The Cost of a College Degree

 

George Mason University Fairfax Campus

Student tuition debt is over $1,300,000,000,000. Student loan debt has exploded since 1990. In the United States, the average student loan debt for the Class of 2016 was around $37,000. The National Center for Education Statistics released new statistics on October 5^th showing tuition repayment progress. These statistics showed that as of 2015, 60 percent of students still had to take out loans just to attend college.

But how do these statistics compare to the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. area? According to the Office of the President at George Mason University, “the average amount of debt among graduates who borrowed is nearly $29,000. From 2004 to 2014, the average amount of debt for bachelor degree graduate borrowers nationwide has grown by 56 percent, which is more than double the 24 percent of inflation over the same period. In Virginia, average debt grew even faster from 2004 to 2014, with an increase of 67 percent, more than two-and-a-half times faster than inflation” (“Student Debt Trends,” n.d.). The student debt crisis has become a serious matter for borrowers from all demographics. The graph below shows that more than 42 million people have up to $100,000 in student loan debt, with about half of that figure owing between $10,000 to $50,000. More than 2 million borrowers

Students have more than $1 trillion in student loan debt.

have student loan debt of more than $100,000. Surprisingly, George Mason students are in less debt than the national average.In the article, Is College Worth the Money, authors Aatum Desai, Sameer Gir and Adam Nohl look at the percentage of people living in every state in the United States compared to the unemployment rate. Their thought behind this was that the higher number of people that have a bachelor’s degree, the lower the unemployment rate will be. According to the article, “As technology reduces the supply of basic jobs,

the demand for jobs that require higher levels of education increases. Therefore, the question is raised in regards to how impactful completing a bachelor’s degree in college is as opposed to leaving education after high school” (Desai, 2017). Their study goes on to conclude that having a college degree does affect the unemployment rate and that it is beneficial to attend college.Parents, guardians, role models and politicians need to work together to push teenagers and young adults to pursue college degrees.

Victor, who was unable to continue to pay for college.

Many young people decide that they cannot afford tuition and books and so they end up not attending college, taking semester breaks, or dropping out. I interviewed Victor, who is a current employee at a pet store. Victor’s family was originally paying for his education, however, their finances were adversely affected by the recession and they could no longer afford tuition. Victor was unable to continue to pay to attend community college so he dropped out. When asked if he would ever attend college again, he said, “No”. Victor felt that he would not be able to handle both working and attending school. For his current job as groomer, he

Terence, who takes semester breaks to be able to afford college.

felt that on-the-job training was more important than a degree. Of course, his short-term view, fails to take into account what he may need to progress in his career, such as higher education requirements for management. I also interviewed another pet store employee named Terence. Terence is a 22 year old studying to become a veterinary technician. Terence pays for his college education without the help of anyone else. He is taking a semester long break so that he can recoup some money to pay for the next semester. When asked if this will be the only semester break he will take, he said, “No”. Terence said that he will need to takes several gaps in order to continue to attend college. This is becoming the norm for college students in the United States. 

According to a study done by Harvard University, “ Only 56 percent of the students who enter America’s colleges and universities graduate within six years, while only 29 percent of students who enter two-year programs complete their degrees within three years, the study found” (Waldron, 2012). They found that one of the main causes of the rising student drop out rate is the rising cost of college. According to the study, “The cost of college has nearly sextupled since 1985 and the total amount of student loan debt held by Americans surpassed $1 trillion in 2011. With as many as 25 percent of borrowers behind on their loans, the number of Americans seeking relief from student loan debt has increased substantially” (Waldron, 2012). Many don’t know that there are other options besides financial aid to help pay for college.

For many, the cost of college may be too much to take on. There are other options that can be pursued in addition to taking out a student loan. A student loan should be the last option. Colleges and the federal government give out grants, which don’t have to be repaid. According to Katie Loboso from CNN Money, “Most (grants) are awarded based on your financial need, and determined by the income you reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA… Last year, undergrads at public colleges received an average of $5,000 in grant aid and those at private colleges received about $16,700” (Lobosco, n.d.). Another option is pursuing a work-study job. Colleges offer part time jobs on or near campus in which students can earn an hourly wage. Most work-study jobs are flexible with school schedules. Depending on the school’s location, the jobs can pay a competitive rate as well.

