Do you know what the price tag on college is? Is it do able? Is it too much? What is it? The average amount spent on a public 4 year college for a state resident is about $9,650 per year. The cost only goes up from there. A student attending a public out of state college is about $24,930. A private college costs about $33,480 per year. Although that price tag is only tuition. There is also the cost of food, housing, and books. That’s one big price tag! A college degree can open up opportunities for careers throughout life. It takes a lot of time to get into and get a degree. A college education takes time, money, and it may not land you in the promised career.
Firstly, college take a lot of time to get a degree. “Typically, it takes 4 years to graduate from college, and if you take the required number of courses and the prerequisites each quarter or semester, you will indeed graduate "on time" (Hamadeh). Not to mention, the amount of time will differ depending on the degree, 4 years is a long time. 4 years is about 48 months, 208 weeks, and 1460 days. Also, some degrees take several years longer to complete. Some people will accept the challenge. Although, just think about how many things you could do in 4 or more years? According to a study done by University of Michigan-Flint, about “24-36 hours of studying time per week is spent when taking a 4 course semester” (Surviving College). In that case, with the time in class, studying also takes up time. All of this added up is way too much for some people. Some people do not want to go to college only for the fact that it takes so much time. Overall and per-day. “Most of my classes only required 1–3 books so I’d say between 40–120” (Burns). Consequently, most students study by reading books. For some people, reading is enjoyable and they can read a book in a week. Although, for others reading is a difficult task, it takes them time to read and it may be boring. With all this reading it may take excessive amounts of time. College takes several years to complete and requires time outside of school to succeed.

Secondly, going through college may not land you in the promised job. “Do you think or expect that graduating from college should help ensure you are able to obtain suitable employment? It should in theory”(Price). After All, this is why you spend 10’s of thousands of dollars on an education? Right? About 33% of graduates don’t land a job in their chosen fields. Although that is a smaller percent, college will not and does not mean that you will get a good job. “That alternative should be a world-class system of vocational-technical education”(Reich). First of all, there needs to be another optional besides college. Like presented vocational schools should be another option. While there are many vocational schools around, not many people think that they are an option. Everybody is pushed into college and that is the only option, it’s not. “34 percent of job openings will require at least a bachelor's degree; 30 percent of the job openings will require some college or an associate's degree; 36 percent of the job openings will not require education beyond high school” (Hamadeh). As a result, the majority of jobs do not require a college degree. While all of the percentages are relatively the same, you don’t need a college degree to get a good job. If you went to vocational school and had further education of a career, you could land in a decent job. College may not pay off with the oh so promised career.

Thirdly, college is super expensive. “The National Association of College Stores (NACS) says the average college student will spend $655 on textbooks each year, but with a single textbook easily costing as much as $300, that total can easily be much higher. In fact, the College Board puts the annual cost of books and materials at $1,168. Students at for-profit colleges tend to spend even more” (Kingkade). To analyze, the first cost that people think about with college is tuition. Although there are more costs to that. Textbooks. Over the last three decades the price of textbooks have gone up tremendously, “College textbook prices are 812 percent higher than they were a little more than three decades ago, the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, reports. Textbook costs have well outpaced the 559 percent increase in tuition and fees over roughly the same period” (Kingcade). “The bulk of your college expenses come from your tuition, fees, room and board, which altogether typically cost anywhere from about $17,000 (for an in-state public school) to $29,600 (for an out-of-state public school) to $38,500 per year (for a private school), according to a study by the College Board” (Robert). In that case, college tuition is a gigantic cost for an education. This is the main reason why people don’t want to enroll in college. Also, college can be so expensive that even after college, students can be in debt. Many people don’t want to attend college only because they think they can’t afford it or they don’t want to spend that much money on an education. “The price of “room and board”—a.k.a. housing and meals—can range a lot depending on where you live and what school you go to. Students at public schools can expect to pay an average of $8,887…” (Robert). To analyze, most colleges require students to spend their freshman year on campus. With that requirement, you will need to have a housing plan and a meal plan which is optional. This cost is not as much as textbooks but definitely not as much as tuition. Only another cost to get an education. All of the costs to college add up to, what most think is too much and could deter most people from attending college.

To argue, college can open up doors in life after graduation. While doors can open no one is guaranteed a defined career, many people do not end up in their field of choice. People feel like they live a happier and healthier life. Not all people that go to college are happy and live a good life in or out of college. You could make more money off a job. Just because someone went to college does not mean that they will get a good job.

To conclude, college takes way too much time, going through college will not promise the career path of one's choice, and college is too much money. College is not the only option. Everyone seems to be convinced that college is the only path to the middle life. So why get pushed down the funnel into 4 years of college when there are other options?