The Value of a College Education

Essay by agiornoUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, July 2004

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The Value of a CollegeEducation

Earning a college education provides a lifetime of rewards. Education is an investment in yourself. As with any investment it requires planning, saving and sacrifice, but will continue to pay you back for a lifetime. Individuals with a college education have better job opportunities, earn more money and develop skills and knowledge that can never be taken away. Higher education unlocks doors to economic and educational opportunities.

Education is about learning to think and learning different ways to analyze a problem and find a solution. One of the traditional purposes of a college education is to prepare students for a future career in a learned profession (e.g. law, medicine, engineering, science, teaching) but there is so much more that education can provide. Students are prepared to learn on their own by reading and doing. They are taught to think critically, to evaluate the credibility of information without depending on others reviews or an expert's endorsement.

By learning the fundamentals they will be capable of teaching themselves.

The world is changing rapidly, and many jobs rely on new technology so more jobs require education beyond high school. With a college education an individual will have more jobs from which to choose. Educated people are employed at higher rates and with greater consistency. For example, according to the July 2003 employment report from the U.S. Department of Labor, those persons with less than a high school degree are more than three times as likely to be unemployed as bachelor's degree recipients (BLS, 2003)

The working conditions of college graduates tend to be better. People who have attended college are more likely to work in white-collar jobs, in office buildings or other facilities with air conditioning and heating, and with conveniences (ranging from computers, to on-site...