Tuesday, November 6, 2012

PROS AND CONS OF GOING TO COLLEGE

 
Fig. 1 college wordles
Intro

            It’s just that a college degree does not guarantee success, even though that is exactly the message that has been fed to students all throughout their high school careers. College is more of tool that will help you make the most of yourself, but it is not the only way that you can make the most of yourself. There are successful people who have gone to college and then there are successful people who have not gone to college. The path that you will choose in the long run has to be up to you. The decision of whether or not to go to college has to be a personal choice, one that is made over time with much thought and consideration.
 
Fig. 4 Success
Pros

The potential benefits to attending college is that college educations brings with it new interpretations and hope of a better life, one where you can do more than basically flipping burgers and working retail, if that is not what you want your career to be. A college education gives you the skills to succeed in the modern workplace at a profession that has value and worth in society. Attending college is also an opportunity to grow not just academically, but socially as well. College life is the first taste of freedom for some and the first taste of living like an adult for others. College is a time to form new relationships with friends and those you want to be more than friends. It is said that people who go on to do higher education tend to be healthier and a generally more rounded person than someone who has just a high school education.
 
 
Cons

Benefits that are not guaranteed in college are that you can go to college only to find out upon graduation that the career path you have chosen has too many people looking for work and not enough work to go around. Graduation is also another thing that is not guaranteed to college students these days. College students use to have to graduate in four years, now it is just an exception and not a rule. Many college students find that cost of college is just too much to bare and have to leave before graduating due to financial reasons. Others begin a college career simply to discover that college is not for them. Another thing that is a con to attending college is that many students turn to loans to finance their college education but they are not guaranteed to graduate and/or the opportunity to find work. If a loan is taken out and the student does not graduate, or they graduate but cannot find work, the student loan is still expected to be repaid. Taking out a student loan means that the debt from the loan is with you until you pay it off or die. Even if you do graduate and can pay your loans of, you may that the student loan payments are a burden on your daily life.

 
                Fig. 3 College funds
Personal Experience

“I currently have to pay around $600 a month on my student loans, plus $750 in rent, plus another $400 a month for food and $100 a month for cable/internet/phone. Factor in other bills such as car insurance, car payment as well as money to spend on yourself and it really adds up." (Pros and cons of going to college)