Tough Economic Times and the Relevance of College Education
Tough economic times always oblige people to come up with measures that can effectively overcome impending problems. In the past and present, education has been one of the leading interventions to empower the populace to ensure it can effectively deal with social and economic challenges. As a result, the world has seen massive investment in college education. In spite of that, and going by the current statistics in employment patterns and graduation rates, it is justified to deduce that college education is not worth time, effort, and money. As a result, it is better for people to invest in other ways and leave it for the ones who critically require going through the process.
The Declining Job Market and College Education
Firstly, the primary goal that makes people join college is to secure employment after completion. In fact, it should be instant considering that they could have been doing other activities as they were learning. Unfortunately, the current job environment is not absorbing college graduates at the desired rates: the absorption is critically low. The acquisition of a college degree is no longer valuable. Indeed, with half of the graduates in their early 20s still unemployed, the reason for going through college education diminishes day by day. The current job market depicts a scenario where going through college is no longer a critical requirement (Selingo 3-4). In such a case, people can still excel without the college hustle that does not guarantee employment after numerous challenges.
The Cost and Returns of College Education
Apart from the note that the cumbersome process doesn't guarantee immediate employment, the second issue that justifies the irrelevancy of the college education is its poor returns. At times, it may also not give any returns at all. In the present day, the cost of going through college education is incredibly high. In fact, it creates much stress to one's family as the requirements keep on increasing and students' loans cannot meet many of them. Worse, the returns aren't comparable since the cost of learning keeps soaring as the returns for a college diploma worsens (Barone 4). More so, even after securing employment, a person can take a lot of time before recovering the amount spent on schools fees and other resources or also fail to recover at all as wage rates decline.
Graduation Issues and College Education
Thirdly, graduation issues also make a college education an investment to reconsider. Time is a valuable resource that requires wise spending. Today, there is no guarantee of graduating at the expected period bearing in mind that it is only about 35% who earn their degree in four years. The rest wait for somewhat longer due to different issues that the systems fail to rescue at times. It is no doubt stressing. In such a case, the ones with loans incur much more debt (Paquette 13-15). Regarding that, the situation only favors the ones who graduate on time.
In Conclusion
In summation, a college degree should be a gateway to a better life. It is something that a graduate should readily cash in. Unfortunately, it is not reciprocating the time, effort, and money that someone sacrifices to acquire it. With graduation issues being rampant, job market unfavorable, and the cost being higher than its returns, it is justified to conclude that investing in a college degree is not worth it. People should reconsider other alternatives worth the investment.
Works Cited
Barone, Michael. Numbers say college isn't worth it. Daily Herald, 2017.
Paquette, Danielle. Why college isn’t always worth it. The Washington Post, 2015.
Selingo, Jeffrey J. Is college worth the cost? Many recent graduates don’t think so. The Washington Post, 2015.
