Liz Addison's Essay: Should Everyone Go To College

There are around 19 million students enrolled in college in the US, should a student be just another statistic? Many kids and young teens are encouraged to go to college by their parents and most adults. Why? Because Americans have always believed that gaining a degree is essential if they want a better chance of landing a job and increasing their income. However, that is not always the case according to Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill. Owen is a Ph.D. student in policy and economics at the University of Michigan and was a research assistant at Brookings’ Center in Washington D.C. Sawhill is also a senior who attends Brookings and is learning economic studies. In their essay Should Everyone Go to College, they emphasize that young adults

Liz Addison is a former college student who attended 2 community colleges in the states and one 4-year college in London. She goes on to praise the American community college system and compares it to an expensive 4-year university in her essay Two Years are Better than Four. According to Addison, “The philosophy of the community college, and I have been to two of them, is one that unconditionally allows its students to begin. Just begin.” In other words, Addison believes that college, specifically community college is meant to be a beginning, a start for students to discover themselves and what they want to do. Community college is accessible to everyone who wants to go to college for a better price than what a 4-year university might cost. Addison corroborates this idea by saying, “The community colleges of America cover this country college by college and community by community. They offer a network of affordable future, of accessible hope, and an option to dream.” The essence of Addison’s argument is that students don’t have to spend a small fortune to have a future, it can be affordable, and it is within reach. Community college can be a good choice for those who are afraid to spend a lot of money just to have an education. With additional financial help, education can be easily accessible to

Student loans can spiral out of control if it’s not being treated correctly. This was the case for Rodney Spangler, a student who enrolled at the University of North Texas in 2001. Spangler used to take student loans every semester before leaving school without a degree. Charles Lehman, a writer for the Washington Free Beacon, wrote about Spangler and his student loans alongside the overall theme of student loan debts in the country. In Lehman’s essay The Student Loan Trap, he states, “Of course, it’s possible to go on living with a five-figure debt hanging over your head, but it imposes more than its fair share of limitations. When Spangler tried to get a job in law enforcement, he met all the requirements, but was denied because of his credit score.” Lehman’s point is to show that Spangler is one of many adults who can’t get the job or the things they want because of bad credit. What’s the reason behind these low credit scores? Because of massive amounts of student loan debts. To understand how widely this affects most college students, Lehman researched the approximate amount of money that has accumulated because of student loans. He states, “Spangler is not alone: he’s one of the 44 million Americans who holds student debt, 30 percent of the population who have attended college. Together, they owe about $1.5 trillion, a bigger burden than credit cards, auto loans, or any other