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Welcome to Part II of our series that asks the question of whether or not college is necessary. In Part I, we took a look at the history of higher education in America<\/a>. What started as a place for a small, elite group of students began turning into an American rite of passage in the early 1900s. Enrollment boomed, endowments skyrocketed, and the idea of college became imbued with a romantic haze that has endured until the present day.<\/p>\n This last decade, however, has started to show that four years of college immediately after high school may not be the best option for every student out there<\/strong>. Today, we\u2019re going to look at the pros and cons a young man should consider before deciding to enroll in a four-year university.<\/p>\n While some of these pros and cons apply equally to both four-year and two-year schools, in general, they are specific to four-year schools. For example, while tuition costs are skyrocketing at four-year institutions (especially private ones), community college remains pretty affordable at an average of just over $2,000\/year. And while it\u2019s possible to form close relationships at a community college (even if those friendships aren\u2019t quite as wacky as depicted on the eponymous television show), it\u2019s harder to do because students don\u2019t live on campus.<\/p>\n The reason we\u2019ll be concentrating on the pros and cons of enrolling in a four-year school, particularly right after graduating high school, is because of the weight those particular institutions carry in the minds of Americans. The cultural pressure to go on to college after high school almost completely centers on enrolling in a four-year college. While plenty of students attend community and technical colleges, the majority of 18-year-olds that have graduated high school will attend four-year schools. In total, you see about twice the number of four-year students (~11 million) than two-year (~6.5 million).<\/p>\n There is still a certain stigma attached to two-year schools \u2013 that they\u2019re only for those who don\u2019t get in or can\u2019t afford \u201cnormal\u201d college. Without a doubt the cultural perception is that two-year schools are a step down from four-year institutions. It\u2019s an unfortunate side effect of the blanket prestige given to four-year schools.<\/p>\n But is that level of prestige truly deserved? Should attending a four-year college<\/a> be the aim of every high school senior in the country? In this post we will examine the positives and negatives of attending a four-year institution with the goal of receiving your bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n Given the fact that we are still experiencing the aftershocks of the 2008 recession, it\u2019s inevitable that many of these cons are related to money. I\u2019ll try to address a few specific concerns within the broader category of college economics.<\/p>\n The first is that the cost of tuition is growing at a rate far higher than the general inflation of the economy. What this means is that more and more students (and their families) aren\u2019t actually able to afford college, but enroll anyway, because it\u2019s still just what you do.<\/p>\n Since 1990, just 24 years ago, the price of a four-year institution has soared 300%. That\u2019s an eye-popping number to be sure, but you can say that about a lot of products. You have to factor in general inflation numbers in order to figure out the real significance. When we do that, we see that in those 24 years, tuition has risen at a rate that is 2.5-4 times that of the national inflation<\/strong>, depending on who you ask. Theoretically, when disproportional inflation occurs, that product becomes a luxury good. That has not been the case with college, however, as enrollments only continue to go up. (Minor caveat: enrollments dropped among all college types slightly in 2013 — by 2.3% from the year prior — but the majority of that number was in fewer adult learners enrolling at either for-profit schools or public community colleges.)<\/p>\n Ultimately this means that families are spending money they don\u2019t have for a luxury product they can no longer reasonably afford. At an average cost of around $20,000\/year for college, families are looking at an expense that is 38% of their entire household income.<\/strong> That\u2019s a rate at which most families would be denied a mortgage.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, there\u2019s no real end in sight. In 2011 alone, the cost of public schools rose 5.4 percent and private schools rose an astounding 8.3 percent, both of which significantly outpaced the 3 percent inflation for the economy.<\/strong> Wages simply aren\u2019t keeping up with college costs, and Americans have not yet been able to cut back on this particular expense.<\/p>\n Tuition may be going up, but a college degree is still thought to be a good investment. But it could be argued that while the cost of college has been rising, its actual value \u2013 on many different fronts \u2013 has been declining.