Most college students today work in addition to attending college, whether part time or full time. Some companies offer some sort of employee tuition reimbursement programs. Starbucks recently announced its new and improved College Achievement Plan. Starbucks has partnered Arizona State University to offer all part time and full time employees full tuition coverage and the cost of books. Unlike most companies, there is no minimum time that you have to work for the company prior to applying for tuition reimbursement. Employee tuition not only benefits the employee, but also the employer.

Some employers pay for the cost of books.

Peter Capelli, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania examines why employers decide to pay for an employees’ college in his article, Why do Employers Pay for College. Capelli points out in his article that, “Employers routinely provide financial support for their employees who pursue post-secondary education despite the fact that it represents perhaps the classic example of a “general skill” that costs the employers and raises the market wages of employees who posses it” (Capelli, 2003). Capelli raises the question, why would employers pay to educate their employees when having a college education generally equals a higher rate of pay.

In Capelli’s study, he finds that tuition reimbursement plans help employers attract a more educated and a better quality pool of potential employees in an era where potential employees are not just looking at the rate of pay but the benefits the company has to offer. Many companies now require that an employee be employed with a company for a certain amount of time prior to applying for reimbursement and a certain amount of time after receiving reimbursement, generally one year. Some companies as well require you to stay with the company for a certain amount of time after receiving reimbursement. Capelli finds that, “Turnover should be lower as well where employees use tuition assistance. Part of the explanation is obvious: As noted above, many employers require that employees be with the firm for some period before they receive tuition assistance. A smaller percentage require employees to sign contracts that make them reimburse the costs of the tuition benefits should they quit before some specific date.” By providing benefits such as tuition reimbursement, employers are more likely to stick with a job and/or company simply because of the fact that in addition to getting paid, they are receiving an education that may not have been attainable without the assistance of an employer. However, many associates are unaware of current education reimbursement programs offered by their employer. The two associates I interviewed, Terence and Victor, had no clue that their current employer offered any sort of tuition reimbursement. Both have been employed by the same pet store for over five years.

While the cost of college is rising and student tuition debt is at an all time high, getting a college degree is still very important and in certain ways, required. Having a degree sets those apart from others who did not go beyond a high school education. A degree shows that extras steps were taken to advance a career. Besides taking out loans, there are alternative ways to pay for college. Many people opt to follow the financial aid and grant route. in addition to those choices, there are also private scholarships available or the opportunity to receive money from an employer to pay for college. Young adults who receive a college education, on average, make more then their counterparts who did not receive a college education.

 

References

Capelli, P. (2003, November 27). Why Do Employers Pay for College? Retrieved November         05, 2017, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407603002641#!

Friedman, Z. (2017, February 21). Student Loan Debt In 2017: A $1.3 Trillion Crisis. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/02/21/student-loan-debt-statistics-2017/#15ad2e2a5dab

Lobosco, K. (n.d.). 7 Ways to Pay for College Without a Scholarship. Retrieved November 3, 2017, from http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/25/pf/college/pay-for-college/index.html

Student Debt Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2017, from https://president.gmu.edu/student-debt-trends/

Waldron, T. (2012, March). Study: Nearly Half Of America’s College Students Drop Out Before Receiving A Degree. Retrieved December 10, 2017, from https://thinkprogress.org/study-nearly-half-of-americas-college-students-drop-out-before-receiving-a-degree-68867634fa5e/

 

 

 

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Google’s Takeover

Today’s society is so quick to give out their personal information and to agree to terms that they have not read through. You can access almost anything through the internet such as banking information, credit score information and standard entertainment. There are many ways that your personal information is at risk and is being surveilled by outside sources. Companies such as Google, use your information to target ads towards you. Advertisers pay Google to get their ads featured.

