There was an interesting article recently in Bloomberg entitled: College tuition in the U.S. rises faster than inflation, again. In the article, Bloomberg reports results from a recent study conducted by the College Board. The study shows the continuation of a trend we have seen for decades. This year, inflation (measured by the personal consumption expenditures index) was 1.4%, while college tuition and fees rose at a rate above that. For private nonprofit colleges the average increase was 3.7% and for in-state residents at four-year public schools, costs rose 2.9%.
According to the article, "the good news is that increases this year are smaller than the average for the past five-, 10- and 30-year periods, and more public school students saw no increase at all." However, student loan debt is rising and most Americans' real incomes haven't grown in over 10 years.
The rising cost of tuition and therefore the student loan debt is absurd. A clear sign of this is how the article mentions that increases this year are not as high as years prior is classified as good news. The rising cost of college blindly assumes that the average family's income is increasing with it, which in the majority of cases is not.
ReplyDeleteAttending college right out of high school is still seen as the standard way to eventually land a future career. This is based on the ideal that college graduates will eventually be able to earn more income than a high school graduate over time. However, receiving a degree does not simply equate to guaranteeing a job right out of college anymore. I have 2 friends that graduated last year and are still looking for jobs in their field. They are holding up because they got part-time jobs not related to their field which begs the question if college is worth the "investment" anymore if they can't find a job in their field.
Although the cost of going to college keeps rising without a parallel increase in wages, I still do think that college is worth it. I don't think it is worth it in the idea of learning more, but for the single fact that most jobs today require a college education, whether or not the job is in a field that you studied. A college education will help you find a job even if it is not a job that you want. This being said however, will only perpetuate the increasing gap of low wages and student debt. When you pay so much for college, you expect a well paying job. However, in today's job market, that is very unlikely. I don't think there is a feasible solution to this dilemma. I feel that college is a necessary part of entering the professional workforce and this wage disparity only encourages it. If you want a well paying job, you go to school, incur a lot of debt, and hope to pay it off once you become wealthy in the future.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I have a child, I hope times have changed enough that I don't have to worry about whether or not college is worth it or not. However, I think I'll start saving money now just in case.
Although college costs continue to rise faster than inflation, I think college education is worth it. Nowadays, people are hard to live without bachelor degree, because most companies require their employees to have college degrees or higher than those. From this blog post, a student loan debt has been increasing almost every year. I think the government should release more jobs on markets for students due to the increasing of the student loan debt. Therefore, students can pay back their loan debt. The government must need to consider their students. If not, the economic and society can change into unfavorable society and negative economic. I will save money for my children’s college education, because I do not know what is going to happen in the future. It is better to prepare for my children’s college tuition now than nothing in the future.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how the government can create more jobs for students, but I agree that if students can work while in school they may not have to take (as much of) a loan.
DeleteThe nature of the growth of college tuition doesn't reflect increases in performance. Furthermore, a college education is not as measured up to as work experience. In reality many college students would graduate without finding an appropriate field or profession. Similarly, this relates that most college students have not inherited a sizable amount of wealth from prior generations. Many students whom take the responsibility of their family and their own personal finance find that going into college is a debt worth incurring. They do this and leave with unpaid debt.
ReplyDeleteThe question remains does the colleges increases in tuition reflect those who are not able to pay? In other words, since colleges naturally know many students will not pay their outstanding debts, the colleges can take action on the overall population of students to compensate for those unpaid debts by raising the tuition. This may very well be the case. Sadly if colleges choose another option such as taking into account a student’s credit score, this would be far more disadvantageous to those who are capable of covering their debt over time, since many students have not developed a credit score prior to college entry. The colleges could choose credit scores from families as entry measures. Many families whom are characterized as the working class, minimizing cost and living pay check to pay check, would thus not be able to put their children into college. If a student does not make the college entry, federal aid is pointless. This both curbs federal encouragement of education and creates a loop in which those who are in the working class are unable to become professionals such as accountants, analysts, doctors, lawyers, etc. and move up to the middle class. The income disparity thus would increase evidently. What this means is that parents or families should carefully invest in their children’s education from the onset. But for many working class families this is not possible, such that they pay bill to bill, covering costs and often needing their own children to work at an educationally sensitive time. To those in the middle class an early investment would make a good way to prepare for a child’s education. Preferably in mutual funds or blue chip stocks which can appreciate overtime even by inflationary rates and present a sizable amount to pay student debts. Other families might be forced to consider costs as a decision on how many children they should rear. Having many children with no education is rarely a desirable outcome.
What we are left with are a rising debt, a federal government which lacks the responsibility to accommodate the educational drive on a secondary level. There can be no question that pre-college level education within the U.S is much more effective than college level education. This can be attributed to many reasons, first of course is class size, second is the level of specialization of the instructor, and third the mandated regulations regarding pre-college level educations. Many college professors are primarily researchers, which in other words mean they are not there to be effective “teachers”. Small universities often compensate for this deficiency however incur often higher education costs, raising the debt for those unable to pay, or rather creating specialized niches in which wealthy individuals can accommodate their children.
College education is worth investing in if college students work hard through out academic years and really put efforts in planning life path properly. The article mention about the inflation rising which seems to me has no immediate irrelevant to the tuition rising. In recent years the U.S government has put financial pressure on tertiary education institutions, less fund are given to the private colleges from the U.S government, not to mention the public colleges. This kind of risking pressure pushes colleges’ raise their tuition in order to keep up with the rising inflation rate and fulfill operating needs.
