Jolley 1 Spencer Jolley English 1010 David Gagon Position Synthesis Introduction When my friends and I and discus

education, a controversial topic has often been brought up. The topic is that college education is no longer Worth It. The belief that a college education guarantees you a job with a large company with which you work with for 25 years, get gold watch, and retire is long since dead. There are many perspectives on this topic. On the one hand the idea is brought up that student loan debt (averaging over $26,500) is too high and that it does not guarantee a better job in our current economy. On the other hand people believe that education is more than just a financial investment. They believe that college is an investment in their own perspective in the world. I believe that a college education is not merely a stepping stone to the bigger and better job but, rather a proving grounds and also exposure to new and interesting ideas that form the basis of your future. Economic factors I believe that the current price of college education is high, but, in the perspective of a life time, it is a good investment. I believe that people that do not attend college because of the cost overlook that college is an opportunity that is more than just financially beneficial. I am not attending college just to get a job; I am attending college to become a better person. By focusing on merely the financial cost

Jolley 2 and the possible risk of return on their investment, they are overlooking the deeper benefit of gaining a new perspective through which you see the world.

The Numbers Game: Is Collage Worth the Cost? By Matthew Phillips A columnist for the wildly successful radio show Freakonomics. The article begins with a statistic. He states that 57 percent of Americans say the higher education system in the United States fails to provide students with good value for the money. He fallows that up with hard evidence. The first statistic to back up his proposition is that unemployment rate among college graduates is less than half (4.5%) than people with only a high school diploma (9.7%). This article states that the satisfaction rate of a collage graduate is 86% believing that collage was worth it for them. The article ends with the results from the United States census. The difference in yearly income for a person with a college degree and a person with just a high school diploma is $19,550 based off of that information the average graduate can earn back the cost of their degree in 2-6 years. The Feakonomics article states that even a high priced collage almost always pay for its self within a couple of years. This makes sense to me. Most jobs now days require some sort of education whether that be though collage or a tech program. I recognize that there are some fields that do not require a degree and that the financial benefit of a college degree would be minimal or even non-existent. I do believe that technology programs or tech schools can have a higher financial reward then a college degree. Collage is not for everyone. Trevor Wilson is some one that has not reaped the financial benefits of his degree yet. Trevor is a graduate from the University of Utah. Trevor received his degree in Exercise Science. He has not found job in his field since he graduated in 2011.

Jolley 3

Trevors ultimate goal is to go to medical school. The program that he is looking to enter requires 2000 hours of work in the medical field before he can apply. He has been unable to get a job that satisfies that criteria. He is now looking into volunteering to gain his hours for medical school. He has not reaped the financial benefit from his degree, However he still believes that his education was worth it due to the non-financial benefits that he has gained. I agree with Trevor. I believe that event if a financial benefit is not gained with a collage education that there are factors that can make your time and money worth it.
Non-Economic Factors I agree with the brought up point that college is an investment into your perspective. The exposure to new ideas and new people is something that cannot be over looked. The only time way to change your outlook on life is to learn about the world around you. College allows you to diversify your exposure to new and interesting topics. Often the most interesting class you will take is the class that you knew nothing about. The ability to expand your perspective gives you the opportunity to better yourself and that benefit alone makes it worth it. This is a factor that cannot be proven with facts. Rather the only judge of the worth of collage educational benefit is someone who has been through it. I interviewed Rebecca Ryser PhD to discover her perspective on the benefits of the education gained in collage. Rebecca sated that education is something that you can gain in ways other than collage but that collage gives you the structure and the resources to learn and grow. She said that she has known sever experts in her field that got to where they are without a formal education. They took the time to learn on their own. Rebecca believes that collage gives you the support and schedule required to get the most from your education. Without that structure people often procrastinate their education and fail to learn to their up most ability.

Jolley 4 Another benefit of collage that is not financial is the social comradely gained though collage. Collage gives you an opportunity to network with people who have the same passions that you do. As you get involved in collage you often will find that there are people just like you. Often the relations ships gained in collage are carried with the student throughout the rest of their life. There are very few opportunities out there that offer that same benefit of socializing with people with the same goals and passions. Conclusion In conclusion there are economic and noneconomic factors that influence a collage graduate. Some people . This issue is important because as we attend college we not only likely reap the benefit of a financial investment, but we also benefit from the exposure to new and interesting perspectives. The opportunity to attend college allows us to diversify our lives and that is something that we cannot overlook. Collage is a smart investment of time and money and the statistics show that. I believe that as we attend college we shape our future, and also the future of the world around us.

Jolley 5

Work Cited Comparative Education Review , Vol. 46, No. 1, The Meanings of Globalization for Educational ChangeGuest Editors: Martin Carnoy and Diana Rhoten (February 2002) Matthew Phillips. "The Numbers Game: Is College Worth The Cost?" Freakonomics RSS. Freekonomics, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013 Flows, Capital. "Don't Buy The Hype, College Education Is Not An Investment." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 June 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. Life, Brazen. "Why We Won't Need College in 15 Years." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Aug. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2"Does a College Degree Really Matter?" Does a College Degree Really Matter? Ed. Kate Lorenze. CareerBuilder, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013

Jolley 6