In Mark Andrejevic’s article The Work of Being Watched: Interactive Media and the Exploitation of Self-Disclosure, Andrejevic discusses the importance of privacy rights as he critiques surveillance. According to Andrejevic, “More information than ever before is being privatized as it is collected and aggregated so that it can be resold as a commodity or incorporated into the development of customized commodities” (Andrejevic, 2002). Your private information that you are providing to companies is being sold to companies so that they can target you with ads. Companies such as Google are using your information to make the ads targeted towards you relevant.

In Siva Vaidhyanathan’s article, The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry), Vaidhyanathan discusses how Google came to be. According to Vaidhyanthan, “Google dominates the World Wide Web. There was never an election to determine the Web’s rulers. No state appointed Google its proxy, its proconsul, or its viceroy. Google just stepped into the void when no other authority was willing or able to make the Web stable, usable, and trustworthy. This was a quite necessary step at the time” (Vaidhyanathan, 2011). While Google does not sell your information, they target ads based on information that was provided. According to Vaidhyanthan, “Whenever we write blog entries, post reviews of products, upload photos, or make short videos for viewing by anyone who is using the Web, Google finds them. And it copies whatever it finds. All search engines must make a “cache” copy of material they find so that their computers can conduct a search. Then, when others search for content relating to their search queries, Google places revenue-generating advertisements on the margins of the search results through its Ad Words auction program, described above” (Vaidhyanathan, 2011). Whatever you search on Google, is now saved to Google so that they know what you are interested in. People exchange their privacy/personal information for access to content they wouldn’t be granted access to normally. Google invests billions into developing techniques to target you.

These articles compliment each other. Andrejevic’s article discusses privacy on the internet. The internet would not be much without Google. Google has managed to monopolize the internet. Both articles warn about how the information that you provide is collected and used. The two readings have helped inform my progress toward meeting the learning objectives for this course. They have given me an insight into how data can be used and sold by companies. It has made me more aware of the information that I provide online and what terms I am agreeing to.

References

Andrejevic, M. (2002, June 22). Work of Being Watched. Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlNbYYWRMSHZi1GQTk0aWRHSTQ/vie w

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2011). Googlization of Everything (And Why You Should Worry). Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlNbYYWRMSHcE1VRHFJTldWZWM/vie w

It’s Time to Broaden the Conversation About the Student Debt Crisis Beyond Rising Tuition Costs

In the article, It’s Time to Broaden the Conversation About the Student Debt Crisis Beyond Rising Tuition Costs, Timothy Ulbrich discusses student loans and debt with a focus on pharmaceutical debt/loans. While pharmacists make a decent income, around $120,000, new practitioners are graduating and they are drowning in debt. Ulbrich states, “The average amount borrowed for students graduating from pharmacy school increased from $101,892 in 20096 to $163,494 in 2017. Looking further at the amount borrowed by pharmacy students attending public or private schools, those graduating in 2017 from public schools reported borrowing an average amount of $136,328, compared with those graduating from private schools, who reported an average amount borrowed of $189,317” (Ulbrich, 2017). This article will be important for my research because Ulbrich shows how a person can graduate and get a high paying job but still be paying off thousands in student loans. He also touches on student scholarships and financial assistance as well, which he believes play critical roles in college student’s lives.

 

https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1944212011?accountid=14541

Is College Worth the Money?

In the article, Is College Worth the Money, authors Aatum Desai, Sameer Gir and Adam Nohl look at the percentage of people living in every state to the unemployment rate. Their thought was that the higher number of people that have a bachelor’s degree, the lower the unemployment rate. According to the article, “As technology reduces the supply of basic jobs, the demand for jobs that require higher levels of education increases. Therefore, the question is raised in regards to how impactful completing a bachelor’s degree in college is as opposed to leaving education after high school” (Desai, 2017). Their study concluded that having a college degree does affect the unemployment state. Those states where more people have college degree, the unemployment rate is lower. This article will be beneficial to my final paper because I can conclude my paper by letting people know that having a college degree is in fact worth it.

