Is College a Waste of Time and Money?

College is a waste of a good idea, and let’s go through the reasons why... The whole structure of a paid education to further your chances of knowledge and success is a relatively safe and smart system. You pick a field you feel qualified for or peaks your interests, you study a certain amount of time to be able to utilize said field into a workforce, and then bing-bada-boom you’re all set for life.

Tragically, College is much more complicated than that. Most students struggle significantly during their studies, and a good amount end up having to either quit or postpone school for multiple reasons. Reasons such as...

Insufficient education,“A Professor at Texas A&M at Galveston was so frustrated with students' performance that he told them he wouldn't pass anyone and that he was done with them.” (Jaschik), a very unsettling lack of support from outside sources, “There is a prominent tendency to raise tuition with every increase in FFA awarded to students. It’s something of a perverse arms race: the federal government increases the amount or availability of FFA, and schools respond by increasing tuition and fees.” (Hecht), the unnecessarily expensive fees and weighing debt upon young adults — 'The growth of student loan debt is being compared to the recent housing crisis because of the significant growth of subsidized lending,' said Bryon Spicer, president of Spicer Wealth Management in Dayton, OH (Bond), And even confusing and tedious requirements, making the youth even more confused and prone to novice mistakes, “Colleges aren’t doing a good enough job explaining to applicants how admissions choices stem from their policy. While most colleges list some of the factors they consider in admission — such as leadership and involvement in extracurricular activities — they need to go further to explain how applicant characteristics are assessed and weighted.”

Now, the education you are given is obviously subjected by many things— such as who you are being taught by, and how easily you grasp information. But through many people’s experiences, regularly, Someone will have a negative and stressful time with University and College. Professors don’t seem to be employed based on their quality of teaching, but rather how much information they know. “Students are usually unaware that college professors are not trained teachers. Ironically, while students think that “all profs do is teach,” teaching is where professors receive the least training, if any at all.” (Fertig). The thing wrong with that is that it doesn’t really matter how much you know on a subject, if you’re not able to translate that knowledge with a easy to understand manner, you’re not going to get a very good response from your students.

Then there’s the issue with lack of help from outside sources. Yeah, sure, there’s stuff out there like student loaning and student discounts— but they’re minuscule in comparison to what students actually need to help sustain their lives outside campus. Many are full time students and part-time/full-time workers, They try their best to balance their new found adultery and grades but it’s been found nearly impossible to actually do all that by theirselves. So much can and does happen in students daily lives and it’s getting tougher and tougher to be able to take on those daily challenges with your education also weighing on you.

Which leads into the ridiculous and unnecessary costs that college brings with it. People have had to spend hundreds upon hundreds on extra equipment and “mandatory books” that honestly never seem justified. “The average student spends $655 each year on textbooks, according to the National Association of College Stores, because many courses require pricey books that can cost up to $300 each.” (Bresiger). Most of people entering college are relatively young and have no idea how to manage their money, yet we are immediately given immense responsibility from the point you graduate high school and enter the next step of your education.

By now, you’ve at the very least become aware that College is stressful and can be even more confusing when details are brought up onto the surface. You’d think that the people on the top of our education would understand this, and work on making the detailing process that you undergo to apply and pursue a very simple and easy one. Unfortunately, it’s the complete opposite and no one knows what the heck they’re doing or what the heck is going on. Many University and College websites are vague and badly structured. It’s a pain in the butt to login to your account and don’t get me started on links not leading to anything and not working. At least once a month you’re going to encounter some random email from your campus stating something along the lines of “ Sorry, But that one thing you were desperately spending weeks on trying to get situated with us hasn’t gone through for some reason. Therefore, we’d graciously like you to redo the whole process again and have you try your best to not kill anyone. Good luck. “.

Overall, College could be a wonderful and beneficial thing towards our world and our Country if we utilize its benefits and reconstruct its downfalls. College should be the biggest building step in our youth and it should be able to make us a more stable and sustainable country. There’s a lot of good when it comes to education, and many are totally for knowing more and being well certified in going into their future career. There’s just things within the topic that need to be promptly looked into and changed. Kids aren’t conditioned from high school well enough to understand the fundamentals of College level education in the very beginning. We need a stronger structure, we need a more affordable plan for our children and our community in general, we need the government to stop exploiting their power by overpricing school supplies, we need to be informed clearly as to what is needed and have a bountiful amount of help at hand for us to succeed. It’s 2018 and it’s now time for College to be what it was truly meant to be. As a struggling student and a pursuing worker, I say we need College to NOT suck!   

Cite this page