ReplyDeleteSecond reason, the massive amount of International students causes the raise of tuition. In 2013, President Obama announced he decides to lower the requirement for the foreign students in order to let them come to U.S to get better education. Therefore, the amount of foreign students in U.S accelerates ever since 2013. Imagine in one college the classes’ seats and numbers of professors are limited, however, all of a sudden a massive amount of International students come in the school and share out the limited educational resources. There is one simple rule in economics to explain this phenomenon: When demand exceeds supply, the price of the product/service will rise. This applies to the tuition rising phenomenon in U.S these years. Therefore, students who are still on students loan have to face the fact that the decrease of debt will not happen in a few years since the debt have to match up with the tuition inflation. On loan students will need to plan in advance about internship and career life as early as possible in order to face the debt difficulties. If possible, get a part-time job to pay some of their bills.
If I plan to save education funds for my child, I will be glad to. However, this means I already foreseen the impossibilities for my future child to pay his/her tuition by themselves, which is a really bad sign, since the future tuition will have great possibilities to keep inflating.
In my opinion I do believe college is worth it. I think that in this day if you
ReplyDeletewant a decent paying job some type of college degree is required, even if it is
not in your field. The fact that a lot of college students have that mentality
is what it makes it so difficult. If you go on a job interview and everyone else
has a degree and you don't it seems like you are already behind even though you
may be better suited for the job. The growing college tuition is putting more
and more students in debt. Theirs a lot of students I know who's parents pay
for them to go to school and a lot of them that will have to pay off their debt
after they graduate. The fact that kids will be thousands in debt before they
even have a job is sad and rising prices are not making it any easier on these
students. I think their are a few ways to try and make it a little easier. One
way is working part time wile go to school. Although it is not easy you can get
ahead start on what you owe. Another way is to be smart when choosing your
college. Instead of going away to an out of state college try to find an instate
college that can cost you half the price. When it comes to my kids I will try to
start saving at a young age so that they will not have to go threw what many other newly graduated students have to go threw. Its sad because many of these students whos parents can not afford to pay for them are trying to better them selves and get a degree so they will not be in the same situation but in doing that they are just digging themselves into more and more debt.
I am an international student from China and I believe the necessity of college education. For international students, college tuition is twice or more higher than the local students. The reasons why we are willing to pay such a high tuition to study abroad is we want to see the world and educate ourselves globally. If the college tuition rises rapidly, it means the society is limiting the students’ desire of learning. Children in the future will have less opportunities to improve and extend their knowledge because they could not afford to attend college. If that is the case, the evolvement of our human kinds will slow down dramatically. Evolution is based on our knowledge, and if we cannot provide our children education consequently it will limit our power of evolution.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, raising the student loan will also cause students to rethink the option of higher education. This will cause a huge amount of student giving up their college life because they cannot afford it. In order to provide children wider options, their parents will have to start saving up for their children. But what if we have more than one child? You will have to save a thousands more. If that is the case, we need to start thinking about not only our own future but our children’s’. However, I don’t have any kid yet and I am not even married! How am I supposed to save money for my children who don’t even exist yet? It is so unrealistic and hard to imagine for us right now. But our society is forcing us to think ahead and plan ahead for the future. We cannot help but to tighten our wallet and save money for or “children”.
I believe that the rising costs of a college education are not worth it, though that it is necessary in today's competition driven work environment. Naturally, those with the most qualifications will receive the most consideration for a job. Virtually every well paying job in today's environment require a college degree. Those that don't are nearly impossible to get. A four year college degree is just a foundation now. You want a job? In many cases you need a Masters degree and prior work experience. A bachelors degree won't cut it.
ReplyDeleteNow, I do believe college is far more expensive than it is worth, thought the blame can only be placed on students for paying it. There are plenty of affordable options for students who can't afford to go to expensive private schools. Stony Brook University is one of them. Almost any SUNY school is one of them. Your $240,000 degree from Quinnipiac University isn't worth any more to our future employer than my $30,000 degree from Stony Brook. So why pay that much? Private universities don't necessarily offer a better education, or any guaranteed employment. It is not a safer bet than a private school. This is the problem. People pay it. There is a demand for expensive college degrees so naturally there is a supply.
College education is definitely worth the price. Even though rates are increasing as real wages are not, I think society is shifting in a way that in the future, one must have a college degree to work any job that does not pay minimal, which is not true today. There would not be so many students putting themselves in debt if the payoff in the future was not worth it. I believe that after a certain point if tuition rates keep increasing, the government will be forced to step in and take action, artificially decreasing rates. I do not think that college tuition prices will ever increase to a point where it becomes uneconomical to attend college, because then the demand for education will fall and that will drag the rates back down to a stable price. In the future, I think that one will need to have a degree in order to work jobs that today may not require them, which is why despite rising tuition costs and increasing student loans, I feel higher education is definitely still worth the price of admission. Unfortunately, coming out of college does not guarantee someone a job these days. However, I do not believe that the lack of jobs available is the fault of higher education. Even if a person is not guaranteed a job coming out of college, their chances are definitely higher than someone who did not attend college at all.
