The mounting costs of a college education in America
By Anne Davey // Opinion Editor
The cost of a college education in today’s marketplace is a topic of much conversation. The rising prices have featured prominently as an issue in this presidential election cycle and are at the forefront of the minds of many millenials. So many debates shroud the conversation about college in America; is the price too high? Is a degree necessary? Should you go to a private or public school? Do you need a professional degree? The costs are not just monetary, but opportunistic and societal as well. The pressure young people face to go to college and get a degree is at a level no generation in America has seen before.
Celebrity Mike Rowe, of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, is an outspoken advocate for vocational training and alternate career paths to what society seems to have deemed a requisite of modern success. “There is a real disconnect in the way that we educate vis-a-vis the opportunities that are available. You have – right now – about three million jobs that can’t be filled,” he says, talking about openings in traditional trades ranging from construction to welding to plumbing. “Jobs that typically parents’ don’t sit down with their kids and say, ‘Look, if all goes well, this is what you are going to do.”
The thing is, he is absolutely right. There is such a disconnect in society as far as college is concerned. Almost everyone believes that a college education is essential, but there are so many cases in which a college education might not be necessary. If, for example, you’re passionate about a vocational field, or have an opportunity to get involved with something you love right out of high school, college could very well be a waste of your time and money. For many entrepreneurs and the vast majority of labor fields, a college degree is not essential, but may be only a costly delay of the start of one’s career. We are potentially risking entire sectors of industry, as the “best and the brightest” are pressured into attending college that those who would possibly want to enter a vocational field instead focus on society approved “careers.”
But even if college is essential to your field, with the plethora of colleges and universities, it should stand to reason that a simple degree is not worth $60,000+ a year if you’re earning potential after graduation is substantially less than that. The fees in addition to tuition are incredibly underestimated, but tremendously high. With the average price of textbooks for a full semester’s course load ranging anywhere from $300-$1,000 at most universities, even Kanye West thinks “we have to lower the price of textbooks.” Universities across the country pile fees on students and families, with separate charges for tuition, room and board, parking, meal plans, overloading courses, etc. There is no one-stop sticker price shopping where a college degree is concerned and as prices continue to rise, so does student debt.
More and more students are graduating with increased levels of debt, impacting not only their future, but the future of the U.S economy. In many cases this debt is so crippling that it leaves graduates unable to purchase basic staples of the American economy like homes and cars. The influx of highly skilled workers that the economy sees as a result of this societal emphasis on a college degree may not have the positive economic effects it otherwise would if debt continues to increase at these unsustainable levels and hinder purchasing power, as well as repayment rates for these graduates.
While it speaks well of the American economy to say that the workplace is more competitive and the growing economy should be good for jobs, the reality is that a college education does not in fact guarantee you a job, it only marginally improves your chance of getting one that you might like. According to Pew Research Center, the unemployment rate is 19.5 percent and the underemployment rate is 37.0 percent for young high school graduates. For young college graduates, the unemployment rate is currently 7.2 percent the underemployment rate is 14.9 percent. While these figures are far lower than that of people without a college education, the false sense of security that society instills in young people that a college degree guarantees you a job, is just that; false.
The costs of a college education in modern America stretch far beyond the simple tuition statement students receive. The rising price levels have implications for America’s financial well being and our ability to have a sustainable productive economy. The costs themselves are such a burden to individuals that the college bubble we live in just might have to burst in order to see a real, impactful change.