Student Loans– Is A College Degree
Worth the Debt?
College
students whine about student loans and has become more cautious.
Introduction
Student loan is the
talk of the nation, especially with the average amount of debt being carried by
graduates with student loans reaching
$26,000 in 2011. For the college graduates, when high unemployment is
added to the equation there’s no escaping the fact that it could mean moving in
with dad and mum. It is thus not surprising that many have begun to question if
a college degree is worth the cost.
College
Cost
It has become a common
knowledge that as the number of students enrolling in college has increased,
the cost of attending college has risen as well. According to the available published
evidence, the annual cost of
attending a public college – including
tuition, room, and board - in 2000
academic year was $9,390 while in 2011
it was $13,297. For private colleges, the annual cost for the years 2000 and
2011 are $26,456 and $31,395 respectively. The implication of this is clear:
while the cost of attending a public college rose by 42% between 2000 and 2011,
that of private colleges increased by 15% during the same period. As a comparison, the annualized rate of
inflation during the period is 3.16-3.38%, implying that college costs has
risen more than three times the rate of inflation – that is, faster than most
of the other areas of life. The logical
deduction from this simple analysis is that even though a large percentage of
college students pay for college with grants and loans, the amount they receive
may be insufficient to cover their cost of attendance, and hence they are more
likely to foot some of the bill themselves.
Is It Worth It?
The value of a college
degree can never be overstated. First, no matter how smart you are, you will
need a college degree for a lot of high paying jobs. In a broader sense, engineers, teachers,
doctors and other similar professionals will not be so well of if they did not
go to college. Second, with fair justification, people with college degrees do
stand a better chance of landing a job than those with only high school
diplomas. Improved self esteem is
important too: it is important to acknowledge
the boost to one’s self esteem
and confidence that comes with making it through college. The legacy of a
college degree thus means that those that has it are better equipped to handle
life’s challenges and has a higher level
of satisfaction doing it when compared to those with high school diplomas
alone. Besides, academic research
documents that higher education means the ability and willingness to make
better choices when it comes to habits, implying that those with college
degrees are more healthy and lives longer than those without a degree.
What
to Do
The bottom line: while
getting a college degree may be one of the largest expenses you will ever face,
it is still considered a good investment
in that it provides opportunities which are not widespread to those who
have not received a higher education. It
should be called to mind that the fact
that the U.S. has been transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an
economy based on knowledge means that a college education can give you the best
chance for a well-paying job and a happy life. Hence, irrespective of the high
cost of attendance, a college degree
still remains the ticket to a better life.
References
The Institute for
College Access and Success: The Project on Student Debt. http://www.ticas.org/files/pub//Release_SDR12_101812.pdf
National Center for Education Statistics: Fast
facts.
Inflation Data; Historical Inflation Rate; Tim
McMahon
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/HistoricalInflation.aspx
Education sector:
Degrees of Value – Evaluating the Return on the College Investment http://www.educationsector.org/publications/degrees-value-evaluating-return-college-investment
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development: The Knowledge-Based Economy
http://www.oecd.org/science/sci-tech/1913021.pdf