ReplyDeleteDespite the high tuition and increasing student loan debt, I believe that college education still holds its value. I also believe that colleges and universities should not raise tuition unless absolutely necessary or unless they plan to offer more value to students. Without at least a bachelor's degree, it is very difficult to compete with other job seekers to find a high salary job. As inflation rates rise, it will also be more difficult for graduates who find a job to save and pay back their large amount of student loans. With difficulty saving and paying loans in the beginning of a student's career, it is going to be difficult for any student to save and prepare for a family or children in the future. Inflation rates are naturally going to increase as time goes on and in my opinion, colleges and universities will continue to raise their tuition as well, increasing the amount of debt each student has when they graduate. This process is creating a trend for the future, where eventually, students may not see college as a value anymore. One possible way to counteract this trend would be for colleges and universities to prevent their tuition rate from rising above the inflation rate.
ReplyDeleteAlthough college tuition and fees are increasing, I believe that a college education is definitely worth it. Seeing how it's already hard to obtain a well-paying job, trying to obtain such a job without a college education seems like a long-shot to me. In fact, I believe that in the future, having a Master’s degree or a PhD will become more common than now. To differentiate from everyone else and to stand out in the increasingly competitive world, a growth of students having Master degrees and PhD's seems reasonable to me. Despite this, the rising student debt is very concerning. Even if a student happens to graduate and land a job, paying off loans is still going take much time. On top of that, the increasing numbers in student debt will make this already existing problem much more problematic. Although student loans may be an issue, I believe that if a student can go through college and obtain their Bachelors and hopefully their Master’s or PhD, it will still be worth it as the degrees would make the student much more credible and give them the edge when it comes to getting jobs, compared to a person with just a high school degree. Students can also involve themselves in part-time jobs to help lessen the load of student debt. Without a doubt, I will save money for my children’s college education, as a college education is now becoming a norm and in the future I believe that competitiveness will rise even more, making it necessary to go obtain a college education.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the reason why I(as an international student) am willing to pay triple tuition than in-state students is I believe college education is a basic and necessary process for today's people who want a better life. I come from China and I desire a better college education, then I came to U.S. to get my bachelor degree just because I believe that will help me get better education and open my horizon. Although a bachelor degree not a guarantee for a high salary job, it still worth it's price for me.About rising student loan debt, in my opinion, I think that may increase some burdens on students. As we know, college students have lots of homework need to do, and the rest time they need to do some part time job to make them live. If the loan debt has increased, how could they focus on their courses while thinking about those debt together? Should they spend more time on their part time job than spend on their courses? I do not think so rising student loan debt is a good idea. In my case, I think I will save money for my children's college education, as a perfect gift for their 18th birthday.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, being in debt is the worst possible feeling. This is my fifth college semester, but what makes this semester exceptionally different from all the others I was enrolled in is that I took out student loans in order to pay for tuition. College is already hundreds of dollars more costly from when I started just two years ago and this irritates me to some degree. It makes me sick how there is a high price for education, metaphorically saying that education should go to those who can afford it and not to those who want it. I am nowhere near surprised that college prices is rising faster than the rate of inflation, but I still think that having a college degree compensates for the high price of a college education.
ReplyDeleteI chose the upsetting feeling of being in student debt to continue my Stony Brook undergraduate studies because a college degree is necessary for living in the "real world." Unlike most loans, student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, which makes me feel that education lenders only care about getting money rather than helping a student become educated. I feel blessed to be able to go to a school where the costs are relatively low in comparison to other public and private colleges across the nation. However, I still feel sympathy for all the other students as they have to accrue even more debt because tuition and fees are higher at their college/university.
If I wanted to save for my children's college education, I would probably open an interest earning account before or at the time of their birth. Being someone who has to take out student loans, it truly is a burden. I would not want that heavy burden on the back of their mind while they are in college. Private student loans have ridiculous interest rates and federal loans have certain qualifications that not all students are eligible for. Saving for college rather than borrowing for college will make it much easier in the long run because you will not have to worry about the debt payments and the interest rates that come with it.
The price of college education is absolutely absurd, especially if you are an International Student in this country. When I came to USA, I thought the in-state resident students were lucky to have to pay only half of the out-state fee. But after being here for some time, I realized the mountain of debt most students carry after graduating from college. And that is just for an Undergraduate Degree.
ReplyDeleteThere are some countries like Germany and Norway, which have free or very affordable tuition fees. And they have some pretty good-ranked colleges as well. $106 billion dollars is just a way too big figure spent on borrowing money for college. Also, not everyone is being placed into the jobs that they went college for. Many students settle for jobs not in their career, paying less money than expected and working something they don't even like.
It is funny how a 4 year college degree is seen as a benchmark for getting into the workforce. Some people might be as qualified, if not more, just after high-school than some people who have completed college.It is like a trend that has been going on for decades and has been accepted by the society. Also, after paying so much for college, a student is expected to take any job that comes to him so that he can start paying back as soon as he can. Sometimes, the parents also have huge debts that their son/daughter needs to help out with.
That being said, a college experience can change the way you live for the rest of your life. It is also the only way you can get a job and keep paying for your family. It would be nice if the government significantly reduced the cost so that people can start afresh with their career and not have to worry about huge debts to pay off.
