Running Head: THE WORTH OF COLLEGE

The Worth of College: A Review of the Literature

Jonathan Emmanuel Acosta
University of Texas at El Paso







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Abstract
In the past recent years, college education has been controversy among the public. The public are
getting worried with the rising tuition rates and the devastating student debt that has reached
around one million dollars. However, there are groups out there that argue that going to college
is mandatory as it seen as huge investment. They argue that going to college allows students to
explore the upper knowledge and a great time experience. Though the cons towards college
education still claim that going to college is not worth it. In the following review, it will answer
questions about the worth of college and allow the reader to decide if college is worth it or not.












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The Worth of College: Literature of Review
College education is basically the next chapter in a recently high school graduated
persons life. College education prepares students for the oncoming real world where they will
have to find jobs in the careers that they are interested in. Like many college students, they take
their basic classes and then later go on to take specific courses that are pertained to their majors.
Once they are at the point of finally receiving their bachelors degrees then they can decide to
either to go on to the work force or to continue on their studies in graduate studies for their
pursuits of a masters or doctorates degrees. Before starting college however, students need to
pay to go college unlike in public schools which the public sees college as a very well
investment for college students, however some people disagree with that view.
The debate for college education has troubled the public for many years, leading up to the
question Is College worth it? The people who would say no to the question argue that college
causes nothing but trouble and suffering for college students and college graduates, but on the
other hand, the people that are for college education claims that college is important and
everyone must attend college to have a better future for themselves. Not only the debates are
affecting college students but they are affecting high school seniors as well since they are
questioning if they should attend a four-year university or not. The debate of whether to go to
college or not has risen up a controversy among the public who are thinking about the worth of
college which then these four questions must be answered:
1. Is college beneficial to the students?
2. Is a college degree worth the debt?

