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Definition Essay

Alex Brown

2/13/2017

Higher Education in Fields of Study

Throughout every high school seniors’ minds, there are many questions that plague them.

“How many colleges should I apply to? Can I even get financial aid? Should I declare a major

now or later?” However, the most overlooked question that has come up in their mind has been

“Why should I go to College?” Is it really necessary for them to spend hundreds of thousands of

dollars to get a higher education? There are many reasons why people should attend college.

There are endless amounts of connections just waiting to be started. In college you’re introduced

to hundreds of new people. People such as Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook, met his

most important connections in college. Students have the best opportunity to better themselves

in whatever field they choose. People such as Danny Devito, Alec Baldwin, and Conan O’Brien,

all graduated with a degree through College that made them better in their field of study and led

them to great careers. College is an experience that is beneficial to a young adult in the modern

world.

There are many people who think that for what they want to do in life, they don’t need a

college education to make it happen. That is not necessarily the case though, to get a job in their

field they will likely need a college degree. Take, for example, Catherine Rampell’s article in the

New York Times, “It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk.” The article states “Consider the

45-person law firm of Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh here in Atlanta, a place that has seen

tremendous growth in the college-educated population. Like other employers across the country,
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the firm hires only people with a bachelor’s degree, even for jobs that do not require

college-level skills.” Taking into account the kind of major one wishes to pursue, also depends

on how long one should stay in college. Take for example a degree such as a Doctor of

Chiropractic it takes a minimum of 3 undergraduate years and 4 years of graduate school just to

be a Chiropractor. Knowing this it takes a lot of consideration to know what an individual wants

to do, with their life, but now it requires a college education as well.

There are also underhand reasons why going to college is great for a young adult. The first big

reason is learning financial responsibility. Depending on where one goes, financial responsibility

is an extremely important skill to learn for a developing adult. College’s these days can cost up

to $50,000 a year. Drexel University in Pennsylvania costs $47,000 just for tuition alone, not

counting for Room, Board and extra expenses. Balancing ones budget in college is important

because it causes students to think about what they need versus what they want. Though this may

be a jarring experience for some, it also gives them reason to think before they decide to act on

impulse buying. Maybe it’s not a good idea to throw a pizza party after every assignment one

completes. Rather, they might save the money for college costs, so they don’t have as much debt

by the end of college. Financial responsibility is a huge lesson learned from going to college.

Another great reason is the flexibility that one can have in college. When students start college, a

lot of people know what they want to start their major in; however, they might get into college

and realize that they don’t like what their major is offering them. This is something they

wouldn’t have known unless they were in college. If a student finds out that they don’t like their

major they can easily switch out of it, into something they might enjoy more. Over 80% of

students switch majors at least once according to The National Center of College statistics. With
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those kinds of odds, it seems pretty clear that a lot of people don’t know exactly what they want

to do with their life. This can be pretty intimidating for someone who doesn’t go to college. But

it is a tremendous positive for students who decide to go to college. Having this ability to explore

different areas

A lot of people who go to college often want to get away from home as well. Today this is more

relevant than in past years, as now, college’s are willing to pay more in scholarships to people

who are attending college out of their state. As noted by Scholarships.com, “University systems

and state higher education agencies offer tuition discounts for certain out-of-state students,

bringing down your tuition costs to anywhere from 100% to 150% of in-state tuition: as much as

a 50-75% discount on the regular out-of-state rate.” Being away from one’s own home-state

encourages more independence. The student can no longer rely on parents to help them out in an

out of state college. This can be beneficial to a student since this shows how it is in the real

world. Being out of state also means meeting an entirely new group of connections. This skill is

very important because it teaches the student how to start their own network of connections.

Having multiple networks of connections in different places can provide unforeseen

opportunities in the future.

In conclusion there are a majority of reasons why one should go to college as opposed to

not going to college. Financially it teaches independence among students and young adults. It

helps students to get a stable job when they come out of college. It gives young adults the ability

to explore many different fields of study. Students even have the option to take their studies

where they want to. A college education in today’s society can be extremely beneficial to a
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young adult growing up in today’s society. If more people took interest in college education we

could create a stronger and smarter nation in America.

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Work Cited:

Tilus, Grant “100 Celebrities with College Degrees” Rasmussen College. 9 May. 2012

http://www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/main/100-celebrities-with-college-degrees/

Burnham, Kristin “Tech’s 10 Most Famous College Dropouts” CIO.com. 3 May. 2012

http://www.cio.com/article/2368490/leadership-management/tech-s-10-most-famous-college-dro

pouts.html#slide4

Rampell, Catherine “It Takes a B.A. To Find a Job As a Desk Clerk” New York Times. 19 Feb

2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/college-degree-required-by-increasing-number-of-

companies.html

“Tuition Discounts to Attend College Out-of-State” Scholarships.com. 12 Jan 2010

https://www.scholarships.com/Blog/college-costs/tuition-discounts-to-attend-college-out-of-state

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