It is hard to tell whether attending university is worthy. It is depends on complex factors such as the university you attend, and how much effort you make while studying in university. However, the only thing I can say is that we have a different situation than our parents’. Attending university is a big honor in my parents’ time because the competition is very fierce: too much people but just a little seat to study in university. However, at our time, everyone get a chance to study in university, so the value of attending university is much, much lower than before. The only thing persuade us to attending university right now is that we can gain more knowledge to prepare for future work, even though there are some people have great success without attending in university. The result is that I still cannot understand why university tuition is increasing even though the value of attending it is decreasing.
ReplyDeleteWe spend four or more years on studying in university. Some people who chose not to attend university have these four or more years to go to work, and accumulate practical experience while they working. That means if we cannot gain enough knowledge in university to compete with those people who are accumulating experience, it is a waste of time and money in university, not to mention the increasing tuition and rising students loan debt. So, choosing the right university and gaining the equally value of knowledge from professors and university is necessary. It is necessary to cost money, but we need to think about how to spend that amount of money in a value way.
I believe that college education is worth it even the tuition is increasing as time goes. As an international student, the education abroad is more than just basic education. It can also help me improve my self-care ability. Imagine there is no parents around you when you encounter the difficulties, sadness. You have to take care of yourself all the time. You may not be able to speak fluent English but you have to make use of this language to help yourself get things done. You grow up fast when you are put into a totally strange country learning different cultures and meet a variety of people.
ReplyDeleteIf I want to save for my children's college education, tuition increases means that I need to save more money in order to provide them enough money to pay off their tuition. In this case, I'd like to open a saving account and save certain money in it every year. The reason I want to do it is that saving account can earn interest and it can also relieve my stress when the day I need large amount of money.
While college is expensive, I do believe in today's world that it is worth the price. In the near future however due to raising prices and competition from online education, college institutions will diminish. Seeing how the college industry was one of the only markets not affected by the recession, while maintaining increasing costs in a downed economy causing students to pay higher and higher student loans to be ludicrous and greedy.
ReplyDeleteTo save for my future children's college education, I would have to invest a larger amount of capital earlier than if I would invest today, to compete with rising college tuition and inflation.
I believe that, even with the high price of tuition not matching income level increases, college is still a necessary step in ones career path. Clearly, everyone does not need college to be successful (Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg), but for most it is a requirement of a good job. I believe that the day college will no longer be worth it is when companies no longer expect it, and at this point, I don’t see that happening.
ReplyDeleteFor our generation, college is comparable to high school of our parents’ generation. This is not to say that it is as easy as their high school was, but as far as progressing in a career, college is now a given. 60% of all current jobs in the United States require a college education. It seems that to get ahead in your career, you will need graduate school experience. Then we begin to wonder, is graduate school worth the price? This is a question that everyone must ask himself or herself, because it is a personal decision. College enables you for an entry-level position, but I believe that graduate school better prepares you for a higher position. The drawback of graduate school comes right back to the original problem, tuition rising at a faster rate than inflation.
Thankfully, we are all enrolled at a state school, and do not have quite as high tuition increases as those in private colleges, but the debt can still be overwhelming, but a necessary evil.
College education fee is rising year by year, since I first entered college two years ago. In my opinion, if college education is worth expensive tuition, it depends on how hard you work and how much you learn from college. For student who works hard on studying, the expensive tuition is definitely worth it. They can actually learn some knowledge and will be able to apply those knowledge in the future career. Hard-working students can get scholarship easily as well, so the expensive tuition will not be a big problem for them basically. On the other hand, for students who have a creation mind or is not interested in college studying, they are attending college just because their parents want them to do it. I don't think it is worth the high price. They do not have to push themselves to study in college. They can learn more from social practice other than in college. Sharpening their minds from the society earlier than students who attend college. They can experience totally different experiences than in college and those experiences are great values for a person in long term. Students can learn different aspects, which is knowledge and experience from the different ways they choose.
ReplyDeleteRising student loan debt is not a good thing for students. It puts more pressure on both students and their families. I will save money for my children's college education, much more than the tuition I have to paid right now, because it is increasing every year. Most importantly, I will respect my children's thought if he/she think college education is worth the price, but still encourage he/she to attend college first.
I do not believe that a college education is worth it. I think the main reason why many still pursue a college education is because occupations require a college degree to be hired for a job. College has now become a checklist item that needs to be accomplished in order to step out into the “real world”. In order to submit a resume to a job that employer will actually read a college degree must be present. Therefore, I believe that colleges have been taking advantage of this opportunity to raise its prices. Since a college degree is a requirement, increasing prices is not problem at all for universities because they will not lose out on any “customers”.
ReplyDeleteFor students who cannot pay for their high tuition and room/board they will be able to take out loans. I think that it is horrible how this article clearly states that for at least the past decade college tuition rose significantly, but income rates have stayed the same. I don’t think that the government is taking the right actions to help students by allowing them to take out loans or paying for part of the tuition. Instead they should tell colleges to stop increasing their prices. If this trend continues it would be impossible to save money for my children’s college education. After I graduate I would need to pay off my loans in a couple of years then also save much more money for my future children because college tuition would cost much more, while still trying to live a life with at least food and shelter.
Honestly, I just feel that the increase in tuition is directly related to inflation. I think that tuition increases as the cost of the dollar decreases to make up for lost profit of the university or institution. The only reason I feel that the piece of paper that says I attended college is necessary is to not be weeded out in the decision process of companies. With such scarce jobs and little room for employment, companies need a way to weed out candidates that are unqualified. College is nothing more than a stepping stone into a professional career and universities know this, so they raise the price of tuition knowing that people will pay it. Private colleges and universities almost have a monopoly knowing that people need college now to advance and will pay anything to go through it in order to advance in life. Nothing you learn in college is applied in real life aside from the skill development of time management and the ability to teach yourself material.