<\/p>\n The popular statistic thrown around in regards to the long-term, monetary value of a college degree is that graduates earn, on average, $1 million more over the course of their lifetime than non-degree holders. To a high schooler, or even a parent of a student, that\u2019s a number that cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, it\u2019s a little bit misleading, and also simply not as accurate post-recession. That $1 million number is quite top-heavy. If you make it into a top university and graduate with honors, your earnings are likely to be much higher than if you scrape by at Podunk U. Those at the very top are well above that $1 million figure, and skew the results for the rest of us. A recent study by PayScale.com<\/a> found that there are only 72 schools (out of 2,700 4-year schools in America) at which earning a degree can get you a $1 million return on investment over high school grads<\/strong>. The median is closer to $500,000 according to that report, which while still being a lofty number, is half of what prospective college goers are often promised.<\/p>\n That $1 million number may have been true 12 years ago when it was released in a report by the US Census Bureau, but with the recession, and wage inflation being lower than general inflation, to continue to throw that number around today is irresponsible.<\/p>\n At one time, college certainly was a reasonable investment. Tuition was low ($1,200\/year in the 1970s at public schools, including room and board!) and therefore affordable, and you\u2019d be rewarded with a well-paying job. Forty years ago, over a third of the labor force didn\u2019t even have four years of high school education, while only 10 percent of the population had a degree. That made college graduates more of a hot commodity, and in the mid-nineties, at the height of America\u2019s economic success, the unemployment rate for college graduates was around 2%.<\/p>\n That time is long gone. Tuition has become damn-near unaffordable for most, and well-paying jobs (heck, jobs period) are nowhere near the guarantee they once were after you graduate. In fact, recent grads (ages 20-24) have an unemployment rate that is now at about 7.8%<\/strong>. That\u2019s higher<\/i> than the national unemployment, and close to three times higher than it was about 20 years ago. This means you\u2019re accumulating mountains of debt (which was not the case even a decade ago, when less than one-third of graduates used student loans \u2013 more on that below) that will strap your financial decisions for decades after graduating, and you may not even have a means of paying it off. Does that sound like a good investment?<\/p>\n Another factor that has to be considered in this topic of ROI is your lost potential income during your college years.<\/strong> Let\u2019s consider even the lowest wage scenario. If you make minimum wage, with zero raises over the course of four years, you\u2019ll have made $56,000. That\u2019s not chump change, and it\u2019s likely you\u2019d make much more than that. I had jobs in high school that were well above minimum wage, and you\u2019re almost guaranteed raises if you\u2019re competent. Then factor in the out-of-pocket expenses as well as the debt for someone in four years of school (which is generous in itself \u2013 the average these days for graduation is closer to 5 and even 6 years). You\u2019re looking at anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 for the average student. Then you consider interest on those student loans, and the fact that you\u2019ll take an average of 16-18 years paying them off (during which that high school graduate likely moved up the ranks and is now earning a decent wage), and all of a sudden the difference is not as great as it once appeared in terms of total earnings. While there is still a difference in the earnings of college grads vs high school grads (I\u2019ll cover that below in the \u201cPros\u201d section), it\u2019s not as great as what it used to be, and it\u2019s not as great as what is often promised by college admissions offices.<\/p>\n In 2010, the total amount of student debt overtook the total amount of credit card debt in America. As of 2013, there is $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loans<\/strong> \u2013 that\u2019s over $3,700 for every man, woman, and child in America. As our nation recovers from the recession, we\u2019ve actually managed to cut down our credit card and mortgage debt. The one area that\u2019s still growing? Student debt.<\/p>\n The major issue, economically, is that about $1 trillion of that is backed by the federal government. This puts the American taxpayer at risk as the creditor, which means we the people carry the burden of unpaid student loans. And that burden is only increasing. Recent reports show that 10% (and the number is increasing) of student loans are in default. On government loans, this means they haven\u2019t been paid in 9 months. Furthermore, only 4 in 10 student loan borrowers are paying back their loans at any given time.<\/strong> Graduates are not able to pay back their debt, and that hurts their credit tremendously, which impacts all future financial (and life) decisions, including car purchases, home purchases, even marriage.<\/p>\n For this reason, many economic experts are calling this student loan crisis \u201cthe next housing bubble<\/a>.