Is the College Degree Losing Value?

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          If you grew up in a household like mine, you were probably told by the adults in your life that getting a college education is the only way to get a well-paying job. Many of these adults were probably your parents, grandparents, aunts/ uncles, and probably a lot of your teachers throughout your whole educational career. When these individuals were growing up, they were given the same speech from their parents and the other adults that were in their lives growing up. At one point in time, going to college did guarantee of a better life; but that might not be the case anymore. In this article, I discuss my reasons why it may no longer be beneficial to attend a traditional college or university.

1. Once you get the degree, most of all you learn will be out-of-date 

We live in a fast-pace digital world and when it comes to the latest technology, they are always changing constantly. By attending traditional schools, you're only learning about the latest technology and methods of that time you took the class. By the time you're expected to use these tools in the real world, the technology and the methods are either considered old practice and has been updated or the methods have completely been extinct from the work industry. With the world changing constantly, we need to be ready to jump into action right after learning these skills and unfortunately, traditional college does not always push this practice.

2. Most times, the pay never equals out to the amount of money you put in to getting the degree(s)

When people consider enrolling into a college degree program, it has always been expected for them to get hired in their field of knowledge and gain a salary that pays them a good annual salary that would give them a lot more money than if they hadn't graduated with a higher educational diploma. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. There are a lot of jobs where you can get paid more hourly and annually without a four- year degree. For example, a teacher can get paid a little more than the minimum wage just starting out as a teacher, but a mail delivery driver and a trash pick-up person can make the same amount if not more than the teacher without even attending a college and getting a degree on the first day on the job.

3. Trade schools can become very expensive

Trade school has always been known to quickly get students trained in a work field position in order for them to enter the work force as soon as possible. Taking this route can be very beneficial to anyone's career when you know for sure the skills can be used throughout your life; whereas traditional schools tries to train you into becoming a well-rounded person while also training you for your dream career. These days, traditional schools are very behind trade schools because not all the attendees are able to practice what they learned in the classroom into the real world in real time. These trade training structured schools has been paying attention to the importance of these style programs and are now trying to profit from the increase demand. Trade schools used to cost similarly to community colleges, but now you can find some of these schools' tuition prices raise greatly to similar prices as an elite university regardless if you're considered an in-state or an out-of-state student. Now these type of schools are no longer called trade school but instead they are known as private universities and colleges. For example, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Full Sail University.

4. Loan donors pray on unaware college students and families

Many people don't really pay attention to the cost of college tuitions until they are accepted into their dream school. This is when reality kicks in and are now scrambling to find ways to pay for college right before classes start. Around this time, a lot of loan companies are sending out information about their loan programs. Nobody really wants to pull out a loan, but when time is ticking and the first day of the semester is quickly approaching, what other choice do you have when you can't find enough grants or earn enough money before the school demands for their money?

Many students and their families usually sign these loans blindly and don't realize how or when the interest rates kicks in. Some loaners don't realize that some loans don't allow you to add grants to cover other portions of the tuition once you sign the contract. When you learn everything about these loans, you're stuck with debt that can take several years after graduating with a degree. You might also be stuck working at a job that might not help you pay for both for your loans and other responsibilities.

5. Our current pandemic is showing us how much our current higher educational system is out-of-date and needs to adjust with the times

Since the month of March, it was very questionable on whether or not students would be able to return back to the classroom before the school year ended. Well we know what happen since then; schools remained closed, virtual learning took place, and all the states had different plans when it came to lockdowns. Now here we are in August and schools have decided to continue with virtual learning. While students who are in pre-school through the twelve grade are able to still gain the possibility to experience a proper freshmen experience in college, the current college freshmen will not. Many are probably wondering whether or not it's worth spending thousands of dollars to attend college without being able to access everything on campus that is getting paid for through their tuition. Others are trying to get a discount on their tuition and their room and board until they are able to access those resources. While the upcoming freshmen aren't going to gain a proper college experience in the beginning of their college years, I wonder about the graduating class of 2020 and possibly the class of 2021? It's normal to graduate and feel unsure if one is completely ready for the real world, but I can imagine adding a global pandemic to the mix makes things more nerve-racking. For the graduating classes who are planning to enter the work force pertaining to their degree(s), I can imagine it being very stressful. Just imagining me being in that situation makes my skin shiver.

         After reading my five reasons why I believe college degrees are losing its value, I hope it made you think and put it into consideration when deciding whether or not college is for you and the decisions you should make when it comes to finding ways to afford your time there. As a college graduate myself, I gained a lot of positive experiences and opportunities by attending my community college and University, but I always knew that no degree I was planning to get would be worth the debt. Out of all the careers, I only find getting degrees to become someone in the medical field, law enforcement, and any other field that deals with the health and care of living beings are worth the debt from college degrees as long as you are passionate in becoming a part of that work field. 

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