ReplyDeleteThe increasing price of College tuition is very upsetting for the lower class. It pretty much adds a barrier for people of that class and another advantage for the upper class. "The rich get richer" as the saying goes. College degrees aren't as special as they were many years ago, with more people having them due to harsher requirements that most jobs have. While an incentive to not go to college can bring back that exclusivity, I don't think keeping poorer people out would be a good thing. That said, if you are passionate about a career that require higher education, then college is still worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see foreign countries provide free college tuition. I like that idea a lot more than America's system. If you attend college for free, you have fewer reservations about dropping out if you find out it's not for you.
The rising costs of a college education raises the question of, is college worth the cost? More and more private and public sector jobs are requiring college degrees, so in order to even get those jobs you need to go to college. I also think that college is an important test that shows your endurance and work ethic to companies. A lot of people do not graduate, so it shows that you are willing to work hard to succeed. College gives you specialized areas of education that you can't get in high school, and it prepares you for specific jobs. People with college degrees have more opportunities than people that don't.
ReplyDeleteI think that college is worth the cost, but i think that people have to realistic in their college choices. People should look to go to state schools to save money and avoid the very expensive private schools.You don't need to spend $50,000 per year at a private school, when you could spend $8,000 at a state school for the same or maybe even better education.
For many young people education is the only way they know how to secure their future. College tuitions are rising like every other living expense. It is part of the economy trend. Not all students are so fortunate to have parents wealthy enough to help them pay off their tuition and graduate with no debts. But I believe that pursuing a higher education is absolutely worth it even if a new student has to take on the task of financing his or her own college tuition. It is difficult enough to find a job after securing a degree these days, and even more difficult without one. I came from a country where it is harder to enter a public college than a private one because academic performance grants you enrollment and if you are a good student you attend college for free. Otherwise, you can pay to attend a private university that will overlook your low grades as long as you are willing to learn and pay tuition. We always hear that “knowledge is power.” And it is true. It is so important to take away everything that you have earned in college and not just get the diploma. Carrying with you all the knowledge that you gained helps you successfully start a career and land a job that will pay off your student loans.
ReplyDeleteAs far as saving for our children’s tuition, it is important to start saving money as early as possible even in small amounts. I also believe that investing in early childhood education is as equally important as saving for college. Early child education promotes success in primary school and high school and increases the chances of being accepted to the student’s college of choice. The skills and knowledge that students gain before entering college are useful towards winning scholarships which reduce future college tuitions and reliance on loans.
I believe that the value of college education varies from person to person. I believe that a person who is willing to work hard and take advantage of all the opportunities presented to them during college is going to have a better return on their investment than someone who frequently slacks off and is not motivated to pursue a career after graduation. In addition I also believe that a person's major or career choice should be put into consideration when deciding which college one should attend. If someone is seeking to enter a job field where the salary is not the highest, then they should definitely try to avoid the more expensive private universities and not simply just choose it based on the name. If one works hard enough they can achieve success even from cost-efficient public universities. There's no need for someone to raise hundreds of thousands in student loan debt when they can achieve the same success from a lesser known but more cost efficient school. I feel as if that is a huge problem today where students are willing to pay a ton of money just to have the name of a renowned school on their resume. Careful though and consideration should be put into such decisions and the return on investing their education should be keenly considered. As for saving for my children's college education, I would start early but I wouldn't simply put my child in to high cost universities just for the name if I cannot afford it. The decision is going to result from outweighing the benefits and costs of different education opportunities.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of an increased tuition and the current student loan crises continues to be a growing concern. Despite this, I believe a college education, for the most part, is still worth it. Of course there are examples depending on what part of the country you live in and your family's situation, sometimes college may not be worth it. From a financial standpoint I believe a college education results in opportunity. Especially in the business world today, credentials are extremley important. A high school education will restrict individuals on being hired and/or moving up the ladder in a company.
ReplyDeleteAs for the growing debt issue, I encourage families to educate themselves in finance and steps they can be taking now to help them with the financial obstacles ahead. Learning about time value of money and investments may help to aid some of the potential financial burdens of the future. Introducing some sort of seminar at high schools around the country may be a useful step in helping the crises. With the growing tuition rates, it is unrealistic to say that the debt crises will disappear, however, i think this will help the problem.
I believed in increased public funding for state schools to make the tuition rates more affordable for students would be effective. The country depends on the individuals in higher education to lead in coming generations. The tuition rates of $50,000+ are deterring people, instead of inviting. An increase in government spending and the spreading awareness of high school students' futures will allow for a more affordable post secondary education.
In some countries, such as Korea, China, or America, college education is necessary. However, I am not sure it is worth. In the countries which I told above, the most big reason why students have to get a bachelor degree is getting a job. Most students want to get a better job. So they prepare a lot of things to get a better job. Getting a bachelor degree or getting a high GPA is an one of the process to get a job. As a result, the students go to a college without specific goal (reason) and select a major. They focus on easiness of class which they take, not a quality of the class. If a student have a specific goal and really want to know about one's field, then it is worth to go college. However, if not, it's worthless, I think. If I wanted to save for my children’s college education, I will save money just for in case because I don't want my children to have a debt. However, I want government to consider college tuition. Also, I want society to change, so people can get a job without a diploma of college.
