Was College Worth It?
As everyone knows, attending college and getting a degree is important for many different reasons. It can increase career stability, there are often more employment opportunities and there is value placed on people who earn a college degree.
A college education has become a necessary investment. A lot of jobs now require an advanced education for entry-level jobs. College degrees have become a requirement for much of today’s workforce. At this point, it feels like college has just become one more thing you need to do before joining the workforce. College is meant to be the place to improve your education, you go to college to learn and improve your skills and be a better participant in society. Now, it has become more of a necessity rather than a choice.
One way to think about college is that it is a means to an end. It is a way to show employers you have the ability to commit yourself to something for an extended period of time. You have the ability to learn and adapt to different environments.
Getting a college degree has a lot of potential downsides. You have to prepare yourself for student debt. At this point college has become so expensive most students graduate with debt and have difficulty navigating financial independence. Even with financial aid, college expenses can be staggering.
A degree does not guarantee a high-paying job nor does it guarantee a career in the field of your degree.
There is also the issue of time. Not everyone graduates in four years. Some people graduate earlier and employers can be cautious about hiring someone so young. Other people might take more than four years which can lead to even more debt.
Many people succeed without a college degree. But now more than ever before, businesses are looking for employees that have some time of higher education.
Calculating the value of college is difficult, there are so many unknowns in life and having a degree can help. Not only that, earning a college degree is a major life achievement and hopefully its benefits will last a lifetime.
As of now, I don’t know if college was worth it. I don’t even know if I will find a job having anything to do with my degree, hopefully in a few years, I will be able to fully answer the question with a simple yes or no.