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3. Are college graduates likely to use their knowledge from their college
experiences on the workforce?
The following review on literature will: will discuss if college education is beneficial to the
students, explain if a college degree is worth the debt, explain how college education effects the
economy, and explain if the knowledge learned in college are actually being put to work on the
workforce today.
Is college beneficial to the students?
To the majority of the public, they see college as an investment to obtaining a successful
life since most of them know that college graduates earn more money than those without college
degrees. College is meant to increase ones education and allow that person to have a better
financial life with a good career. Such as how there are many people attending universities today
to pursue better lives for themselves with the meaning of making more money. According to
Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney, authors of their work Is Starting College and Not
Finishing Really that Bad?, they mention that those with a bachelors degree earn a premium
of roughly $30,000 each year relative to those with just a high school diploma. Over a lifetime of
work, a college graduate with a bachelors degree would earn over $500,000 more than an
individual with just a high school diploma. (Greenstone & Looney, 2013). College graduates do
earn more money than those with high school diplomas, after all they are pursuing careers that
require college degrees which allow better earnings than jobs that do not require a college
degree.
Not only that college can allow students to earn more money once they graduate, but they
are given more advantages to obtaining and keeping a job than the people with high school
diplomas. The unemployment rates vary among the public which the rates are much lower for
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college graduates versus the people that did not attend college. According to Greenstones and
Looneys BSL data of April, 2013, the unemployment rates for individuals without a high school
diploma was 11.4 percent; for high school graduates, 7.2 percent; for individuals with an
associates degree, 5.0 percent; and for graduates with a bachelors degree or higher,
unemployment was only 3.6 percent. (Greenstone & Looney, 2013). The unemployment rates
clearly display that college is to be taken advantage of to have high chance of obtaining a job. It
does make sense that more jobs are being created, and they are requiring college degrees which
the advantages will be favored to college graduates. (Greenstone & Looney, 2013).
Not only higher salary and job employment are beneficial to college students, but they
can also face the fact that college graduates are more likely to have health insurance and pension
plans. In 2008, 68% of four-year college graduates working at least half-time in the private
sector were covered by employer-provided health insurance. Only 50% of high school graduates
had this benefit. (Baum, Ma, & Payea, 2010). That clearly shows the benefits of having a
college degree rather than without one which can increase a persons chance of being provided
health insurance. The same goes for pension plans. College-educated workers are more likely
than others to be offered pension plans by their employers. Among those to whom these plans
are available, participation rates are higher for individuals with higher education levels. (Baum,
Ma, & Payea, 2010). In 2008, college graduates were offered pension plans by their employers at
a 70 percent while for high school graduates, they were offered at only 55 percent. (Baum, Ma,
& Payea, 2010). Such as how college graduates are more likely to have health insurance, they are
also in a high chance of having pension plans.
Though earning a bachelors degree in four years seem beneficial to having a good
career, some argues that college is not good as it seems. Some people argue that college
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education does not guarantee education or job preparation. About 1 in 3 college graduates feel
that their college educations did not prepare them in the work force. (Dua, 2013). Many students
who graduated from a four-year university feel that they are most unprepared in technical skills
and quantitative reasoning. (Dua, 2013). This causes employers to see new hires as poorly
workers as they are going to need to either train the new hired employees or not hire them. 39
percent of employers said that inadequate training was an issue with new hires, displaying the
unpreparedness that the college graduates are going through now. (Dua, 2013).
Though unpreparedness in the workforce causes stress but during college, students suffer
higher stress. During college, students are likely to feel overwhelmed by the stresses of grades,
classes, payments, jobs, time managements, high workloads, health, and the future outside of
college. In 2010, University of California Los Angeles conducted a survey on the emotional
health of college freshman, and the results were that the emotional health was at its lowest that
had ever been. (Wheeler, 2011). The director of Student Health Services says that college stress
is something to be aware of because it can lead to mental and physical symptoms such as:
headaches, weight gain, chronic digestive disorders, fatigue, increases blood pressure, insomnia,
teeth grinding in sleep, general irritability, reoccurring feeling of hopelessness, depression and
anxiety and low self-esteem. (Wheeler, 2011). One student from Brown University says that
college stress can be really harmful to the students as stresses would distract them from their
school work. The student also says that she still finds it hard to stay stress free during college
even though she has made contributions to lessen college stress. (Wheeler, 2011). Even job
market and the economy can increase college stress by causing students to compete higher on
their grades and extracurricular activities to help them get a bigger chance of getting a job once
they graduate, however causing higher stress among them till the end. (Wheeler, 2011). Also the
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separation of families and friends as college students leave out of town can cause high stress.
(Wheeler, 2011). As students go through college, they suffer from the many factors that increase
their college stress, not being beneficial to them.
Is a college degree worth the debt?
When it comes to saving money for college, mostly everyone tries their best to avoid
taking out loans in order to stay debt free. They usually compete for scholarships and apply for
financial aids to hopefully qualify grants, and if they dont earn neither of them, then they might
just pay out of their pocket for their college education. However, if a person is to not have
enough money for college then should the person take out loans and get into debt?
Many people would say no to the question as they see getting into debt as a burden.
College graduates who are in student debt are forced to delay adult milestones such as living on
their own, getting married and obtaining a financial independence. Student debt loans has been
increasing through the recent years as in 2012, this nations total student debt loans reached
around $966 billion dollars and today, Student debt now exceeds aggregate auto loan, credit
card, and home-equity debt balancesmaking student loans the second largest debt of U.S.
households, following mortgages. (Brown & Caldwell, 2013). Due to the increasing student
debt, college graduates are delaying purchases on major milestones such as buying a house and
