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Dawson Smith

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp. 2nd pd

11th March 2022

Is the Money Worth the Worry?

Have you ever thought of the struggle of having to pay of thousands of dollars in student

loan debt? or have you wonder about if you’ll be able to free yourself from student loan debt in

the near future? Many discussions about if college cost is worth it have been brought up in the

media, among politics, and amidst conversations between parents and children. The cost of

college is not worth it for recent high school graduates because they will start out in debt, wait

for a high paying job, and add to the national debt problem.

To begin, many students will be left to face large sums of debt after college. With the

increase of college cost, many families are reconsidering sending their children to college. One

of the most striking features of modern university life has been the sharp increase in the cost of

attending college and the closely associated growth in federal student loan debt (Vedder).

Although the parents are reconsidering sending their children to college, there is discussions

about trying to help lower and relieve the mass amount of debt. Student loans have recently

sparked controversy in Congress and across the nation as Democrats push for the cancellation of

student loan debt up to $50,000, while Republicans oppose said cancellation (Joost). There may

be a push for helping relieve the outstanding cost of college, but nothing has yet to be done. “As

a result, future studies could focus on liberal arts colleges and datasets spanning longer periods

of time to better understand how college affordability does or does not affect the USN rankings
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and other pertinent student outcomes, such as student debt upon graduating and future wages,

also recommended by prior research (Owings-Edwards, 2005)” (Alsmadi). Over the years many

groups and researchers have done studies to see how the growth in cost of college has been

affecting the debt students will start in. The cost of college isn’t worth it because a large amount

of recent college graduates will be starting their life “in the real world” in a large sum of debt.

Another downfall from the high cost of college is that recent college grad students will

have to wait for a high paying job to be able to pay of the large sum of debt. Although it may

seem like that someone went to college so they’ll be receiving a high paying job out the gate, but

in reality, they will most likely be waiting some time or having to work at a job for some years to

start to get the desired pay. “However, Owings-Edwards (2005) found that no statistically

significant relationship existed between USN ranking and wage earned after graduation, bringing

into question how USN may not be addressing post-graduation outcomes which have been

critically important for students and their ability to pay back their student loans” (Alsmadi). The

risk of going to college and making a lot more money with a degree may seems like the dream

everyone has, but what isn’t brought up a lot is the stress and ability to pay of a student loan

debt. “Federal student loan debt has grown 60% in the last ten years and is forecast to grow to $2

trillion by 2021 (Byrne, 2018). With this rapidly increasing debt on individuals pursuing degrees,

the question must be asked if it was worth it. Students who graduated in 2018 have an average

student loan debt of $32,731 (US Federal Reserve, 2017); average monthly student loan

payments are $393 (US Federal Reserve, 2017); and 11.5% of student loans are either in default

or over 90 days late (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2018)” (Nuckols). With the increase of

college cost and the amount of money being borrowed, many students will soon have to question
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their ability to attend higher standard colleges solely based on their ability to pay of the

schooling debt in a reasonable amount of time.

Lasty, one of the main stipulations with high school graduates going to college is that

students’ loans that many will use are continuously adding to the national debt. With the increase

of young adults and or kids going to college, the national debt is increasing based of the amount

of student loan debt in the country. “The numbers are staggering. Currently, there are 44 million

student loan borrowers (Experian, 2018) with a combined debt of $1.569 trillion and climbing

(Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2019). In 2018, 53,749 unique borrowers

submitted applications for Public Service Loan Forgiveness; of those 610 were approved

(Federal Student Aid, 2019)” (Nuckols). Many students don’t think about how much debt they

will be in after college, they just look forward to the degree and possibility in jobs to come.

Although students’ loans will most likely be paid off eventually, many will have to face money

being taken out of the paychecks. “In early 2019, reports from the United States (U.S.)

Department of Education and the Institute for College Success indicated that over 44 million

U.S. borrowers collectively owed over $1.5 trillion dollars in outstanding student loan debt, with

more than 11% of borrowers in delinquency or default, unable to make timely payments

(Friedman, 2019)” (Alsmadi). Many students who will going to college will be facing student

loan debt, meaning that making it in the world isn’t going to be so simple as it may look. Aside

from students having to pay off their loans, they will be adding to the nation’s debt.

In conclusion the cost of college is not worth it for recent graduated high school students

because they will start out in debt, they will have to wait for high paying jobs, and they will be

adding to the national debt. Although in this country it may seen like you need a degree from a

university to be successful, you can simply find a job in a work field that doesn’t require a
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degree. You can find a job that does on the job training that pays you at a rate that you’re

comfortable with.
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Works Cited

Joost, Chandler. "The Cost of College: Student Loans in an Evolving Economy." UWIRE Text,
29 Aug. 2021, p. 1. Gale OneFile: Educator's Reference Complete,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A673648653/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-
PROF&xid=2f723570. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.
Nuckols, William L., et al. "Was it Worth it? Using Student Loans to Finance a College Degree."
Higher Education Politics & Economics, vol. 6, no. 1, annual 2020, pp. 1+. Gale OneFile:
Educator's Reference Complete,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A648922257/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-
PROF&xid=c704cfc6. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.
Taylor, Z.W., and Izzat Alsmadi. "College Affordability and U.S. News & World Report
Rankings: Analyzing National and Regional Differences." Journal of Interdisciplinary
Studies in Education, vol. 9, no. 1, May 2020, pp. 1+. Gale OneFile: Educator's
Reference Complete,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A647537143/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-
PROF&xid=bd009c80. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.
Vedder, Richard. "More Student Loans, Higher Tuition: Failing to Make the Connection."
Academic Questions, vol. 33, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 323+. Gale OneFile: Educator's
Reference Complete,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A626451541/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-
PROF&xid=42897153. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.