During their high school career, students may begin to question the importance of a college education. They might find themselves asking, “Why is it important to go to college?” The answer is that, more than ever, attending college provides opportunities for graduates which are not as widespread to those who have not received a higher education.
For many high school students, being able to immediately generate an income after graduation is an appealing thought. They may also be repelled by the rising cost of tuition, and while it is true that a higher education may be one of the largest expenses you will ever face, the importance of a college education has become quite evident in terms of earning potential within today’s economy.
One important answer to this question is more opportunity. As opposed to generations of the past, high school graduates today are unable to obtain the number of high-paying jobs that were once available. The U.S. has been transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy based on knowledge, and the importance of a college education today can be compared to that of a high school education forty years ago. It serves as the gateway to better options and more opportunity.
There are additional reasons as to why it is important to go to college. When students experience a post secondary education, they have the opportunity to read books and listen to the lectures of top experts in their fields. This stimulation encourages students to think, ask questions, and explore new ideas, which allows for additional growth and development and provides college graduates with an edge in the job market over those who have not experienced a higher education.
The importance of a college education is also accentuated because of the opportunity to gain valuable resources during your tenure. The more connections which are collected during your college career, the more options you will have when you begin your job search. Once you have ended your job search and have started your career, however, the importance of a college education has not been exhausted. Having a college degree often provides for greater promotion opportunity.
So, why should you go to college? The reasoning does not begin and end with the job aspect. A good education is beneficial from many different viewpoints, and while the importance of a college education is quite evident for many high school students, what is often not as clear is how they will pay for that education.
Funding Your College Education
Although the colleges and universities of today carry a heavy price tag, it is of great importance not to let that discourage you from obtaining a college education. While the cost of tuition continues to rise, so too does the number of available financial aid options. Below we will explain why it is important to explore these options before you go to college and the large payoff they often provide.
From local and federal options, to categorical and corporate options, college-bound students have a variety opportunities worth exploring when attempting to obtain financial aid. A common misrepresentation of financial aid packages (e.g. scholarships, grants, loans, work study programs) is that they provides funding for an entire college education. The reality is that most of these packages are smaller and it may take several of them to add up. This is why it is important to explore all of your options before you go to college:
- Local options—The people of your own community fully understand the importance of a college education, which is why organizations such as the American Legion, the Rotary Club, the Jaycees, and Boosters chapters offer scholarships for high school students in the area. These organizations are often overlooked and serve as a great resource due to the fact that they have far less competition than national awards. Start your local search by visiting your high school’s career options to see what’s available.
- Federal options—The federal government is also well aware of the importance of a college education, which is why they award more financial aid to college-bound students than any other resource. The most important step in obtaining federal aid is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Follow this link for more information on filing the FAFSA for financial aid.
- Merit-based options—Merit scholarships are awarded to students based on academic or athletic abilities, as well as categories such as ethnicity, religious affiliation, club membership, interests, talent or career plans. Learn more about merit-based options by following this link: College Scholarship Money
- Corporate options—Corporations are another resource who understand the vast importance of a college education. Every year, corporations ranging from Target to Coca-Cola offer financial aid to thousands of college-bound students. A great way to start your corporate scholarship search is with you or your spouse’s company. Often times, organizations will award the children of employees with scholarships or grants. Follow this link to learn more about college financial aid and grant searches and determine the eligibility of your student.
Understanding the Importance of College Education
If you are still asking yourself why should you go to college, it is important to remember the significant amount of opportunity available for college graduates. The global economy is becoming increasingly more competitive, and in order to give yourself the best chance for a well-paying job, you must first understand the importance of college education.
Attending college provides students with the knowledge and experience they are unable to receive from a secondary education, and finding a way to fund a higher education now can pay off in a huge way in the years to come.
College-Bound Student Information
CollegeView offers an extensive amount of valuable information and resources for the college-bound student. Please follow these links to discover how our articles can help you in your choice for an educational pathway:
I think this article has a lot of merit and provides excellent insight to a student who may have questions as to wether to attend college and see the advantages!!
Patty
I think this article offers great insight to the advantages of college. I love the fact that it gives you the real truth that college is expense, but why a person should still go. Thanks!
After at least 45 years of hearing the same old arguement in favor of having a college degree I feel compelled to add my own 2 cents worth. It’s total bull. Go get a trade, or better still, a union job. UAW guys are making $32+ an hour with benefits that would rival a high ranking politician’s. Today everyone has a college degree, and worse you’ll be competing with offshore PHD’s that get paid $7/hr., or less.
I’m a current senior in high school and I understand the point the author is trying to make about why College is important. In some ways my parents will agree, however I do not. You say that through higher education students can read textbooks and listen to professionals talk about their field and experience. I’m sorry but all of those same opportunities are offered in any library, where the topics and expertise in books are boundless. Also, nowadays there are websites like Youtube where you can find videos of famous world renown professionals talking about their field.
