By David LoSardo
Staff Writer
One of the most stressful and overwhelming challenges that a student will ever face in his or her academic career is paying for a college education. Not only has the cost of undergraduate tuition skyrocketed over the course of the past several decades, but most students are also overloaded with student loan debt after they graduate.
A large majority of this issue lies in the fact that higher education has become a business over time, and that many colleges and universities are now making massive profits through student paid tuition. However, an equally large portion of this issue is a result of the actions and desires of the students.
The cost of undergraduate tuition for graduating high school seniors has become increasingly more expensive over the past few decades. According to the College Board, “a ‘moderate’ college budget for an in-state public college for the 2015–2016 academic year averaged $24,061. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $47,831” (“What’s The Price Tag For College Education?”).
This cost for entering into a college is a major hurdle for many students, especially if they are unable to receive merit-based scholarships or financial aid to help pay for their tuition. As a result, in order to fully pay their undergraduate admission fees, most students are forced to take out student loans and eventually pay back their debt.
There is a common belief that in order for a student to achieve success in life following high school graduation, he or she must attend a highly-ranked college or university. This is why admission to Ivy League schools, such as Harvard and Yale, and other similar private institutions, like Stanford, is so enormously competitive.
“There’s a widespread conviction, spoken and unspoken, that the road to riches is trimmed in Ivy and the reins of power held by those who’ve donned Harvard’s crimson, Yale’s blue and Princeton’s orange, not just on their chests but in their souls” (Bruni).
Understandably, it seems that this is a sensible and educated conclusion to make regarding the level of education that a student wants to achieve. This is why the select students that are accepted into prestigious private universities are willing to pay the $40,000 to $80,000 in annual tuition in order to attend, which in turn results in massive debt. However, through data in the American workforce, the idea that attending a prestigious private university is the only road to success is consistently proven false.
One of the reasons why this belief is false is simple: it does not matter where one receives his or her college education, because the ranking of the college that one attends does not determine his or her success in life. While Ivy League schools and other private universities seem like they would provide the best possible value in terms of both a quality education and a transition into the workforce, less prestigious universities are capable of providing the same results.
In a more recent publication, an interview was conducted by the Wall Street Journal in March of 2015, in which recruiters were asked what the best universities for their entry level hires were.
In response, “the top five were Penn State, Texas A&M, the University of Illinois, Purdue, and Arizona State. They are all brand-name schools, but they’re also public universities and hardly elite” (Sellingo).
Not only does the prestige of a university not determine one’s post-graduate career, but the effort and drive that one puts into one’s own education is the single most important portion of achieving success after graduation. It ultimately does not matter where one attends college, because if one decides to push ones-self, strives to achieve goals, and make the most of the academic experience at any college that one attends, one will be successful in both career and life, in general.
Frank Bruni, author of the 2015 book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be”, provides examples of this occurring in the real world. One example of this is the case of Peter Hart who graduated from the prestigious New Trier High School in Chicago, and had his sights set on attending Yale University with a friend. After being rejected from Yale, he decided to attend Indiana University, one of his backup schools. Arriving at the university feeling neutral about his choice, he quickly realized the vast amount of opportunities that was available to him at the school. He took full advantage of them as he achieved a high grade point average, became a student in an undergraduate business honors program, and became the president of an on-campus business fraternity during his time at Indiana University. “Upon graduation, he took a plum job in the Chicago office of the Boston Consulting Group, where he recognized one of the other new hires: the friend from New Trier who’d gone to Yale. Traveling a more gilded path, she’d arrived at the very same destination” (Bruni).
Despite its intimidating cost, the financial aspect of a college education does not have to be as ominous as it seems, because a student’s success is dependent on the amount of effort that they put into his or her education, rather than the prestige of the college that he or she attends. While attending a prestigious university is certainly an accomplishment that can lead to success, it is fa from the only possible way of achieving it. It is completely possible to receive a worthwhile an quality education at any college or university, regardless of its ranking or perceived superiority.
The success of a student, in both the workforce and life, is primarily determined by the amount of effort that he or she puts into his her college education, regardless of what school he or she decides to attend. This is the main reason why the ranking of a college is ultimately insignificant in the long term for a student’s life.
