According to the National Center for Education Statistics in fall 2019 there were 19.9 million students enrolled in colleges across the United States. Students attend college in anticipation of pursuing special interest careers and to increase the value of their labor power. How much do colleges really increase the value of students’ labor power? Should so many students attend college even if it puts them in a large amount of debt throughout their life? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of students attending college?
In a broad sense it is believed that college education will increase workers salaries in the future. Jonathon Rothwell, an economist from Brookings University describes how future salaries of college grads are influenced by the quality of the institution that they attend. States that invest more money into the colleges, so that they are able to provide higher quality education benefit their students in the future because they usually get paid more. College graduates also usually contribute more into local economies, which can benefit communities. In general college graduates make more money, and therefore spend more money. A large portion of this goes into local property and sales taxes, but also into services, and rent, which take place in local areas. Colleges where people are willing to stay in the area after graduation can create benefits for their local economies.
College degrees also greatly decrease the chance of unemployment for grads. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January, 2020 2.0% of college grads were unemployed, while 3.8% of high school grads were unemployed. Colleges oftentimes work with students to help them create connections and get jobs in the future. It also works as a good platform for students to learn to communicate effectively with others and work together as teams. Many times it also helps students gain experience supporting themselves and better mastering time management.
Student loans are also a very large concern for many students attending college. Some students are never able to fully repay their loans and spend their entire lives working towards paying them off while their interest continues to compound. It’s not just students that attend 4-year colleges that struggle with debt, students at community colleges also experience large issues with student debt. Some people feel pushed into attending college even when they don’t want to work a white collar job and would rather work a blue collar job that requires less expensive training. College is not the right path for everyone, but for many it can have great benefits.
I think this is a huge question that many in our generation are facing. College is a huge commitment, not only for time, but money. It’s the first step we get as “adults” to make a life-changing choice, and while I certainly don’t regret my decision of coming to Penn State (or any college in general), it’s interesting to think about what life could have been like if I chose to forego college or study at a much smaller local school. Dealing with school loans and debt is going to be a part of my life for many years to come – our society expects us to go to college and deal with that burden.