(My own student debt, as it happens, was almost identical to this figure, in inflation-adjusted terms.) And the unemployment rate in April for people between 25 and 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree was a mere 3 percent.
The author-- David Leonharadt, is using authority to convey his point. He had student debt when he got his bachelors degree.
But there is nothing magical about 13 years of education. As the economy becomes more technologically complex, the amount of education that people need will rise. At some point, 15 years or 17 years of education will make more sense as a universal goal.
While the economy becomes more competitive. People will find the need to get higher education. Is college tuition continually going to rise after there is more demand?
From the country’s perspective, education can be only part of the solution to our economic problems. We also need to find other means for lifting living standards — not to mention ways to provide good jobs for people without college degrees.
What happens to the people that cannot afford to go to college? What are the solutions for them?
College graduates, like almost everyone else, are suffering from the economy’s weak growth and from the disproportionate share of this growth flowing to the very richest households.
If college graduates are suffering from the economy's weak growth. How are most of the undergraduate students going to pay their debt easily?
Among four-year college graduates who took out loans, average debt is about $25,000, a sum that is a tiny fraction of the economic benefits of college. (My own student debt, as it happens, was almost identical to this figure, in inflation-adjusted terms.) And the unemployment rate in April for people between 25 and 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree was a mere 3 percent.
By all means, college is beneficial for most students. The real problem is the collected debt, because students will have to pay their students loans and debt after they graduate.
The big economic returns go to people with four-year degrees. Those returns underscore the importance of efforts to reduce the college dropout rate, such as those at the University of Texas, which Paul Tough described in a recent Times Magazine article.
Many students face the decision of dropping out after they find out that they have too much college debt accumulated after a few years in college. This is why many students do not finish their education and transition to have minimum wage jobs.
In a similar vein, the new Economic Policy Institute numbers show that the benefits of college don’t go just to graduates of elite colleges, who typically go on to to earn graduate degrees. The wage gap between people with only a bachelor’s degree and people without such a degree has also kept rising.
The wage gap between the people who earn only a undergraduate degree and the ones that continue their education is still on the rise.
The much-discussed cost of college doesn’t change this fact. According to a paper by Mr. Autor published Thursday in the journal Science, the true cost of a college degree is about negative $500,000. That’s right: Over the long run, college is cheaper than free. Not going to college will cost you about half a million dollars.
The problem for many students, is that they are in debt. After they graduate, they find themselves with too much them and struggling to pay it off. This is the issue for many students, they are trying to figure how they are going to pay the debt the accumulated in their college years.
When experts and journalists spend so much time talking about the limitations of education, they almost certainly are discouraging some teenagers from going to college and some adults from going back to earn degrees. (Those same experts and journalists are sending their own children to college and often obsessing over which one.) The decision not to attend college for fear that it’s a bad deal is among the most economically irrational decisions anybody could make in 2014.
College is not for everyone. Some people might be successful and others will not. It all depends on how you use your tools and resources. A few people, have been successful without a college degree. Among them, we have Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, etc.
a bachelor’s degree does not guarantee success. But of course it doesn’t. Nothing guarantees success, especially after 15 years of disappointing economic growth and rising inequality.
A bachelor degree does not guarantee success professionally and in life if students do not apply the tools that they have learned while in college.
The pay gap between college graduates and everyone else reached a record high last year, according to the new data, which is based on an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. Americans with four-year college degrees made 98 percent more an hour on average in 2013 than people without a degree.
Apparently, students with higher education, are making more money than students with high school diplomas.
Yes, college is worth it, and it’s not even close. For all the struggles that many young college graduates face, a four-year degree has probably never been more valuable.
College can be worth it if students take advantage of networking opportunities or internships while in college. College is a tool that many students can use to be successful professionally and in life.
Some newly minted college graduates struggle to find work.
Some college students are not getting jobs after graduation. Clearly, we can see that college does not guarantee a corporate or regular job.
I fear for the stress of scholarship applications, taking student loans, and being left thousands of dollars in debt as a twenty-something year old, due to furthering my education.
As a college student, i can relate to that. Everything after i got to college is about money. I cannot believe that sometimes i see myself limited because of money.
I understand that some people are more or less fortunate than the next, but the tuition fees are not that bad. I think the university and professors need payment and that is partially what tuition does. Community colleges are a great place to start, because often they are great schools, and they are cheap.
This is a great point. There are many things that need funds in college. But, why do we as students pay so much?
The debt that students are faced with after getting out of college is enormous, not to mention the worry that students are facing while trying to obtain the money they need …
Debt is an issue that we should worry about.
Students who truly want to succeed deserve to experience college regardless of the cost. If a young adult actually wants to learn, they should be given the opportunity. A desire to learn new things is a sign of someone that can do great things in their future. If your family can’t provide enough money, that shouldn’t be the factor that decides your future for you.
Every single student should have the opportunity to learn and go to college. Some colleges tuition make this harder until this day.
A student’s ability to go to college should be based upon their academic success, not on their family’s financial status. Although merit scholarships can help students out quite a bit, some might be discouraged from even considering college simply based on its affordability.
A great amount of colleges focus on family's finances instead of only the students' academic successes
Colleges should be trying to decrease tuition costs in order to create equal opportunities for all students.
College tuition can be so high that students are getting in debt for thousands of dollars that they will have to pay for years and years.
I’d study less. The hours I wasted memorizing the inner workings of the eye would have been better spent trying out improv comedy and having more midnight conversations about the meaning of life.
Conclusion of the text. Students should focus more on opportunities and developing their skills, instead of focusing on only being A students
I watch in dismay as students obsess over getting straight A’s. Some sacrifice their health
General idea of the text
A decade ago, at the end of my first semester teaching at Wharton, a student stopped by for office hours.
attention grabber