Is College Necessary To Success

It is said: there is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs. This is quote proves to be true when we talk about college. Many people ask why college is so necessary to success. They say, well Steve Jobs dropped out of college and so did Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg; however, we can’t misinterpret special circumstances in particular moments as an indication of a likely outcome. Put simply, most people are not Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg so successful people need to seek out a college education. Only 4.2% of college graduates are unemployed compared to the 9.7% of high school graduates. College offers more job opportunities as well as higher paying jobs which is why my partner and I stand on the firmest negation of the resolved. Resolved: the costs of college outweigh the benefits.
Contention 1: Better job opportunities

There are a plethora of jobs to be had in the United States, as well as the world.

However, going down the potential list of careers we might want to pursue when we get older, there aren’t many that you can say, “I don’t need to go to college for this”. More likely than not you need a college education for the career you are seeking as an adult. You want to be a doctor, college. No question. Lawyer? Yeah, you’re going to college. Engineer. Most likely going to see you in college too. Writer. College. Teacher. Yes, that requires college. Employers look to see that college degree. Obtaining a college degree tells them that you have a better work ethic, as well as plenty of other skills instilled in you from attending college. The fact is that the labor market of today has little to no high-paying, low-skilled jobs. At the end of the day you get what you pay for when it comes to college and

careers.
Contention 2: Higher wages
On average college graduates make around 83% more than high school graduates due to greater knowledge and better work ethic according to the Cato Institute. Along with this comes the fact that different majors receive different wages once they graduate. Cato Institute also states that engineers make 60% more than other majors and educational majors make 24% more. According to the United States Census Bureau, individuals achieve the following degree levels earned the following median annual salaries: PhD’s, $100,000 or more; master’s, $63,000; bachelor’s, $55,700; associate’s, $42,000; high school diploma, $32,500. In addition, on average, bachelor’s degree holders earn about $2.3 million over their lifetime, while those with advanced degrees, including master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees earning $2.7 million, $3.2 million and $3.7 million, respectively. Everyone knows a college degree is expensive, but the cost of having no degree is about $22 thousand annually. According to CS Monitor, in 2008, median earnings of college graduates were $55,700, which was $21,900 more than the median earnings of high school graduates who hadn’t attended college.