Life after school
In the long run, earning a college degree is supposed to make life easier on people. It is supposed to lead to higher paying jobs with benefits and an overall easier life. But according to an article entitled “‘Generation Debt’ deep into the red” this isn’t a given. It states that 80% of job market growth in the United States is found in low income industries like fast food and retail. These are jobs that do not require a college degree.
On top of the lack of jobs available, college graduates have to deal with higher student loans than ever before. On average, each student will have $20,000 in loans to repay upon graduation. The cost of housing is also increasing quickly. This could explain why 40% of college graduates move back in with their parents after graduation.
This situation will also change the spending patterns of those in their 20’s. People just entering the labor market are not going to be spending their money on entertainment and other wants. Most of their money will be spent on necessity items (food, housing, retirement). If this generation does not spend their money in this manner, it will be tough to survive and prosper in the future.
With all of these numbers, what are the economic consequences? Is the cost of earning a Bachelors Degree becoming greater than the benefit the degree will bring? Will this lack of benefits cause less people to attend college (Decrease in Demand)? Why would you go to college if upon graduation you can only see yourself working for minimum wage and living with your parents?
Or will more people pursue Masters Degrees or PhDs; hopefully educating themselves enough to create demand for their knowledge and skill in the labor market (Increase in demand).
Regardless of the answers, one thing is certain: life is hard.
4 comments:
This article does make it seem as though the costs of college are outweighing the benefits. After two years of college I have already accumulated more loans than I would have liked to and have seriously debated entering a public, state school due to the lower tuition as compared to Marietta's. The reason I am still here, however, is due to my hope that the benefit of recieving a degree from Marietta College will be greater than recieving a degree from a larger, state school. With this being said, due to my high loans I will hope to find a high-paying job to accomodate my payments after college and am mentally interested in graduate school to hopefully further aid my finding a good job... financially, at this point, I am not sure this is feasible.
However, if college becomes cheaper (or loans reduce, etc)it can be assumed more students would enter thus adding more job competition/less jobs after graduation. Like mentioned in this post, more students would look into Grad school, which would in turn create the same situation, but on the graduate school level. It seems there is no true equilibrium for this suition and as a result each decision is somewhat of a gamble.
As tuitions continues to rise, one must wonder at what point is it not worth it for the college. This is especially true for private institutions, such as Marietta. Marietta must be careful with rasing tuitions because at a certain point enrollment will decrease, because the costs will outway the benefits. At this point it will no longer be beneficial for the college either. The question that Marietta needs to ask itself is at what tuition price does this occur?
I have strongly considered going to a community college near home to save money. It would save thousands of dollars, but I feel in the long run the marginal benefit of paying for a private institution outweighs the marginal cost. If they keep raising the prices then many kids won't be able to attend Marietta College like they want.
I have also considered leaving Marietta College because of the high tuition price. It's crazy that I pay double what some of my friends pay that go to a state school, but I am hoping it will really pay off after graduaition. I might be one of those kids that lives with their parents after graduation, but hopefully I will be making a lot more than minimum wage.
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