Staff Writer
One of the most stressful and overwhelming challenges that a student will ever face in his or her academic career is paying for a college education. Not only has the cost of undergraduate tuition skyrocketed over the course of the past several decades, but most students are also overloaded with student loan debt after they graduate.
A large majority of this issue lies in the fact that higher education has become a business over time, and that many colleges and universities are now making massive profits through student paid tuition. However, an equally large portion of this issue is a result of the actions and desires of the students.
The cost of undergraduate tuition for graduating high school seniors has become increasingly more expensive over the past few decades. According to the College Board, “a ‘moderate’ college budget for an in-state public college for the 2015–2016 academic year averaged $24,061. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $47,831” (“What’s The Price Tag For College Education?”).
This cost for entering into a college is a major hurdle for many students, especially if they are unable to receive merit-based scholarships or financial aid to help pay for their tuition. As a result, in order to fully pay their undergraduate admission fees, most students are forced to take out student loans and eventually pay back their debt.
There is a common belief that in order for a student to achieve success in life following high school graduation, he or she must attend a highly-ranked college or university. This is why admission to Ivy League schools, such as Harvard and Yale, and other similar private institutions, like Stanford, is so enormously competitive.
“There’s a widespread conviction, spoken and unspoken, that the road to riches is trimmed in Ivy and the reins of power held by those who’ve donned Harvard’s crimson, Yale’s blue and Princeton’s orange, not just on their chests but in their souls” (Bruni).
Understandably, it seems that this is a sensible and educated conclusion to make regarding the level of education that a student wants to achieve. This is why the select students that are accepted into prestigious private universities are willing to pay the $40,000 to $80,000 in annual tuition in order to attend, which in turn results in massive debt. However, through data in the American workforce, the idea that attending a prestigious private university is the only road to success is consistently proven false.
One of the reasons why this belief is false is simple: it does not matter where one receives his or her college education, because the ranking of the college that one attends does not determine his or her success in life. While Ivy League schools and other private universities seem like they would provide the best possible value in terms of both a quality education and a transition into the workforce, less prestigious universities are capable of providing the same results.
In a more recent publication, an interview was conducted by the Wall Street Journal in March of 2015, in which recruiters were asked what the best universities for their entry level hires were.
In response, “the top five were Penn State, Texas A&M, the University of Illinois, Purdue, and Arizona State. They are all brand-name schools, but they’re also public universities and hardly elite” (Sellingo).
Not only does the prestige of a university not determine one’s post-graduate career, but the effort and drive that one puts into one’s own education is the single most important portion of achieving success after graduation. It ultimately does not matter where one attends college, because if one decides to push ones-self, strives to achieve goals, and make the most of the academic experience at any college that one attends, one will be successful in both career and life, in general.
Frank Bruni, author of the 2015 book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be”, provides examples of this occurring in the real world. One example of this is the case of Peter Hart who graduated from the prestigious New Trier High School in Chicago, and had his sights set on attending Yale University with a friend. After being rejected from Yale, he decided to attend Indiana University, one of his backup schools. Arriving at the university feeling neutral about his choice, he quickly realized the vast amount of opportunities that was available to him at the school. He took full advantage of them as he achieved a high grade point average, became a student in an undergraduate business honors program, and became the president of an on-campus business fraternity during his time at Indiana University. “Upon graduation, he took a plum job in the Chicago office of the Boston Consulting Group, where he recognized one of the other new hires: the friend from New Trier who’d gone to Yale. Traveling a more gilded path, she’d arrived at the very same destination” (Bruni).
Despite its intimidating cost, the financial aspect of a college education does not have to be as ominous as it seems, because a student’s success is dependent on the amount of effort that they put into his or her education, rather than the prestige of the college that he or she attends. While attending a prestigious university is certainly an accomplishment that can lead to success, it is fa from the only possible way of achieving it. It is completely possible to receive a worthwhile an quality education at any college or university, regardless of its ranking or perceived superiority.
The success of a student, in both the workforce and life, is primarily determined by the amount of effort that he or she puts into his her college education, regardless of what school he or she decides to attend. This is the main reason why the ranking of a college is ultimately insignificant in the long term for a student’s life.