The Misconception of a College Degree

Ever since we were able to comprehend right from wrong, most of us were taught that if you went to college, got a good education you would get a good job & make lots of money. That may have been true twenty years ago when my mother got her degree, but times are completely different now. The concept of college is set up, administered and enforced by the very people who stand to benefit from a student enrolling in college, which are not the students but the academic institution and the federal government. Think about it.

Student’s work their brains for four years only to pay to take a test called the SAT’s that basically tells them which school they smart enough to apply. The next step is for these unsuspecting college hopefuls to shell out anywhere from thirty to fifty-five dollars to attach to a college application that now state, eighty percent of college graduates will not find a job in the field of which obtained their degree. Nevertheless, colleges willingly accept hundreds of college applications and application fees only to accept the “best of the best”. The thing that I never understood was why should I have to pay to go to a place that “accepted me” in the first place? This is where the institution benefits.

Statistically college tuition is rising up to twenty percent every year, forcing more than ever, for more students to take out Federal Student Loans. Six months after graduation whether a graduate lands that “dream job” they were tricked into believing would be waiting for them or not, Uncle Sam wants to collect on the hundred thousand plus dollars he put up for a students education with an interest higher than most credit card companies. If the graduate is unable to pay once they do land a job their wages get garnished. This is where the Federal Government benefits. I ask, where is the student benefiting?

What happened to all the companies that were supposed to be lined up to offer degree holders this great job that pays enough money for the big house and the Mercedes? It’s not realistic. The fact of the matter is that in this day and age a Bachelor’s degree is now equivalent to a high school diploma and now companies are demanding more education and that comes with a bigger price tag. The average college graduate will make about thirty thousand dollars they first two years after paying almost three time that amount in college. This doesn’t even out.

Ok, think about this. A high school graduate takes a retail job at the bottom level and learns the ins and outs of the company and eventually works his or her way up to management. By the time the student who attends college graduates, the student that took the retail job is already making more money than the college graduate and also has more experience. So it is not necessary true that college graduates make more money than people that didn’t go to college. Having a college degree doesn’t ensure job stability. When big companies and corporations so belly up, the first to go is the people at the bottom, not the VP’s. Eventually that degree holder will end up at that retail job anyway.

In my opinion, the concept of college is a set up. It’s a set up by the government to instill debt, which is a way to control the economy and to determine how much money a person makes per year. Personally, it doesn’t matter if you graduate college or not. It should be a decision that a student should make based on the fact they are going to acquire knowledge, not to acquire wealth. It’s just not set up that way. It is not set up to benefit the student, it never was.