Analysis Of The Article On Should Everyone Go To College

Improved Essays
College: To Go or Not to Go? Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill unveiled the constructive and adverse features of obtaining a college degree in the article, “Should Everyone Go to College?” “A bachelor’s degree is not a smart investment for every student in every circumstance” (Owen and Sawhill 222). The author’s stress to their audience that college is not for everyone and that’s okay. Additionally, Owen and Sawhill provide their reader’s with supportive statistics to deliberate upon within the reading. For example, The Hamilton Project verified that, “When we look at lifetime earnings---the total premium is $570,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $170,000 for an associate’s degree. The Hamilton Project is not alone in arguing that investing …show more content…
A moderate budget at a private college averaged $47,831” (Collegedata). Without dispute, numerous individuals recognize that a college degree can have a costly price tag. For plentiful pupils, this price tag eradicates college altogether. In the reading “Should Everyone Go to College?”, Owen and Sawhill conclude that the financial aid system in America needs adjustment, which is not a false statement. The more an individual has to compensate to attend a school, then the lower the net benefit will be of attending. The Hamilton Project calculates a four-year degree to cost approximately $54,000. In addition, other recent studies Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has exemplified that repaying college tuition can last up to ten years or more. “After attempting to account for in-state vs. out-of-state tuition, financial aid, graduation rates, years taken to graduate, wage inflation, and selection, nearly to hundred schools on the 2012 list have negative ROIs” (Owen and Sawhill 214). With the rising cost of tuition and indefinite job market, individual’s should consider whether obtaining a bachelor’s degree is essential in today’s …show more content…
“Even within a school, the choices a student makes about his or her field of study and later career can have a large impact on when he or she gets out of her degree” (Owen and Sawhill 215). It is not a coincidence that STEM field such as, science, technology, engineering, and math are a few of the highest paid majors. In other circumstances, though these majors are higher on the PayScale, recent studies have figured that architecture graduates have rather high unemployment. A source to this condition, is the deterioration of the construction industry that occurred during the Great Recession. “US gross domestic product fell by 4.3 percent, making this the deepest recession since World War II. The unemployment rate more than doubled, from less than 5 percent to 10 percent” (Weinberg, 2013). Furthermore, although lower paid majors such as education, arts, and psychology have an inferior redundancy rate, recent studies have shown that it takes longer for those college major graduates to achieve their prime earning potential. In some cases, “According to Census’s calculations, the lifetime earnings of an education or arts major working in the service sector are actually lower than the average lifetime earnings of a high school graduate” (Owen and Sawhill 216). This is just another factor future students should consider. By determining future salary opportunities, it is simpler for

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