an automobile. For houses, college graduates with student debt loans are less likely to own a
house around the age of 30 than those who have never taken out student loans. (Brown &
Caldwell, 2013). In figure 1, from 2000 to 2009, homeownership rates were higher for those with
the history of student loans than those who never taken out the loans.
Figure 1.
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However, during the recession (around 2011), the relationship between the rates inversely
changed. Thirty year olds with no history of student debt saw their homeownership rates decline
by 5 percentage points. At the same time, homeownership rates among thirty-year-olds with a
history of student debt fell by more than 10 percentage points. (Brown & Caldwell, 2013). Now
homeowners with no student loans are more likely to have home-secured debt than those with a
history of student loans. (Brown & Caldwell, 2013). As with automobiles, Auto loans are also
trending down at faster rates for those with student debt history than for those without. (Brown
& Caldwell, 2013). Thus, student debt loans are putting college graduates through difficult times
in buying a house or a car.
Though student debt can cause a college graduate to wait on big purchases, there is a
solution to overcoming the problems of student debt. It just matters on the amount of the loans
that a college student gets to pay for college. First off, a college degree is a huge investment as it
can allow a person to earn about $970,000 in his/her lifetime. (Strauss, 2012). With the huge
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investment, any person can pay off his/her student loans though it would have to take time. It is
advised for college students get an idea of how much will the student has to take out loans for
college and the salary that the person will be expecting to earn once he/she graduates. (Strauss,
2012). Such as how experts agree that ones total education debt should be less than ones
expected income the year after graduation. (Strauss, 2012). For example a person than needs to
take $52,000 of student loans for the four years at a university would be wise if the student
expects a starting salary of $52,000 or greater to pay off the debt. (Strauss, 2012). Another
solution to avoid debts is for the student to work during college and have his/her parent to aid the
student when it comes to payments during college. (Strauss, 2012). To avoid greater debts, one
should attend a public university as its tuition is much cheaper than a private universitys and
also to consider attending a community college on the first two years of college before
transferring to the dream school to save more money. (Strauss, 2012).
The question of whether going to debt is worth earning a degree or not depends on how
much a student will take out on loans and how the person is going to pay off the debt after
graduating from college. Though there are solutions for debts, debts can get in the way of
making major purchases in the future. However, one can avoid getting to high debts if that
student knows how much he/her needs to take loans for a college education.
Are college graduates likely to use their knowledge from their college experiences on the
workforce?
Even though college students are attending college to earn a degree, some of them
question the reason of why they need to take core classes such English, US History, Math,
Communication, Humanities, and so on. The purpose of taking core classes along with the
majors specific classes is to increase knowledge, which then the increased knowledge can be put
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to use on the workforce. Based on this recent survey On the scale 1-5, how much will your
college experience/learning will be a mandatory element in your life? the result was average
4.15 which was surveyed among 20 people. (Acosta, 2014). Jonathan Fitzgerald, a Visiting
Professor at Eastern Nazarene College, argues that The value of a liberal arts college education
--to you, to employers-- is that you've spent four years in a place where you were forced to
consider new ideas, to meet new people, to ask new questions, and to learn to think, to socialize,
to imagine. (Fitzgerald, 2012). He then mentions that college is meant to change a student to be
a better person and if that same student does not end up changing by graduation then college has
failed. (Fitzgerald, 2012). In other words, college education is to help college students to become
better people by the time they graduate, so they can be better workers with the aid of their
increased knowledge.
To some people, they do not see the purpose of taking core classes during college. For
example, a student who is an Engineering Major, claims that courses such as US History,
Humanities and Fine Arts are useless and waste of time to the student since he will need to learn
advance mathematics and science for his major. Alyssa Pracz from Northern Start explains that
basic courses should not be required for college students in her article. She describes of her own
experience of having to take a math class which had nothing to do with her major journalism.
(Pracz, 2011). General core classes can negatively impact students as students would not see a
purpose of them instead of their specific courses toward their majors. (Pracz, 2011). Pracz
mentions that due to core classes being usually taken in the first two years of college, students
are basically wasting their first two years of college of their time and money, and It would be
much more beneficial to spend the first two years studying more thoroughly for your major than
wasting your time worrying about your grades for general education courses. (Pracz, 2011).
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Pracz concludes her article by saying College should be a time spent focusing on and learning
about what you're going to do for the rest of your life, not frantically trying to learn bits and
pieces of every possible subject on campus. (Pracz, 2011). General core classes are not much
important to college students as most of the classes are not likely to be put to use when the
students start working in their careers.
Conclusion
To attend college or not really depends on the person if the person has the money or the
motivation to earn a degree, but if not, then college is seen as waste of time for those who are not
putting to hard work towards their college education. College can be beneficial or not for some
people, but its the attempt of pursuing college education that counts. Even though tuition is
increasing every year, causing student loans to be seen as a burden, however one can avoid the
high debts if he/she has the right financial plan by either attending a community college for the
first two years or applying for scholarships. Lastly, the knowledge learned from the four years at
college can benefit college graduates as they are facing their careers in the real world while for
others, knowledge learned from core classes will not be much used in the future. In the end the
question Is college worth it? the answer varies among the people.





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Sources

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Brown, M., & Caldwell, S. (2013). Young student loan borrowers retreat from housing and auto
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Wheeler, H. (2011, February 16). Ucla study explores cause and effect of college stress. The
biola
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university chimes. Retrieved from http://chimes.biola.edu/story/2011/feb/16/ucla-study-
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