Why should I have to go to college?

In today’s society, education is a necessity. The United States has a system set so that all children have access to school up to twelfth grade. However, the system does not have anything set for students’ education past high school. Even with that, students are assumed that they will pursue their education further, something As it stands today, the pseudo-requirement of going to college in the United States is perhaps one of the most detrimental aspects of living in the United States.

To show how much of a requirement it really is that a person attends college, one simply needs to take a look at the numbers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2013, the median annual wage for an occupation that does not require at least a 4-year degree in college is about $28,000. The living wage, or the amount of money a person needs to spend to live comfortably, for a person living in Philadelphia is $59,384, according to the Huffington post. Those are two very different numbers, with the amount of money needed to live comfortably being over double the amount a person would usually be making if they had a job that did not require a college degree. This should lead one to the conclusion that in order to live comfortably, they cannot have a job that does not require a college degree, and therefore they must get a college degree.

Now, examples can be drawn to those such as Bill Gates, who is one of the richest men in the world and did not complete college. However, Gates is a genius, with an above average IQ. The average person would not be able to create Microsoft, and that is why there are not very many enormous companies with billionaires at the top of them. It simply is extraordinarily rare and requires a specific person to make it happen.

Now, the reason this is such an issue is how much it costs. According to The U.S. Census Bureau, the reported median household income in September 2014 was $51,939. According to the College Board, the “moderate” budget for attending a public college averaged at $24,601. That amount of money is nearly half the amount an average household makes in the US, and that’s only for one person attending. Some families send multiple children to study at college, and families simply cannot support it purely on income. Most schools offer financial aid packages to students, but that usually does not cover the total cost, and the rest is placed on families or the person themselves.

The problem with this is that the people that are essentially forced to put themselves into debt. These families have to take out massive loans of over $10,000 just so that one of their children can pursue their education to a point that is considered satisfactory. Sometimes, the families don’t even do it: it’s by the student themselves. That puts them in a place owing a substantial amount of money as soon as they exit into the world and become self-sufficient. It’s an extremely stressful situation for a person looking for perhaps their first job.

That is exactly the issue. A person who is meant to search for a job and make a difference in the world should not have a huge financial burden on them as they try to do this. Perhaps this will happen on occasion, but it should not be a necessity that people are in $10,000 of debt as a starting point in their life.

Works Cited

GOBankingRates. "How Much Money You Need to Live Comfortably in the 50 Biggest Cities." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Apr. 2016. Web. 01 May 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gobankingrates/how-much-money-you-need-t_b_9728876.html

What's the Price Tag for a College Education?" COLLEGEdata. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2017. https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2014/article/education-level-and-jobs.htm

"Education Level and Jobs: Opportunities by State : Career Outlook." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 01 May 2017. http://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10064

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