Reflective Essay: Why Do People Attend College?

Earning a college degree seems to be the topic on everyone’s mind. Many people feel that earning a college degree will get them job opportunities, more money, or even just better their personal knowledge. While college may be something that people turn to in order to gain these goals, the reasons why people actually attend college may all be different. I for one did not want to go to college at all. I was forced into a community college when I first graduated high school because my parents said that I would not get a job without a degree and they did not want me to struggle as they did and currently do without an education. I was forced into college. It was not until I graduated did I fully believe that college was beneficial. I had teachers and counselors have a lack of faith in myself throughout high school that I personally felt that college was something I would never be able …show more content…
From these statements the authors then created 10 statements for each factor to produce high internal consistency and ensure content validity. While the survey method gave an understanding on what factors were present most frequently and to whom, it leaves out an external factors that may be reasons why people attend college.
The authors decided to conduct this study in order to “reveal strong social motivators for going to college.” Much of this study was intended to “accurately measure the motivations of traditional college students’ decision to continue their education into college,” (Corts, Stoners; 776). The point of this research is to allow for a measure that can explore a variety of issues related to choice of colleges, retention/attrition tendencies, social and emotional adjustment…and to facilitate research…among schools that compete for incoming students, among majors and other groups… (Corts, Stoners;