, many workers may end up in unemployment.
Hence, you have to learn those digital skills in order to stay competitive and to avoid unemployment.
However, many colleges have still not adapted to those new requirements and dont teach their students those important digital skills.
Thus, if you want to attend college, make sure that you take enough computer science classes in order to get the skill set that will be required from you in the future.
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College Pros And Cons
Whether youre a recent high school graduate or you are considering going back to school as an adult, you might be wondering Is college right for me? Although college has many advantages, its not for everyone, and there are many factors that should be evaluated before making a decision. There are many pros and cons of going to college and we would like to help you make the right decision before deciding to go back to school. Continue reading to learn the pros and cons of going to college and determine if college is right for you.
The Value Of A College Education
To most Americans, college is the first rung on the ladder to success, representing adulthood, personal development, and upward social mobility. The importance of higher education to many students and families gives them the confidence that college is worth the investment.
Over the decades, the number of bachelor’s degree-holders in the U.S. has steadily climbed. In 2019, 35% of American adults over the age of 25 had completed four or more years of college more than double the percentage of bachelor’s degree-holders in 1980.
In 2019, 35% of American adults over the age of 25 had completed four or more years of college.
In that same amount of time, however, the price of college has risen sharply. In 1985-86, the average total cost of tuition, fees, and room and board at four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. was $5,504. By 2016-17, this figure had increased to $26,593.
Student loans normally bridge the gap between what students must pay for college and what they can actually afford. Unfortunately, repaying student loans especially if interest rates are high can take a large chunk out of a worker’s earnings for years after they graduate.
College often pays off, but for some, this return on investment is much more significant.
Looking at income data by gender reveals that men make far more than women at all education levels. According to the Social Security Administration, men earn about twice as much as women in their lifetimes.
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Clearly College Is Not Making People Smarter
Many Students Never Really Studied, with 35 reporting less than 5 hours a week in study time.
2.67 hours a day is all that is reported. Twice that time in shopping, eating, partying.
Consistent increase in Adult illiteracy. Most College Grads fall below average in Cognitive Tasks. .
College Grads in the US test at or less than High School kids in several other Countries.
Top Universities are declining in their Academic Rigor.
College Classes get flimsier. Yet College GPA averages are over 3.0 averages. Grade Inflation Highest at Private Schools. More Students are Failing, but yet nobody fails.