Is Pursuing Higher Education Worth The Cost?

 

  Is Pursuing Higher Education Worth The Cost? 

       By Samir Ramessar 

For the past few decades now, our society has been faced with the question on whether or not college is worth the price. Personally, I would say college is not worth the financial strain. Due to a number of issues, college has become less and less desirable. Alternate routes are seemingly becoming more optimal.Colleges no longer hold the same merit that they used to. And college is seemingly becoming less of a requirement for true success.Many are  finding success without a college degree. 

The cost of college has seemingly skyrocketed over the past few decades. Making it unobtainable for most; without causing severe debt. U.S citizens have over a combined one trillion dollars in debt. Student loan debt, while not a new concern, has become an abundantly worse issue. More and more people are taking out massive loans, with no clear plan of paying them off. Student loan debt has increased greatly over the last  20 years. In 2006, student loan debt was around four hundred and eighty billion dollars. As of today, it's nearly two trillion.Another reason as to why college isn’t worth the cost, is the ever growing culture of colleges focusing less on academics, and more on extracurriculars. As documented in The Ivory Tower, by Andrew Rossi; colleges have become less focused on their academics and more focused on trying to grow their extracurriculars. This is most notable with schools like Arizona State, a public university in Tempe, Arizona, that has over the past decade now; made itself be known as the party school of America. Universities have seemingly lost what matters most, and that's prioritizing the education of its students. These universities are spending millions upon millions of dollars, towards non-academic matters.  

Degrees are also starting to become less valuable. Most notably, liberal arts degrees. This is highlighted in 

The New Liberal Arts, by Sanford J Ungar. Ungar makes mention of how degrees, especially those within 

the realm of liberal arts, are being less valued. With degrees starting to lose their worth within our society, 

it makes the extreme cost of college seem unreasonable.

A college education is becoming less of a requirement in today's world, and truly invalidates the idea of

taking out expensive loans if said degree might not be useful.  

In all, the cost of higher education makes it not worth pursuing. Due to reasons such as student loan debt, degrees losing value, as well as a decrease in academic focus, college has seemingly become less of a good financial risk. A college education is no longer worth the severe debt that many face. And the increase in challenges surrounding a higher education, is diminishing the worth in getting it. Alternate options such as trade school or community college, are seemingly becoming more worth it in the long run. Why risk thousands in debt, when I can either go to trade school at a fraction of the price or go to a community college for completely free. As long as higher education is this costly, it will continue to be a risky and less valuable option.