Imagine yourself back at the end of high school, and you're just about to graduate. College is right around the corner for you, freedom at last from the burdens of so much homework and burnout from all the classes you've taken for the last twelve years of your life. You're excited, and you can't wait to get started. You've been told your whole life that college is the key to success, and you're ready to take that key and unlock the door to your future. Finally, after the long summer beforehand, you've moved into your dorm, and you are officially ready to start your college journey. Finally, some freedom!

Little do you know just how much work you'll have to put in to get by in this fantastic new era of your life. No more parents to tell you what to do when you need to do it, no more 7 hour days at school, and now you have a lot more work to do for your classes. Now you also have to figure out how you're going to pay for this higher education, since it's no longer tax funded like most all public schools in the United States. And it doesn't just stop there, either. If you don't live on campus, your housing isn't counted on your tuition, so you'll have to somehow earn money while you're in school to pay for rent, food, and transportation, if you don't walk to your campus.

Not only that, but you'll have to learn how to manage your time best you can. With college students spending 17 hours on average preparing for classes, including homework and studying, you'll have even less free time than you did in high school ^[1]. And on top of all that, all the extracurricular activities you decide to do will eat up even more precious time that you could use to prepare for class or unwind after a long day of classes. Even the work that you decide to do during your studies to afford rent and food will have an impact on your time. I think it is safe to say that high school probably didn't prepare you for this all that well.

The pressure is on young students to learn these important life skills quickly and figure out how to fund your expensive endeavour, or risk failing classes, or getting kicked out or dropping out. And that's not even mentioning the mental health issues that come with all this stress. It's no wonder that so many students drop out of college, or don't even go in the first place. These are many reasons why I believe that colleges are not as beneficial as they used to be, and why I believe that they need to change.

The benefits

Before getting into the big negatives, I feel like I should give a few examples on why colleges are still relevent and are still important today. For one thing, many employers require college degrees. However, I should mention that only 44% of jobs require a college degree, a trend that seems to be going down ^[2]. As such, many employers, like Dell and IBM, are dropping the degree requirement altogether in favor of finding applicants with relevent experience, a fitting personality, and a willingness to learn.

There is also something to learn still. For example, becoming a doctor requires many years of formal training, training that most students only get through an accredited medical school, such as VCU Health. These programs have requirements for students to have completed a certain number of college credits, like math, english, and science, as well as meeting a minimum gpa requirement, in the case of VCU, a 3.3 ^[3]. According to Indeed, jobs like being a registered nurse or a nuclear engineer require a college degree ^[4].

Student debt and tuition cost

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, factors when it comes to pursuing post-secondary education in the United States is how much colleges cost. According to the Education Data Initiative, a small team dedicated on collecting and organizing statistics about the US education system, a student pursuing a 4 year program at a public college or university in their state of residence while living on campus costs, on average, $26,027 per academic year. This means that, on average, a student pursuing a 4 year program at a public college or university in their state of residence will pay $104,108 in tuition alone. This does not include the cost of textbooks, housing, food, and other expenses that come with attending college, as well as loan interest ^[5].

To put a perspective on these numbers, in 1963 the annual cost of a 4 year program at a public college was just $263, roughly equivalent to $2,431 in 2022 value. That's enough money to get a mid-high end desktop computer. Today, the average cost of tuition per year is roughly equal to a low-mid end car. Imagine basically buying a car every year for 4 years, and that's how much it costs to get a 4 year degree at a public college or university in your state of residence. And that's just the average at a public university. The average cost of tuition per year at a private college or university is $55,840 when living on campus, roughly equal to a decked out Tesla Model Y (according to their website). Per year. Yikes. That's not including the cost of textbooks, housing, food, and other expenses that come with attending college, as well as loan interest. In fact, the most common reason why students drop out is because of how much college costs ^{[5] [6]}.

Compared to other countries, we have a higher cost of education in the US. Let's take some countries in Europe for example. Let's say you're a student living in the EU looking to pursue a bachelors degree. Most countries offer much lower, sometimes free, tuition at public universities. Compared to the tens of thousands of dollars per student per year in the US, you can probably expect to spend maybe two thousand dollars at the high end in most EU countries. There are some outliers to this data, such as private universities in most countries, and the United Kingdom, however it should be noted that the cost is still considerably less than the average in the US, up to 50% less in some cases^[7].

Workload and mental health

No matter where you go to school, you are expected to spend some amount of time doing schoolwork outside of classes. This is true at any level of education, whether you're in grade school or college. The level of courseload depends on how many classes you take a semester, and for some it's just too much. According to a research paper co-authored by Georgia Barbayannis, students at the college level are "exposed to novel academic stressors," of which include financial stress, pressure from their family, and intense competition^[8]. As a college student myself, I experience all these stresses nearly every day. Financial stress isn't just limited to "Will I be able to eat today" but also includes "How am I going to afford this?" As mentioned above, college is expensive, and it's not getting any cheaper.

Mental health is also a major concern. For many, college is a massive change in their life. Living away from home for an extended period of time for the first time in their lives is something not many people will be prepared for. This can lead to depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. According to a study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, over a third of students that were screened tested positive for possible major depressive disorder, with lower gpa seeming to be a major factor^[9]. While this issue isn't limited to college students, it seems to be more prevelent due to the stress that students face.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the relevance and importance of colleges today are complex and multifaceted. While many employers still require college degrees, a declining trend is noted, with some prominent companies like Dell and IBM dropping the degree requirement in favor of relevant experience, a suitable personality, and a willingness to learn ^[2]. Professions like medicine still demand formal training, typically acquired through accredited institutions, and certain jobs, including registered nursing and nuclear engineering, explicitly require a college degree.

However, the escalating cost of college education in the United States is a significant barrier. The average annual cost for a 4-year program at a public college has drastically risen over the years, far exceeding the inflation-adjusted costs from the 1960s ^[5]. This financial burden extends beyond tuition, encompassing textbooks, housing, food, and other associated expenses, along with loan interests. In contrast, many European countries offer much lower or even free tuition at public universities, making education more accessible. Moreover, the academic workload and associated stressors in college, including financial strain (which is the biggest factor), familial pressure, and intense competition, contribute to mental health concerns, and therefore contribute to dropout rates ^[6]. Mental health challenges are exacerbated by the substantial life changes that students undergo, particularly when living away from home for an extended period.

In summary, while colleges offer valuable learning opportunities and are prerequisites for certain professions, the escalating costs, coupled with the mental health challenges students face, raise questions about the overall effectiveness and accessibility of higher education in the United States.

Sources

[1]: https://learninginnovation.duke.edu/blog/2018/10/how-much-homework-is-too-much/
[2]: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/why-fewer-employers-are-requiring-college-degrees.aspx
[3]: https://medschool.vcu.edu/admissions/md/future-applicants/
[4]: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/jobs-that-require-a-college-degree
[5]: https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college
[6]: https://www.studentassembly.org/dropping-out-of-college/
[7]: https://www.mastersportal.com/articles/405/tuition-fees-at-universities-in-europe-in-2023-overview-and-comparison.html
[8]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9169886/
[9]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9169886PMC7488388/