College degrees are not worth it.
College degrees have the potential to improve human capital skills and techniques or become a source of economic immobility due to factors such as expensive college loans. Debate exists on the importance of graduate degrees or career success without postsecondary education. Exploring the feasible outcomes on the significance or insignificance of college degrees is vital, as this paper assesses success indicators such as access to credit, the potential to become homeowners, marriage stability, and the mortality rate of diverse individuals.
In capitalist and social liberal economies, the level of education or quality of technical skills is an indicator of success or social class. Capitalist societies view potential to be homeowners as reliant on having graduate degrees, due to higher disposable incomes or potential to save and invest. Alternatively, liberal social economies argue that college degrees as a luxury since the distribution of national wealth is not dependent on individual success rather than governing social, economic systems.
However, individuals with a bachelor’s degree may earn an additional $1 million more annually a person without postsecondary education. Studies and data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that college graduates earn more on average than people without graduate degrees. Additionally, people with a college education do not face the dangers of unemployment at more significant risks compared to individuals without graduate degrees.
The potential to make additional money is evident among people with a college education. As such, financial stability translates to career stability for individuals with graduate degrees. Compared to individuals without a college education, 4.4% of labor dependent on daily wages with facing unemployment, compared to less than 2.2% of individuals with white-collar employment.
College education has the potential to increase job satisfaction, defeating the argument that lack of graduate degrees fosters individual confidence. Job satisfaction derives from having an identity with a career, with more than 77% of employees with post-graduate education and 60% of laborers without further education reporting levels of income security.
However, the ability of an individual to say their job is a career increase among individuals without formal employment, but oddly correlates with lack of skills required for promotions. As such, individuals with further education develop skills that allow them to be financially savvy compared to informal education economic literacy. Studies indicate that people with a college education are 9.4 times more likely to possess a bank account, compared to 6.7 probability of informal skills within the same scale.