ReplyDeleteI believe college education is worth, but the price is too expensive for students. Compared with Germany where college tuition fees are $620 (550 euros, with 1:1.24 euro-dollar exchange rate today) per semester, but quality of education shows not much difference. In addition, it will help the economy if graduated students put their income into something else, such as buying a product or saving money, instead of paying back student loans. If the economy keeps going bad, raise in income will be difficult, then no increase in real income, and there will be not enough money to be circulated in the society which will make the economy condition worse. So, I believe colleges should set their tuition fees based on current economy status. Especially, when the economy condition is bad like these days. Since today's condition of the economy is not good, colleges should lower their tuition fees, then students can have somewhere else to spend their money, loan debt will decrease, and the economy will live again. Making a savings for my children's college education is necessary these days, and I believe I definitely have to start doing it whenever I get married. But the reason I am doing it is because college tuition fees are extremely expensive. I believe it is pretty ridiculous to make savings for 20 years or more just for my future kid's college education. As I mentioned before, if money can be used somewhere else instead of making savings only for college education, the economy condition can be better because money can be circulated. Colleges need money to provide better environment conditions and education to their students, but their first purpose is not making money. Therefore, I believe colleges have to provide reasonable tuition fees which can benefit the school, parents and students, but not only for the college itself.
ReplyDeleteWith the rising costs of college tuition, pursuing a degree is becoming more and more difficult. According to the article, real incomes have not grown for more than a decade, while tuition and fees are increasing faster than the rate of inflation. Additionally, undergraduate debt is rising.These are all very compelling arguments as to why it wouldn't be worth it to get a college education. But, many students, like myself, are still pursuing a degree because most jobs require people to have a college education. If you are that one person who doesn't have what all other applicant have, you are not likely to get the job. With a college degree it is difficult to secure a job, but without one, it seems even harder. And, obviously, gaining knowledge in a certain field through college education is extremely important and a good tool for anyone, even outside of a career. There is a lot of personal growth that college provides as well. Also, like the article said, while wages may not be increasing for those with a college education, the gap is still widening because those without one have declining wages. Personally, I think it is worth it to get a college education, however, I also believe getting a college education varies from person to person. Some people see value and gratification in other areas of life. There are other circumstances where people can achieve great success without a college education. It's all relative.
ReplyDeleteThe rising student loan debt is obviously worrisome for myself and many others. It raises concerns for our future and causes us too have to plan accordingly. What scares me the most is the fact that big milestones in my life will be affected or pushed back because of the debt. It makes it that much more important to get a job as soon as I can. Saving money for my children to go to college is going to require me too start saving as early as I can. It is just another thing that I have to plan ahead for in my life.
From reading this article and my prior knowledge it has come to my attention that the steady increasing rate of college tuition is atrocious for college students. I believe that every student should get a college education because in today’s society many “professional” jobs will require prospective applicants to have a college degree. The value for a college education may or may not be worth it depending on the student’s situation. There are many factors that can cause many different situations such as: type of school (private or public), field of study, going to graduate school/getting a higher degree, and employment rate/salary of the job. Students should imply the cost-benefit analysis to decide on if the benefit of getting a college education outweighs the cost of having to pay tuition. Overall, students should aim to get a college education because in order to have a bright future, individual will need to have a college education.
ReplyDeleteThe rising student loan debt develops stressful conditions for students. Students are more worried about paying back loans than getting their education resulting in students to prolong their graduation. Students that are financially unstable will have to get jobs to start paying back loans before the interest accumulates even more. Getting a job will take away from a students time from studying and will cause a less effective college experience.
In the future, when I have a child I will make sure that my child has the best college education he/she can receive. I will need to have a professional job and that pays enough and start saving early so that I can afford my child’s education. I do not want my child to be limited to the school/education level he/she receives due to financial reasons.
I believe that a college education is very valuable and important in one’s personal life, but I don’t think that the rising costly price in order to receive the education is worth it. I believe that it is not fair and affordable for a family having to turn to loans or financial aid in order to pay for their education, especially with income not rising. It has been shown in society that a college education can give people the valuable skills and information they need to learn in order to achieve job requirements, but it does not mean that success is guaranteed right after education or even success in general. People can be successful without any of this education, by becoming an entrepreneur and finding success through their own will. Why should the price of education be so high then? This leads to more debt in society and the ability to save money becomes harder and harder.
ReplyDeleteIn today’s globalized society, it is widely believed that college education is not worth any more. Some people advocate that rate of people who have college degree is extremely increased compare to past. They highlights the degree of college is useless to compete with other. They also maintain other opportunities are developed and given to new generation. In this point of view, college education is not that suitable to our generation. However, I disagree with this point of view, I firmly believe that college education is worth much more than financial issue. This is because first, college is not only place of leaning education but also, place of socialize with people and develop strong points of students themselves. Another reason is they delay four years to start in real society which they have to live themselves without help of parents. This has two positive side, one is their start line is way better than non-degree or high school degree people. another is they enjoy four more years as student without survive of real world.
ReplyDeleteThe rising student loan debt is not one of the worst phenomenon of our society. From the ancient, education is one of the most important thing because it is the only way to make better or develop society and people. However, our greedy society is trying to stealing a chance of high level education from most people through increasing student loan debt and tuition more than inflation rate. It also implies our society is more greedy and worse compare to past.
