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?
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Leah, you bring up a very important and controversial subject. I am now a senior in college and without financial aid, scholarships and grants…I do not know how I would have made it through. As it is coming time for me to graduate I am skeptical as to what I really want to do. I am going into psychology but money is not the main reason people go into this job. Helping people is something I have always wanted to do but will I be able to make a decent living? If not, I have a few options and one is going back to college to study another field. This is where I get confused. Do I return to college to spend thousands of dollars and possibly go farther into debt, or stick it out with a job that does not pay much while also working a second job? I wish you the best of luck throughout your college career!
ReplyDeleteI agree when you said you need to find and work at a job you are going to enjoy and love. What's the point of making a good living if you hate going to work, and could care less about what you are doing. It is very stressful coming to college, building up homework, debts and stress over money. No one likes to be stressed about these things, but I really do think that going to college is well worth it to get the degree and go on to get a qualified job that you enjoy doing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that you need to find a job that you will love, because if you don't find one that you enjoy, then it really doesn't make sense for you to spend so much money at college doing all that work for something you don't love. Like you said in your blog, I am one of those freshmen that gets worried about homework, money, and work. I think college in general is a good time, but it is also a very stressful time and I think that your statement at the end really sums up an important blog that we need to get our priorities straight and work at what you love and not for just the money.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good story to talk about. For me, it is important to find a job that you love to do, because if you don't then your not gonna be doing very well in the future. I have financial aid and it seems to be that my dad always has to help me. In my college experience so far is doing good, but I always seem to be stressing about if I will be able to get my work all done before it's due, to overcome this stress relief I have to do my assignments as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I have looked at some polls and you can see the increasing cost of college tuition. I understand that things become more expesive and colleges need more money to buy things for students. I don't think that all schools need to be high tech though. Back in the day they took notes on paper and I bet that worked out a lot better then us typing all the time. All you need is a good teacher and a paper and a pencil. I see where they raise the prices but I don't see why they need to buy all these things. I personally don't have to pay anything now because I am covered. I do worry about after college though when I have to pay everything back. I don't want it to be a lot but I know it will be.
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