The Importance Of College

As college is becoming more common and prevalent more people have come to question the importance of it, and whether it is crucial to someone 's future to attend or not. The answers to this can be found in sources A, E and F. Within source A it is covered that the push to go to college in young ages may be leading to unthought out college plans that can cause for a higher debt or less success in your happiness within your career. Source C shows how the hourly wages of those who attended college have been decreasing since 2000, and have caused for the furthering of the income gap. Finally, in source F it is shown that debts have had an increased impact on college students after they graduate.

Looking at evidence that is presented in sources

Source C shows while there has been an increase in the hourly wages of men and women both since 1970, there has been a decrease in the wages (men more so than a woman) since 2000. The hourly wages for men have fallen down to be around the same amount as forty years ago when inflation is applied to the rates. What this indicates is that college is becoming less beneficial as it is no longer leading to the desired raised wage that is typically associated with higher education. Additionally, in source F a piece of evidence shows that “record share of students are leaving college with a substantial debt burden, and among those who do, about half (48%) say that paying off that debt made it harder to pay other bills; a quarter say it has made it harder to buy a home (25%); and about a quarter say it has had an impact on their career choices (24%)” What these data shows is that college debts have been having an increased impact on a graducates life after college, and has made it harder for them to move on and get things like a house for themselves, and even impacted their ability to get

As stated in source D, “the returns from a degree have soared. Three decades ago, full-time workers with a bachelor’s degree made 40 percent more than those with only a high-school diploma. Last year, the gap reached 83 percent. College graduate ...are also far less likely to be unemployed than non-graduates.” What this is stating is that while college may be expensive, the accumulative returns from college have increased greatly in the past few decades, and on top of that, unemployment is more uncommon in those with a college education. However, I think it is important to think of how long that debt may take to be payed off, source D says that returns have increased making it so paying off debts isn’t necessarily as bad, and while that is true, it’s good to take a step back and think of how long it will still take to pay off certain even with the increased returns.

All together evidence would point towards the idea that college isn’t worth it in the long run. Going to college leads to debt that can sometimes be crippling to your future, it has not been giving as high pay as it started to in the past and is continuing to decline, as well as the fact that it may not even be worth the high amount that it is at right now. Personally, it seems like whether you should go to college all depends on your specific situation and how much of a benefit versus a thing that