TAIMUN 12th Press 2014

 

     College. The word strikes unspeakable fear in the minds of high school students. The thought of researching colleges, completing applications, meeting deadlines, and waiting for results are nightmares. College is also inextricably linked with another scary word – tuition.

 

     With new English-speaking high schools popping up all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia, colleges are suddenly seeing unprecedented waves of applicants. Unfortunately, their funds have not changed by much and neither have the number of spots available. College acceptances have become a simple case of supply and demand – and the demand outweighs supply by far. A major factor of acceptance is the applicant’s financial ability. According to Bloomberg, college tuition and fees have risen 1,120 percent since 1978. Scholarships and financial aids are considered to be a panacea for the economic restrictions, but those require an applicant to stand out even more among thousands of other students that are similar in academic and extracurricular fields. From a Taiwanese standpoint, acceptance is even more difficult, given the disadvantage of applying as an international student. A student with great potential seeking financial aid may be rejected by a college favoring another student with the ability to pay full tuition and fees. On the bright side, tuition and fees at public universities increased less than 3 percent this academic year, the smallest rise in three decades, according to the annual College Board reports on trends in pricing and aid. Nonetheless, in terms of equity, lower to middle class applicants are far from affluent students on the scale of justice. They say money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you a college degree.

 

     Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of attending college. A high quality education is an investment for your future. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, between 1980 and 2005 “young adults with at least a bachelor’s degree consistently had higher median earnings than those with less education.” The experiences that come with college – including life-long friendships and unforgettable nights – are valuable and cannot be replicated elsewhere. Yet, is a job after college guaranteed? Labor Department data showed 28.6 million jobs available requiring a college degree with 41.7 million people to fill them, and 13 million is an exorbitant amount of people not getting their money’s worth from the tuition they put in. The uncertainty still makes college a high risk investment. Of course, employers will inevitably favor an applicant from Yale University rather than a graduate from an obscure community college. However, billionaires, such as Steve Madden and Henry Ford, who managed to achieve success despite not having a college degree challenge the necessity of attending college.

 

     The word “college” is really not scary at all. It is the prospect of what comes after college that frightens the young adult population. Your college degree does not determine your worth. No matter which college you attend or whether you attend at all, you are #Worth.