 

https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/56622/econ3161_desai_nohl_gir.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Net Price Keeps Creeping Up

It is no secret that college tuition has continued to rise over the past few years. According to Rick Seltzer’s article, Net Price Keeps Creeping Up, “Private nonprofit four-year institutions’ average published tuition and fees increased by 1.9 percent, to $34,740, in 2017-18, after adjusting for inflation. Public four-year institutions’ tuition and fees rose by 1.3 percent, to $9,970. Public two-year colleges’ tuition and fees increased by 1.1 percent year over year, to $3,570” (Seltzer, 2017). Seltzer questions the affordability of college for average income families. With a rise in college tuition, one would expect to see a rise in financial aid as well, which we did see. Seltzer states, “Grant aid for post secondary students totaled $125.4 billion in 2016-17. That was 74 percent more than 10 years earlier, adjusting for inflation” (Seltzer, 2017). A 74 percent increase is the largest increase on record. This article will help me write my final paper because he talks about why tuition has risen and why financial aid has risen as well. There are several interesting graphs as well that will come in handy.

 

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/10/25/tuition-and-fees-still-rising-faster-aid-college-board-report-shows

Click of a Button…

We live in a world today where you can access almost anything you want with a click of a button. Many people fail to realize how much technology truly affects us and how it has changed our everyday life. Technology not only affects the average person, but it affects companies, big and small. One field that the growth of technology has had a major impact on is photojournalism. Digital technologies have had a detrimental effect on professional photojournalists careers.

In Gregory Paschalidis’ article, Mini Cameras and Maxi Minds, Paschalidis references a French Newspaper called the Liberation. Paschalidis states that, “Οn November 14, 2013, for the first time in its 40-year history, the French daily Liberation was published without any photographs at all, having in their place a series of empty white frames with their telltale captions and signatures” (Paschalidis, 2015). Many praised Liberation for paying homage and drawing attention to the fact that many newspapers are eliminating their photography staff and replacing them with freelancers and citizen photojournalists.

Lindsay Palmer’s article, iReporting” an Uprising: CNN and Citizen Journalism in Network Culture, touches on similar points that Paschalidis made. Palmer examines how television news organizations, in particular CNN, depend on unpaid labor for its iReport. iReport is a website that allows everyday people to upload pictures from anywhere in the world and have the picture tagged to their location. CNN has created a space for people or citizen photojournalists to publish their photos with a reputable news organization.

In Palmer’s article she states that, “CNN did not need to pay as many professional reporters to travel the world, so long as they had iReporters who could upload the images instead. The trick was to take advantage of this free labor without forfeiting the network’s professional credibility and without allowing the network’s newscasts to be inundated with a glut of information” (Palmer, 2012). This is similar to the point that the French magazine, Liberation, was trying to make. They were highlighting the fact that many professional photojournalists are losing their jobs because companies, such as CNN, are relying on citizen photojournalists to provide photographs. These citizen photojournalists can provide photographs of current events a lot quicker due to the fact that news organizations don’t have to fly them to where the action is happening because they are already there.

Both of these authors agree on the fact that citizen photojournalists have had a drastic effect on the careers of professional photojournalists. Why would a company pay to hire a professional photojournalist when they have people that are willing to submit their photo’s for free? These articles have informed my progress towards meeting the learning objectives for this course by helping me understand in more detail the effect that citizen photojournalists have had on professional photojournalists as well as news organizations that used to rely solely on professionals. It has made me more aware of how news organizations can profit off photo’s submitted by citizen photojournalists, while the citizen is more then likely unpaid.

 

Works Cited

Palmer, L. (2012). “iReporting” an Uprising: CNN and Citizen Journalism in Network Culture.Television & New Media,367-385.

Paschalidis, G. (2015). Mini Cameras and Maxi Minds.Digital Journalism,635-651.

 

 

Why do Employers Pay for College?

Why do Employers Pay for College is written by Peter Cappelli. Cappelli attended The Wharton School and University of Pennsylvania. Cappelli points out in his article that, “Employers routinely provide financial support for their employees who pursue post-secondary education despite the fact that it represents perhaps the classic example of a “general skill” that costs the employer money and raises the market wages of employees who possess it.” It raises the question, why would employers pay for employees to advance their career when everyone knows having an education equals a higher salary? Capelli analyzes why employers choose to provide tuition assistance.

