Persuasive Whether College is Worth It

College, a place where you can meet many amazing people, gain knowledge, and be exposed to a multifarious amount of opportunities in not only your academic life but also your personal life. This argumentative essay will answer the question: Why is college worth it?

College is worth it, especially if you want to further your knowledge in a certain/or multiple areas of a subject. College can also open up many opportunities and experiences. While college has gone up in terms of its cost, doesn’t always guarantee success/a good job. College is worth every single penny because when you receive something as valuable as a college education, your pay will increase substantially as opposed to someone who doesn’t receive a college education, you will be revered as a credible person in our society, and you will also have a higher quality of life. Most people wouldn’t believe how much of a difference a college education makes in your wallet and bank account! Having a college education can really make a significant difference. Here’s an idea of just how much of a difference a college degree makes compared to someone who doesn’t pursue a degree.

Well, David Leonhardt’s article, “Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say”, gives a great answer to the question, is a college education worth it? According to the Economic Policy Institute, “Americans with four-year college degrees made 98 percent more an hour on average in 2013 than people without a degree. That’s up from 89 percent five years earlier, 85 percent a decade earlier and 64 percent in the early 1980s.” That is just insane, but it totally makes sense, someone with a college degree is and will be making almost 100% more than someone who decides not to graduate. For example say you make ten dollars an hour, the person with a college degree will be making almost twenty dollars. While those ten dollars don’t seem like much to some, it adds up, especially if you are working long hours. Another piece of evidence that goes to show how much of a difference a college degree makes in terms of money would be in the article, “What’s the value of a college education? It depends” by Jennifer Barrett, in her article, it states that “New York Fed researchers estimate college graduates earn about $1 million more over their lifetime than those without a degree.” Imagine that, earning one million more than someone without a degree, sounds awesome. Putting in those long hours of homework and putting your all into final projects definitely does pay off in many ways, especially in the form of cold hard cash earned throughout your lifetime. Having a higher quality of life is something almost everyone desires, but if you truly want to make it a reality, hard work and dedication to your studies will almost always get you there. Having a college degree can help you become financially stable, or just financially responsible. A college degree will open endless possibilities that make your life easier when it comes to finding a job in your field of interest/career. It will ensure that you make the most of your life, this is due simply to the fact that college prepares students to think beyond, solve problems and also to examine things that come their way.

College is a tool that should be utilized by everyone, simply because having an education, a college education, can essentially help you learn anything that seems out of the ordinary or something you wouldn’t think is valuable in life. College is something valuable in life, and it is made especially clear by Jennie Le in her article, “What does it mean to be a college grad?”. She talks about how her mother moved to the United States from Vietnam to make sure her children’s’ lives were better than hers, and Le did graduate and her siblings did also. In her article, she stated that. “Although holding a degree isn’t as powerful as it was in previous decades, states will show that those who earn bachelor’s degrees are likely to earn twice as much as those who don’t’. This is an important piece of information because she acknowledges the fact that a bachelor’s degree isn’t seen as something as important as it once was, it still will help you in terms of your finances and help you earn more than someone who did not attend college. In the article on of her friends with a master’s degree tells Le that her bachelor’s degree is pretty much worthless as opposed to his master’s degree because there are much more benefits tied to a master’s degree than there is for a bachelor’s. That was not the case for Le, she stated that simply having a college degree is better compared to not having one at all, being a college graduate is important and not something to undermine.

Credibility in our society is important, especially when applying for jobs that require some sort of skills and/or a degree in the field. When a potential employer sees that an applicant has a degree, for example, a bachelor’s degree, they most likely will have increased their probability of being hired by the employer. This is because it gives the employer insight as to how much work was put in, and also how dedicated the person was in terms of their career and getting ahead in life. It also shows that the person has been able to endure all of the work and stress that college throws at them throughout the years they were in college. Most employers would rather have someone with a degree as opposed to someone who is just intrigued by a certain field/subject. A degree definitely helps you stand out, but you also have to consider that when you have earned your degree you should do everything you can to be able to make a difference in our society and contribute in any way possible. Credibility in your field provides you with such a great advantage because it shows just how much time and effort was put in to become extremely knowledgeable in our field and be able to set an example. 

Refutation: Some would argue that college is just too expensive, or that having a degree and years of debt doesn’t guarantee them financial stability or even a good job. Some would say that college is a waste of time and it’d be better to just go straight to work and forget the degree and just live life. In the article, “We send too many students to college” Marty Nemko states that “Among the bottom quarter (below 2.6 high school GPA and 850 SAT), only 20% graduate, even if they’re given six years!” My persuasive argument for this piece of information is that maybe these people aren’t giving school all the attention it requires. School is hard, yes, but if you apply yourself and don’t slack off you wouldn’t be in the bottom quarter with a 2.6 GPA. In terms of college being too expensive, there is always a way to help ease the financial stress. Scholarships, grants, and even loans can be your best friends, especially grants and scholarships. In the article, “College is a waste of time” by Dale Stephens, he asserts that “The College Board Policy Center found that the cost of public university tuition is about 3.6 times higher today than it was 30 years ago, adjusted for inflation.” While this does seem accurate, as said previously, there are always ways to help ease the financial aspect of college and higher education and everyone should take advantage of so they can keep learning. 

In conclusion, college is worth it because an education is one of the most valuable things in life. Knowledge is power, and most of us take our educations for granted and do not think an education is so important, but it truly is. Although college is expensive and it doesn’t guarantee you a great salary or even a great job, it is all dependent on one’s determination, persistence, and hard work to be someone in life and dedicate sufficient time to their education. College is not for everyone, but there are always alternatives to traditional college, which may work, college should always be an option. A lot of people dream about being able to go to a higher education, but cannot. That is unfortunate, but we all are able to here in this country, so why not give it a shot!

Works Cited

1. Leonhardt, D. (2014). Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/upshot/is-college-worth-it-clearly-new-data-say.html
2. Barrett, J. (2016). What's the Value of a College Education? It Depends. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/13/whats-the-value-of-a-college-education-it-depends.html
3. Le, J. (2016). What Does It Mean to Be a College Grad? U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-playbook/articles/2016-01-14/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-college-graduate
4. Nemko, M. (2012). We Send Too Many Students to College. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/we-send-too-many-students-to-college/
5. Stephens, D. (2011). College is a Waste of Time. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704101604576247143383496656
6. Carnevale, A. P., Rose, S. J., & Cheah, B. (2011). The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
7. Baum, S., Ma, J., & Payea, K. (2013). Education Pays 2013: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. The College Board.
8. Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of Research. Jossey-Bass.
9. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Education pays. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2020/data-on-display/education-pays.htm
10. Vedder, R. (2012). Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much. AEI Press.