If I wanted to save for my children’s college education, it means nothing to me. If I have education, I have to support my children’s education as they want. I believe it is obligation of parent. Therefore, support and save for my children’s college education is just casual or natural to me.
Stating whether or not a college education is worth it can not be just a yes or no answer. There are numerous factors that play into such a detailed decision. I feel that a college education is not necessary to be successful in life but it most definitely is a useful tool. Determination and will are stronger factors in todays world while trying to fight for positions in companys. There are many programs that prepare you for specific job requirements and sometimes schooling can be necessary depending on the field you are going into. But in return,
ReplyDeletetwo of the most successful people, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, dropped out of college and are now making more money than most Americans.
Rising school debt is extremely frightening. Not only will the costs of a college education increase over time but if the debt continues to increase then to me it seems as if eventually governmental loans will no longer be available for students in need (with 90% of students receiving some kind of governmental help, it seems like most of them are in need).
If loans are no longer available and it becomes difficult to obtain help with paying for a college education, less students will start to reach out towards a goal of education.
If I were to plan on saving money for my children's education, I would have to start now. I would also only put them into a school like Stony Brook rather than a private school. Private schools are way to overpriced and I have heard personally from many private school students that the help they receive from professors is not up to par with what they advertise. Stony Brook all the way.
I believe a college education is well worth the costs of said education. The benefits of a college diploma far exceed the costs of education by enabling a job-seeking individual to distinguish themselves from other potential candidates. For residents of NY State, SUNY schools provide excellent education for a third of the price of private universities. What I find troubling is the fact that tuition is rising faster than inflation and forcing individuals to take on costly student loans. I believe the rise in student loans is correlated with the fact that many individuals returned to college in 2008 when the economy was not so great. The article mentions the fact that real income has not risen while college tuition has. It is unfortunate individuals are forced to take out rising loans while income remains the same. This will result in many people taking longer to pay back student loans. Saving for college is becoming increasingly difficult and if tuition continues to outpace inflation more hardship is to ensue. To compete with rising tuition I would have to invest more capital earlier in order to meet college savings goals.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, the college tuition and fees in the U.S have increased even faster than the rate of inflation in 2014. But what even worse is that the student debt is rising while the family income still remains the same. Of course, personally, the college education is not worth a high tuition fee. Here are some reasons. First, the increase in college tuition does not fit the development of total income. Family income does not even rise a little bit but people have to pay more and more for college education. As the tuition fee is rising, more and more families can not afford huge amount of fees for their children’s college education, which includes not only the tuition but also the fees on room and board, transportation, books and laundry. How can people spend money if they do not earn enough money? Second, college education should face to most people. The president Obama always pays attention to education, and a better education can change a country. Without a doubt, the high college tuition can led a decrease in college enrollment. As the article said, “Higher education enrollment, including at two-year colleges, declined in 2013 for a second straight year, the U.S Census Bureau said in a September report”. () So governments should encourage people to get higher education instead of just thinking about earn money. On the one hand, college education as a higher education should be charged by the government, and it helps economy grows. On the other hand, if the college tuition is too high to pay, lots of people can not go to college. As a result, people may not get a job, and it is also not good for the country’s long-term development. Therefore, charging a high college tuition is a bad idea, and it is unfair to American families.
ReplyDeleteRising student loan debt is a good way for those students and families who can not totally afford the college fees, but it still has its disadvantages. Even though the total borrowing for college declined, the cumulative student debt rose to $28,400 from $27,850 in 2013. With the high college tuition, the way to use student loan debt is risky. Some families may not be available to pay the money back. Moreover, some students become more cautious and may rethink if they will continue to be educated.
If I wanted to save for my children’s college education, an increasing amount of tuition and fees means that the amount of money I saved today is less worth than the same amount of money in the future. So I need to earn more and more money to satisfy the tuition growth. I always believe education should not be so expensive. Especially, as an International student, our college tuition is much higher than the payment for local students. I know even some local people they do not go to college since their families can not support it. Some families have seven or more children, and I understand it is hard for their parents to support all of them for college education. But children should have the right to be educated. Colleges change people and give them a better future.
As an international student, I don't think the college education in the U.S is worth it anymore. The tuitions for international students cost much higher than those for in-state students and even out-of-state students, which is rising according to the article. And not to mention a large amount of fees like traveling fees, living fees, money exchange fees etc. There are some scholarships or financial aids for international students here and there, but that's just not enough to cover the amount of money students like me have to pay. In addition, there is no guarantee for jobs not only for international students but also even for those from the U.S. My dad was also an international student in the U.S. twenty years ago. At the time, with just a bachelor degree from a U.S. school, a high paying job was guaranteed for sure in my country, but it is not anymore. Moreover, with the time of a year, looking for a job in the U.S. that is enough to pay for housing, living, eating and etc. for a newly international graduate is too hard to be done. Super high risks and no guarantee of a return make me rethink about how should I spend the money on my children's higher education in the future for this kind of "investment."
ReplyDeleteI do think that college is worth is if you are the type of person who will take a job requiring a degree. many jobs can be achieved with minimal training but many require a degree and the easiest way to be considered for a job such as that would be to have one. my brother was able to achieve a high ranking position that required a degree without one but it took him years of experience to compensate for it. I think the rising student debt is not something that an individual to be concerned with i think that everyone should take responsibility for their finances. if they can not afford college they should be going. but if they choose to it is their own responsibility that they repay the loans. In my opinion saving for a child education is allowing them to apply to any school and go to the one with the best curriculum not having them limited by the price or the thought of loans.
