I, as a freshman in college know exactly what it is like to be worried about money, student loans, financial aid, etc. But ultimately, shouldn't college students be more concerned about their life goals rather than if they are and/or will be well enough off or not? A recent story of USA Today by Mary Beth Marklein caught my attention. So here I am, writing my first ever blog about it.
In this story, it talks a lot about the worries of college freshman, and that the highest worry on most in-coming students' minds is whether or not they will be "well off" during college, as well as after college while truly being on their own and working for a living.
Another issue talked about in this story is the most thought about thing when students are making the big decision of choosing the college they want to go to, which is the cost of four or in some cases more, years at a university. Along with this story was a picture of New York's Bernard College's commencement exercises in 2007. A graduate of the college taped the cost of four-year education, which is approximately $200,000 at her college, to the top of her graduation cap.
A survey in 2009 showed a lot of different numbers, which also happened to be higher than normal. These percentages show signs that financial hardships are intensifying in the minds of young adults trying to decide the life path worth taking. The cost of college and paying for students loans and financial aid is a big worry; going to a college that absolutely promises finding a good job in the future is an extreme must; the thought that some careers or majors just won't "get them ahead of financial spectrum."
However, the 2009 survey of over 220,000 first-time, full-time students from over 297 four-year universities/colleges showed that the value of freshman was to be well off financially at 78.1% rather than to develop a meaningful philosophy of life at 48%. This can be compared to freshman from the year of 1969 whose value was to develop a meaningful philosophy in life at 84.9% rather than to be well off financially at 42.2%.
So now you might be thinking that this is somewhat of a controversial story. And if you ask me, it definitely is. The values of present day college students are rather questionable and could seemingly be what you could call screwed up. In my opinion, yes, money is pretty important these days, but we all need to set our life goals straight. I've always gone with the thought that you should work at a job that you love, that maybe brings in a decent amount of money.
I know where my opinion stands. Where does yours?
Sunday, January 24, 2010
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