Intro:

Conventional wisdom holds that everyone should go to college, but we take a different

view: that not everyone should go to college. Our reasons are classified into three groups, how

it’s a waste of time, waste of money, and how it doesn’t fit the needs of society. The first reason

is how college is a waste of time. Statistics show that more than 30% of students in college

dropout to start their careers. Some of you may believe that they probably will not have the jobs

that they wanted, that is rarely true. According to the Beuro of Labor Statistics, in this day and

age fewer employers look for degrees because less than 20% of jobs actually require them.

Several years ago, many jobs required degrees only because employers can require it, not

because it actually needs it. It is also a waste of time because the dropout rates are increasing for

a different reason. The other reason is because students are not prepared for college courses. This

is usually because high school didn’t prepare them enough which can cause can a lack of effort.

Once students realize they can’t do the courses in college, they don’t see the need of spending

the money. In 2006, the Department of Education noticed that in colleges almost half of the

students applying for bachelor degrees wouldn’t get it in the four years they were in college.

Once students find out that it would take more than four years, they realize the degree is not

worth the cost.

This brings us to the next reason, why college is a waste of money. Many people believe

this because the cost of college is not worth the degree. In fact, Steve Jobs said “All of my

working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I

couldn't see the value in it.” Many families’ savings are being spent on college, and some

governments have tried to help. In 2017 the State of New York created a program that covered

college tuition for middle to low income students. This affected almost a million students, some
say for the better. However, the state still has to pay for it and added more 1.3 billion dollars to

the national debt which already was 1.5 trillion dollars from student loans. Student loans are

costly because you might be paying them off over decades. A person with a degree will be paid

more in their job than someone in the same job without a degree. However, the person with a

degree will have about the same amount of money because they have to pay off their student

loans. In fact, the person without a degree might have more money in total because they could

have been working in the four years when the other person was in college.

The person with a degree missed four years of work which not only lost money for him,

but also society. While most of society believes that everyone should go to college, society

depends on people without degrees. There are jobs such as waste collectors or construction

workers that a city depends on, and having a degree isn’t useful. This means everyone having

degrees would be a waste of time and money because the knowledge wouldn’t benefit cities. If

everyone went to college then every country would be in deep debt for no good reason.

It is not worth a nation’s money and time to send everyone to college because it won’t

pay off. Not everyone is a good candidate for college so most of the money would be a waste.

Sending everyone to college would cripple many nations and send everyone into debt. Although

many people go to college to widen their horizons, not everyone ultimately works in a job that

requires a college degree.

Rebuttal:

The opposing team believes that everyone should go to college, but in their speech, they

only talked about why college was beneficial. They did not take the economic cost into account

which is the main problem if everyone would go to college.

 There are many ways that economies could crash, but experts believe that student loan

debt is the most likely reason economies will fall. According to Consumer News and Business

Channel, or CNBC, most students don’t finish paying off student loan debt until they are in their

40s. This is bad for the economy because individuals would lose money and won't be able to buy

new things. Without the purchases of new products, the economy can’t grow. Student loans also

hurt the students. The opposing team said that getting a degree will let people do what they like

to do, however, it also restricts them. According to scholarshipamerica.org, students with loan

debts are 36% less likely to purchase their own house. This means that if everyone had student

loan debts then most people can’t or will barely afford houses. This is shown again when seen

that most students with loan debt have lower credit scores than people without degrees.

Not only does college restrict student’s opportunities physically, but it also affects

students mentally. There are many temporary bad habits that can be created in college, but there

are also long-lasting habits. Some temporary bad habits include not getting enough sleep,

procrastination, and pulling all-nighters. These habits can be changed quickly but are very

unhealthy for students. The worse habits include smoking, binge drinking and excessive caffeine.

According to the National Association of Scholars, about 40% of students participate in binge

drinking which is defined as five or more drinks in one sitting. This activity is very dangerous

and causes alcoholism. The next dangerous habit is excessive caffeine consumption. More than

92% of college students consume caffeine. Although a lesser percentage is affected, they will be

greatly affected by illnesses later in life. Although not everyone develops these habits, if

everyone went to college a large number will. This could be catastrophic to society because then

most people have dangerous habits.

 Having dangerous habits also could lead to having less of a chance at getting jobs. Few

employers want to hire people known for being dangerous alcoholics especially in jobs that

require total focus such as surgeons. Simply having degrees will not help people get jobs, it is

also important to have other qualities. Another bad reason if everyone went to college is people

will still be unemployed. Many people are unemployed because jobs are not available, and being

able to do the job does not mean you have a job.

Although the opposing team makes great arguments about why college is good, they

haven’t thought about what would happen to the world if everyone went to college. Although

college can be beneficial for many people, debt is an important factor to consider, as well as the

effect of college stress on individuals, and the long-term effects both of these have for society.