A college education has lost its value. When students attend college, they are left In severe debt after they graduate. This can sometimes be discouraging to students. This also makes you wonder, “What is the value of going to college or attending a postsecondary institution? ” Has going to college become more expensive than what it’s worth? In my role as a financial aid counselor, I have gained much Insight regarding tuition costs as well as financial lad amounts and options. In my years of being a financial counselor I have observed that many students rely on loans to help finance their educations.
There are advantages and disadvantages for taking out educational to pay for college. The main advantage Is that these loans can help students pay for their education when they may be unable to pay out of pocket or If other types of financial lad are not enough to cover their tuition. However, it’s important to understand that by accepting a loan, the student will be entering into a contractual agreement to repay all money borrowed plus any applicable interest that may accrue. This is a fact that sometimes many students may overlook.
The student will never only pay back the same amount they arrowed because the interest makes the payback amount higher. There are approximately 37 million student loan borrowers with outstanding student loans today. (Source: Federal Reserve Board of New York). There is roughly somewhere between $902 billion and $1 trillion In total outstanding student loan debt in the united States today. According to a report by the Institute for, College Access and Success, a non-profit research and advocacy group, ” College students who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in 2011 left school with the largest average student debt load
In history -? $26,600, a 5 percent Increase from $25,250 In 2010″. This statistic shows how student debt has Increased In Just one year. In 2014/2015 the Interest rate on undergraduate Stafford loans is climbing to 4. 66 percent. The interest rate increasing shows that the longer the student takes to pay back their loans, the more they will be paying In total. Because tuition rates increase every year, many students have to take out loans to help pay for their tuition. When tuition rates are Increasing, It Is expected that borrowed loan amounts are also going to increase.
When students radiate from college with their degrees, sometimes they are not able to find a Job in their field of study. Could you imagine after 4 years at a university or college and after accumulating $57,000 In student loans, you can’t find a decent paying Job or a job related to your field of study. Perhaps you have to take an entry level position in a call center answering phone calls and only making minimum wage, until you are able to prove your worth and work your way up. A new survey Career Builders, from suggests that there are plenty of Americans who have never worked In the field that hey prepared for or studied in college.
Among the 2,134 workers that were surveyed, 47 percent of college graduates did not find a job that was related to their college major. What’s even more discouraging is that 32 percent of college graduates said they had never worked In a field related to their majors. The below statistics provide even more evidence that shows how college graduates struggle to establish themselves after college: Only 27 percent of college graduates have a Job related to 1 OFF tenet major. Most college graduates today are getting postgraduate degrees Four out of every seven college graduates do not find a Job in their related field.
In many instances, a college graduate will end up taking a Job with less pay then what a career in their field of study would pay. In my company, there are numerous people working that have a degree but have settled for a lesser paying Job. Some of these employees have Associates or Bachelor’s degrees in Criminal Justice, Business Administration, and Psychology, Just to name a few. These employees have settled for the bare minimum in employment, starting off slightly above minimum wage Just to eave a Job.
Some of them have been able to work their way up through promotions, but they are still underpaid based on their degrees. All of these statistics show that recent college graduates are ending up in more low-wage and part-time positions because it has become harder to find education-level appropriate Jobs, according to a January study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Also, according to the Wall Street Journal, about 284,000 Americans with college degrees were working minimum wage Jobs last year. In conclusion, traditionally it was always emphasized and tresses that going to college was a must.
Maybe you heard it said growing up, “to better yourself it is beneficial to go to college”. Reality is that college graduates face major struggles after they graduate such as: being burdened with excessive student loan debt, not being able to find in a Job in their field of study, or being forced to take a minimum wage or low-income Job. All of the factors can only support the idea that “going to college has lost it’s value”. The price tag on a college education has become more expensive than what some graduates can afford, which reduces the overall value.
