Americans feel as if college no longer gives you an advantage as it would give to Americans a decade ago. Americans are seeing college as throwing away their money or a bad investment because of the outcome of going to college and coming out without the possibility of having a reliable and secure job that pays what you deserve. Therefore college isn’t seen as an important standard as it used to be for many Americans.

EVIDENCE:

“ In one survey, 86 percent of college graduates said that college had been a good investment; in mother, 74 percent f young adults said a college education was “very important”…The typical American with a bachelor’s degree ( and no further credential) was earning about two-thirds more than the typical high school grad, a financial advantage about twice as large as the one a college degree produced a generation earlier. College Seemed like a reliable runaway to a life of comfort and affluence. A decade later Americans’ feelings about higher education have turned sharply negative. … Only about a third of Americans now say they have a lot of confidence in higher education”(Tough 1).

MY P.O.V. :

I do agree with Tough that college had now became an undesirable direction for many people. Due to the fact that it’s now a financial burden in both aspects because of the fact that you become in debt when going through your years in college and as you start to finish your schooling especially now you aren’t promised a secure job to help you pay off your debt or even to help provide for your life. Which is why I feel many Americans are starting to move away from college because there are s many ways now that you can earn a better living without the debt of college such as working in social media.

When going to college was at its’ most desirable point for Americans, your major didn’t impact or determine your future. You can go to college and earn the simplest degree and maintain a good and steady job. But as years have gone on, What you decide to earn a degree in evidently plays a major rule for your future going forward. Which is playing impacting the desire Americans have to go to college negatively.

Evidence:

“Webber next considered the impact of a student’s major. If you choose a business or STEM degree, your chance of winning the college bet goes back up to 3 in 4, even if you’re paying $50,000 a year in tuition and expenses while you’re in college. But if you’re majoring in anything else — arts, humanities or social sciences — your odds turn negative at that price; worse than a coin flip. In fact, if your degree is in arts or humanities, you’re likely to lose the bet even if your annual college expenses are use 25,000”(Tough 9).

My P.O.V.

I do see now that when you’re majoring in a STEM degree you’re more likely to find a job outside of college faster than someone with a degree in arts. And with majoring in STEM you’re able to pay off the debt you owe faster than someone who’s majoring in arts. Which if you could make the burden of debt go away faster you’ll see more people turn to that major. Americans are starting to turn to majors like STEM or Law to ultimately live a successful life.

Outside of America college is seen as a rewarding way to better your education and make you more successful. In order to do that other countries have lower/ affordable costs to go to college sometimes even free. What sets America apart in that way is how the cost of going to college grows more and more each year which causes many Americans to feel going to college and obtaining a better education isn’t rewarding.

EVIDENCE:

“Outside the United States, meanwhile, higher education is more popular than ever. Our global allies and competitors have spent the last couple of decades racing to raise their national levels of educational attainment. In Britain, the number of current undergraduates had risen since 2016 by 12 percent. (Over the same period, the American figure fell by 8 percent.) In Canada, 67 percent of adults between 25 and 34 are graduates of a two- or four-year college, about 15 percentage points higher than the current American attainment rate”(Tough 2).

My P.O.V.

America is most definitely an outlier from other countries. Going to college became so normalized in America that the need for making it affordable for everyone no longer stands. Which is what is leading to the decline in college going Americans. Outside of the United States going to college is still a lot of money but is a reasonable amount and affordable amount compared to the United States. Leading to the rise of college going people outside of the United States.

College had drastically became overwhelming unaffordable in America. The cost of going to college has doubled from earlier years. Which carries a burden on to so many American families holding the cost of college debt just to get a higher education.

EVIDENCE:

“Now students and their families bear much of the burden, and that fact has changed what used to be a pretty straightforward calculation about the economic value of college into a complex math problem”(Tough 4).

My P.O.V. :

College tuition alone for one year is just as much as buying a new car. And on top of just tuition you have to pay fees for dorming, eating, health insurance, parking ticket/ gas if you drive to school. All of this money being spent adds up and can affect the student and their family decision on whether or not they could afford to continue their education in college or just not go to college at all.

College Wealth Premium- The additional wealth of a person by a college degree compared to a person. Headed without a college degree

Casino- A place where gambling games are played

Outlier-a person or thing situated away or detached from the main body or system

Affluent- Having a great deal of money; wealthy

Cost- an amount that has to be paid or spent to buy or obtain something

Ideology- a system of ideas and beliefs that form the basis of persons view on groups

Going to college is as if you’re gambling your whole life away. You major in a subject unknowingly thinking if it’ll take you far in your future. Sometimes it will, Sometimes it won’t. You’re more likely to win the “college lottery” if you major in a STEM major.

EVIDENCE:

“The college casino, in other words, is not entirely a game of chance. Your odds of coming out ahead depend largely on who your parents are. If you possess the social and financial advantages necessary to gain admission to one of the nation’s most selective colleges, you’ll probably make out fine, even if the table stakes do seem awfully high. Most American college students, however, don’t have access to the benefits that those selective colleges produce. Only about 10 percent of students today are enrolled at a college that admits fewer than half its applicants. The rest of the American college going population attend mostly less selective public institutions, local community colleges or for-profit schools. Students at those institutions are more likely to be rural, Black or Latino, working class or low income or all of the above.They are less likely to graduate and more likely to incur debt they can’t pay back. For them — a large majority of American college students— the risks they face when they walk into the casino are considerably higher”(Tough 14).

My P.O.V.

College is definitely a casino when you think about it because you’re putting all your eggs in one basket hoping you’ll find good out of college. When more than likely if you don’t succeed outside of college you tend you blame it on “how much you put in” like the school you went to and how involved you were with said school.

How is it when you work hard and successful manage getting your college degree that when it comes getting payed at a job. You find out that your college degree was overall just a waste of time because you’re getting payed almost the same amount of money as someone who didn’t put all their time into college and just has a high school diploma.

EVIDENCE:

In The New York Times Magazine by Paul Tough on page four it explains, “ After World War II, the G.I. Bill flooded the American labor market with college diplomas, and for a few decades, the gap between the median income of high school graduates and that of college graduates remained pretty narrow; having a college degree produced an income boost of 30 percent or so. But in the early 1980s, the college wage premium began to rise steadily. In the early 2000s, it surpassed 60 percent, and ever since, it has hovered around 65 percent”(Tough 4).

My P.O.V.

For all the effort you put into earning your degree i would’ve expected the college wage premium to decrease between those with a college degree from those without over the years. But finding out that it has risen and your college wage premium is closer to someone without a college degree really makes you think if college was really worth it after all.