He finds in his study that tuition plans help employers attract more educated and a better quality pool of workers. He also finds that, “Turnover should be lower as well where employees use tuition assistance. Part of the explanation is obvious: As noted above, many employers require that employees be with the firm for some period before they receive tuition assistance. A smaller percentage require employees to sign contracts that make them reimburse the costs of the tuition benefits should they quit before some specific date.”  This article gave me an insight into why companies provide tuition assistance and how it benefits both the employers and employees. It will be one of the main articles I use in my final project.

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407603002641#!

How Tuition Reimbursement Increases Retention Through Sorting and Participation

General Human Capital and Employee Mobility: How Tuition Reimbursement Increases Retention Through Sorting and Participation is written by Colleen Flaherty Manchester. Manchester received her PhD from Stanford in 2007 and is currently a professor at Carlson School of Management. The source is a scholarly article. Manchester uses the data from a large company that started a tuition reimbursement program. She looks at the types of people that work at firms with and without tuition reimbursement programs. She finds that the effect of tuition reimbursement programs in regards to retention is similar to past studies on other companies that offer this program as well as other studies done on the tuition assistance provided by the military. She finds that tuition reimbursement programs increase retention. This scholarly article is relevant to my Individual Article because she provides insight into how tuition assistance programs work and why they are beneficial to the employee. Manchester also examines how the companies benefit.

 

Link to article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24368505

Keeping Up With a Digital Native Youth

After reading, “It’s Complicated, The Social Lives of Networked Teens” by Danah Boyd and “Origins and Concepts of Digital Literacy” by David Bawden, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of today’s youth are digital natives in the United States. A digital native, as defined by Dictionary, is “a person who has been familiar with computers, the Internet, and other digital technology from a young age.” Danah Boyd touches more on how and why today’s youth are digital natives while Bawden discusses more what digital literacy is and what it means to be digital literate. That being said, the two articles go hand in hand and compliment each other.

In order to be a digital native, you have to be digital literate. A digital literate individual can seamlessly use technology in their everyday life and will have a basic understanding of computer programs and communication devices. According to Boyd, “Because teens grew up in a world in which the internet has always existed, many adults assume that youth automatically understand new technologies. From this perspective, teens are “digital natives,” and adults, supposedly less knowledgeable about technology and less capable of developing these skills, are “digital immigrants.” A lot of times, education systems are having to play catch up to keep with the amount of digital knowledge their students have.

 

Both authors agree that in today’s day and age, you need to be digital literate for most jobs. It is generally a requirement now. Employers are looking more and more at those that are younger for jobs or for promotions. This is because, the younger generations are overwhelming faster at learning things such as Excel, PowerPoint, Registers, and other computer programs. These younger employees grew up using this technology, so it is nothing new to them. The older generations, or “digital immigrants” are generally not as comfortable or familiar with these programs thus causing companies to spend more time on training.

According to Boyd the, “Youth must become media literate. When they engage with media—either as consumers or producers—they need to have the skills to ask questions about the construction and dissemination of particular media artifacts.” Boyd references the importance of being media/digitally literate in her article. She goes on to say, “Most formal educational settings do not prioritize digital competency, in part because of the assumption that teens natively understand anything connected to technology and in part because existing educational assessments do not require this prioritization.” Both authors agree that there is not enough education done on being digital literate. Schools are playing catch up with their students because the education system is lacking. Children in this generation are going to school so overly knowledgable on the newest technology and computer systems.

Both authors discuss similar topics in their articles. In order to be a digital native, you have to being digital literate. Their articles complimented each other and the authors generally agreed on the same points. The goals of their articles were different, however. Boyd’s article was focused on explaining why younger generations are considered digitally native and Bawden’s was focused on explaining what it meant to be digital literate.

Works Cited

Bawden, David. “Origins and Concepts of Digital Literacy.”

Boyd, Danah. It’s Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press, 2015.

“Digital Native.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/digital-native?s=t.