ReplyDeleteI think that college education is still necessary and worth if we want a job bringing in a high income. However, college degree doesn’t guarantee a good job. A college degree is just a first key to get a better job. These days, so many people have a trouble to find a job although they graduated from a university. It means that the era when a college degree guarantees us high income has ended and what we learn, experience and obtain is more important than degree itself. Therefore, more fruitful college education is necessary for high income. In the other words, we have no chance to get a high salary job without a college degree from a colleges that many people recognize the value. In spite of that, now college tuition is not affordable for many families. Therefore, only students from high income family can study in a college and it is hard to go to a college for students from poor family. It makes a gap in wages bigger. This is a huge problem. I think the government should support students who cannot go to a college because of tuition if they are willing to study and they may succeed.
ReplyDeleteGoing or not going to college is a big decision today. Getting a job after graduation isn't guarantee anymore. A Bachelor's degree used to be good enough for an individual to acquire a nice job. Not anymore, companies prefer you to have your masters now in order for you to acquire the job you want or to be promoted. The worse part about it is the student loan debt. Even if the interest rates for college students has been kept very low compare to other loans, the amount of debt you have to pay back after college is ridiculously high. I also strongly disagree with college students having to take other courses that have nothing to do with what their major is. If we were not required to take so many unnecessary courses, we would be able to save a lot more money and graduate faster.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not college education is worth it, I think it depends on the individual. Some students go to college because they are being forced to by their parents, others because they want to. I believe that a diploma wont make you acquire the job you want, or reach the goals you want to reach. I think its a combination of the degree and your personality. If you want to succeed, you sure will.
I would definitely want my kids to go to college. I would ensure they understand the importance of following their dreams and reaching their goals, and not taking the opportunity of attending college for granted because it is not given to everybody.
I can not say it is worth to go to the college if you judge it by the cost and return only. People can get a job and take a easy life after high school if they want to. I think people mainly go to the college to get themselves better.The only problem is the cost of those improvement is getting higher(the tuition). So how much is worth depends on what you are looking forward to get. If you come to a college to get a degree so that you can have a better job , you can give up cause the cost and the risk are both high and hard to control nowadays. If you come to a college for academic, then the cost can fairly effect your decision, cause there is nowhere else that can provide such a good environment for learning.
ReplyDeleteFor the debt, I do not think it is a good idea to rise it. Since the tuition is rising, the interest for people to get into the college will be more or less decreased. When you rise your rate of debt, you force more people to give up the college education which means you got your consumer decreased.This is more harmful than the inflation. Instead, designing more kinds of debt may help more cause there are more students need acceptable debt due to the rising of the tuition.
I would definitely support my kids if they want to go to the college. I mean they do go there for the knowledge rather than wage or drug or something else. I can say I would buy some financial product to help my kid.But the important thing is that I have a typical Chinese family.It is not hard for me to save some money in the early year (cause most Chinese families grandparents will support a lot with their pension plan for a long time). With this advantage, I do think I can get a good financial environment to raise 2 to 3 kids if possible.
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Shahien Noori BUS 241
ReplyDeleteAs a college student attending Queens College, I for one can acknowledge the increasingly fast rate of college tuition. Now taking spring and soon to be summer classes, the amount per credit had risen and it’s only been my third year here. College tuitions have increased on average by 76 percent at public four-year institutions over the last decade. Private four-year institutions have seen an average increase of 62 percent. While the average cost of college tuition has risen more than 65% over the past decade, median family income has risen by only 5 percent. According to the recent New York times article, tuition has risen almost 1,200 percent in the last 35 years, and the sticker price for many four-year private colleges and out-of-state public universities exceeds $250,000. According to the article, real incomes have not grown for more than a decade, while tuition and fees are increasing faster than the rate of inflation. We need ideas and plans to stop this increasing rate and hopefully solution come sooner then later.
I feel bad for the future of our youth. It will be so difficult for them to be successful without a college degree. With college tuition increasing rapidly faster than the inflation rate it will soon be impossible for our young adults to receive a degree. These days a bachelors degree may not even be enough to land you a steady career. One must put extra effort and receive a masters degree or partake in internships just to make enough money to go on one vacation twice a year or maybe every couple of months if they are lucky. With minimum unchanged it may be impossible for college students to accumulate enough money to pay for tuition. This results in relying on your parents for the necessary funds. If they are unable to provide you with the proper funds, you are stuck in a never ending cycle of minimum wage jobs just to get you by. Yes it may be possible too find a connection who can give you an opportunity and work from there, but even that is difficult to withhold in the future without any college education, which mostly all high level titles require. Something must be done by the gov't to find a way to care about the future of our youth. The current recovery from the recession has been hard for recent college graduates of which whom are taking out massive loans that won't be payed for another 5-10 years. Now imagine adolescents 15-17 years old entering college. How will they come up with the sufficient funds. Yes, there has been signs of a slight dip in tuition rates but that can change at any point. It is like a stock, one day it is increasing and a sudden impact may cause a huge dip in stock price. Overall, I don't see a great future for our youth. They have to start building their resume earlier in life if they want to become successful in the future.
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