College provides skills, test run for real world

With the rocketing cost of tuition, many high school students find themselves questioning if higher education is worth it. Despite the discouragingly high costs to earn a degree, college education is still worth it for most people.

Without a degree, most jobs are simply unattainable. Companies are requiring degrees from employees even for basic jobs such as file clerk, receptionists, secretaries, etc. People who do these jobs do not need a college degree to do them, but the companies that hire them believe that a degree makes them harder workers and more capable than those without degrees.

The new requirement for college degrees is the result of a highly competitive job market. Those without a college degree are passed over for jobs like file clerks and receptionists and forced into jobs that make minimum wage, such as manual laborers and waitresses. While it is possible to get a career without a degree that pays well, these careers are few and far between.

Opponents of college education will immediately point to the grossly high tuition costs. Over the past thirty-five-years the price of tuition has quadrupled for states schools (with an average tuition of over $9,000). While inflation has played a role, the main reason for the sharp increase in price is the decreasing amount of government subsidies for public schools.

But the long-term benefits of a degree outweigh the initial cost. According to a study by Pew Research Center, current college graduates are payed more than $17,000 more early in their careers than their high school graduate counter parts. The already high college salaries will most likely continue to grow, which creates an even bigger wage gap between them and high school graduates.

In addition to the high wages, the quality of life is much better for college graduates. According to a study by the University of Maine, college graduates are nearly four times less likely to smoke, get arrested or be overweight than high school graduates. This increases the life expectancy of college graduates by seven years.

Trade schools may be an adequate replacement for a four-year degree program, but in reality, these programs are hardly a substitute. Trade schools can cost almost as much as a bachelor’s degree, depending on the school a student attends. After graduation, there is less job security for trade school graduates, as for new technology could eliminate their jobs.

Students also learn great social skills during college. For the vast majority of students, it is their first time since kindergarten where they know virtually no one. This stark plunge helps prepare college graduates’ social skills for the world outside academia. Additionally, many people

As well as standard social skills, romantic skills also prevail during college. College students have more dates because they favor shorter relationships, according to Campus Explorer. This allows college students to have more “practice” dating. Obviously, this practice pays off -28% of married couples meet each other in college, according to one USA Today Study.

Despite the downfalls of the university system, America needs the college experience to survive.