This information was very helpful for my business management class. Thank you so much.
David S.,
Look at the facts. College graduates, on average, get paid more than High School graduates. Granted, some people without degrees find good, high paying jobs, but the stats show a STRONG correlation between education and salary.
Unless your parents are footing the bill or you are receiving a lot of scholarships I would question the merits of attending college. Being in debt and in many instances not being able to find a job in your career path after college will not improve your quality of life. Not to mention that the quality of education at many colleges these days is highly questionable. College debt in America surpasses all other forms of debt. My main point is keep an open mind and don’t believe everything you hear about how college is the golden ticket to success.
great article but quiet boring. definitly explains college thouroughly and givs me an inside look on how college works
This article is a sales pitch, but it’s not entirely inaccurate. Today’s world requires a college degree for almost every corporate job, even administrative assistants! This is actually a sad affair because most jobs don’t require a college education, even if the job description states so. The leaders of corporate America has been brainwashing by articles like this into thinking that anyone without a degree is an idiot, which is far from the truth. In fact, most recent college grads are still painfully ignorant and naive about the real working world, much more so than their so-called “uneducated” colleagues who went straight from high school into the working world.
The reason there aren’t as many opportunities for people without degrees is because colleges and universities have pushed the notion that anyone without a degree is completely – not partially – but completely ignorant of nearly everything except pushing a broom, and soon I fear even janitors will have to get some sort of BS certification to proove they’re qualified to tell caca from doodoo, though I see plenty of both in this article.
Proof of how ridiculous the value of a college degree is come from the fact that corporations routinely pass on qualified and seasoned professionals in favor of kids with a degree. Not only that, they’ll pass on qualified candidates with years of experience in the field their hiring for in favor of an inexperienced “degreed” candidate who didn’t even major in the same field the job requires! I’ve met many database developers with degrees in English. (And then the companies wonder why their databases don’t work…)
Michael said it best with his simple statement that college grads make more than their colleagues who do the exact same job. It’s extremely unfair and prejudiced, but that’s a fact. It also belies the true reason the overwhelming majority of people go to college in the first place – to land a job making more money. The real problem with colleges and universities is that they’re so greedy they require far too many subjects to be studied and time invested in order to get a degree. Forcing students to waste time/money on physical education courses in order so they have a “well rounded education” (“well rounded” is not hyphenated, by the way, because it’s not a compound adjective; “well” modified “rounded”) is just a ploy to rake in more money. College educators and students delude themselve into believing they’re attaining a higher and more noble goal by requiring students to take so many prerequisite courses outside their majors, but the bean counters know the truth – it brings in money. Lots of money. I have made absolutely no use of the judo I studied in college, but I’m hundreds of dollars poorer for it.
i got happy to got information it was too important
this helped me get my project done and i hope i get a a+ mr. cobos please. I made most of it into my own words and this deffinetly makes me want to go to college.=)
Statistics may say HS-College graduates salary gap
BUT your brainwashed.
They count GED gradutes as Hs graduates, and its also the kind of person that affects how successful he can be.
A well rounded person with alot of talent and success in his life and school life that graduates HS and decides not to go to college wouldnt be represented as the overwhelming majority or statistics of HS graduates.
some HS graduates are idiot lazy thugs that barely were able to graduate their shit HS and college is out of the question for them.
Its decieving and its like comparing apples to oranges.
College is heavily advocated by goverment because its a corperate intrest. The reason its so expensive is goverment involvingment in the free market. If the goverment gave everyone the money to buy oranges, markets could sell their oranges more expensively and people would buy it. Top it off with marketing and brainwashed politically correct liberal teachings of the benifits of Oranges (like colleges) and now you have more millions of people rushing out to buy Oranges. Turns out orange prices were inflated, and everyone believed goverment and corperate marketing and took out loans to buy oranges.
Thats what colleges are.
Wow!!!!!!!!! I’m very thankful to this information because now I’m having much trouble in my SS 200/1 class ( Research Method)…….so yuuuuuupppppeeeeee…….thankz a lot…..:)
I think this article hammers some importance of college education of which am in agreement most especially in an aspect where he tries to contrast the funding of college education.
It is my sincere pleasure to encourage everyone to take advantage of college education, because college education make one so unique and different from others in term of reasoning, thinking and making sound decision. A nation is build when its citizen are willing to learn and explore what they have learned.
wow…. its amazing how i learned way more from the comments then from the actual blog, truth is that colleges will only give you a paper that says you are authorized to do a certain job when the truth is that experience speaks more than a piece of paper with a few words worst thing is that there is a possibility that you may not even be hired … me i’m barely a sophomore in college and every time i see my degree plan i question the committee that organizes these reports (they have so many unnecessary courses) it’s very discouraging to keep in college seeing that apparently this is only what matters and not hard work, not skills and not initiative but a stupid piece of paper …