Is College Education a Worthwhile Investment - Essay Example

Despite there being so much noise, a college education is a worthwhile investment that every person with the necessary passion and ability should strive to acquire.

It has been proven to be true and is also a well-known fact that graduates from college make more money than their high school peers. A research survey done by The Hamilton Project in October 2012 proved that the returns emanating from college are much better and higher than those from any other investment such as bonds, stocks, or real estate. It was further discovered that the returns from college have continuously been constant for the past three and half decades. This demonstrates that the rising cost has effectively been offset by the gains derived by degree holders. For instance, a young graduate from college took home $4,000 more every year in the ‘80s (with inflation-adjusted), than someone of the same age without a degree. This figure has risen to $12,000 every year over the past 3 decades (Greenstone &Looney, 2012).

Even though there is solid evidence regarding the lifetime worth of higher education, skeptics are alarmingly pointing to increasing costs to strengthen their argument that college is no good investment as it once was. It is of course correct that over the year, there has been n almost a 50% rise in college costs (calculations courtesy of the National Center for Education Statistics), which could be an overstatement since this tuition increase ignores recent financial aid increments. Thus, even if the sticker cost of college may have increased, it is not clear to what extent the cost is to students as well as their parents or guardians. College Board certifies that the actual cost of a college degree has remained considerably constant over the past one and half decades.

This, therefore, means that investing in a 4-year degree continues to be a worthwhile undertaking for the average person. Statistics from US workers indicate that there are numerous benefits of attending college which not only come with higher incomes but also far overshadow the expenses of a degree, calculated based on tuition and earnings lost while attending college. It has been discovered that the average graduate incurring $20,000 annually as a tuition fee can recoup the cost of education by the time one is 40. After this, the difference between incomes continues such that the average graduate makes over $800,000 much more than the high school graduate by retirement age. The return from a college education is more than twice the average income experienced over the past 60 years in stocks which accounts for 6.8%, and over 5 times returns from investment in corporate bonds accounting for 2.9%, gold accounts for 2.3%, government bonds make 2.2% and housing returning 0.4%. Thus, the statistics above clearly demonstrate that the argument that college education is no longer a viable and sound investment is not at all rooted in any factual findings. It is clear that if attending college in the ‘80s was a brilliant idea, then it is still a brilliant idea even today.

Whereas there have been instances of individuals dropping out of college and making it big financially, for most Americans, the highway to a brighter future, as well as more wages, involves a 4-year college education. In American Society, college is a basic passage.