\u201d In the mid-1990s, banks were giving out mortgages to anyone and everyone who applied. There wasn\u2019t much due diligence in terms of the borrowers\u2019 ability to pay back their loans. Eventually, that came to bite banks in the rear, and they needed a hefty (to say the least) government bailout in order to survive. The same thing is happening with student loans. Schools give out tens of thousands of dollars to students (and families) who may not have any realistic ability to pay back those loans.<\/strong> Eventually, as many experts are warning, this will create the same effect as what happened to our economy in 2008.<\/p>\n Another crippling factor of student loan debt is that it\u2019s not eligible to be discharged by declaring bankruptcy.<\/strong> While not affecting a great number of people, you never know when something catastrophic could come along and you need the fresh start that bankruptcy sometimes provides for those in dire straits. If you\u2019re not able to discharge student loans, it could hamper your ability to ever recover financially. It\u2019s worth noting that private student debt is far more dangerous than government student debt. While both are non-dischargeable, government loans have low, fixed rates (for the most part \u2013 depending on the mood of congress), and repayment can be adjusted based on income (although doing so increases the length of the loan and the interest).<\/p>\n Two-thirds of all students are graduating with debt, and the average amount owed is over $26,000 (a 43% increase from just 7 years ago \u2013 right before the recession).<\/strong> With interest, that puts your average monthly bill at $320. When you get married that bill can double, and you\u2019re looking at a lot of money each month that isn\u2019t going into savings, isn\u2019t going towards other debt (credit, car loans, mortgages), isn\u2019t going towards helping the American economy recover.<\/p>\n The two reasons for attending college that are foremost in people\u2019s minds are increasing one\u2019s earning potential and sharpening one\u2019s mind. As just discussed, the value college offers on that first front has been falling. And unfortunately, the benefits of higher education on one\u2019s mind have been shriveling as well.<\/p>\n Attending college isn\u2019t necessarily the mind-expanding endeavor it\u2019s always been made out to be. While it\u2019s assumed you\u2019ll be a better critical thinker, problem solver, philosopher, etc., those benefits don\u2019t automatically accrue simply by sending in your tuition check. One study from 2011<\/a> found that about half of college students see no improvement in their problem solving, reasoning, or writing skills in their first two years, and over a third see no improvement during the entirety of their college experience<\/strong>. Sure, the environment can<\/i> lend itself to growth, but attending college without vigorously applying yourself won\u2019t magically sharpen your cognitive powers.<\/p>\n At the heart of the problem is a shift in attitude amongst colleges and students alike towards viewing education as just another consumer commodity.<\/strong> Colleges see their students as customers, and the customer is always right.<\/p>\n Take the practice of students evaluating their professors. Gaining popularity in the 60s and 70s when universities started to become more student-driven, evaluation forms are now a top metric in professor reviews. Even if subconscious, this means professors are now catering more towards making the students like them in the short-term rather than providing the kind of challenging, mind-expanding coursework that will benefit them in the long-term. Profs don\u2019t want bad marks from students for being boring or too hard, so they water down their requirements in order to earn a thumbs up.<\/p>\n Closely related to this is the softening of grading standards<\/a>. At Harvard, for example, the most common mark given is a straight A. The pattern is repeated at other Ivy League schools as well, where upwards of 60% of all grades given are in the A range<\/strong>. Rising to the very top of the class no longer requires the maxing out of one\u2019s cognitive abilities. Some schools are doing something about this rampant grade inflation by instituting limits on the number of A\u2019s awarded, but it\u2019s certainly not widespread practice.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s go over how I spent my four years of college:<\/p>\n Does that sound like real-world experience? Another of the benefits that college supposedly imparts is that it prepares you for the real world and helps you develop into a mature adult. I can\u2019t say I really received that. Quite to the contrary \u2013 when one places the responsibilities and expectations of a college student up against those required outside the corridors of higher ed, yawning gaps appear<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re out on your own, if you skip or roll in late to work like you did for class, you\u2019ll get canned. If you wait for a magical elf to come in and clean your bathroom, it will quickly turn into a cesspool. If you haven\u2019t learned to budget, there can be serious consequences.<\/p>\n College has in many ways become a womb of relatively carefree living.<\/strong> It\u2019s sure fun while it lasts, but once you have to step into the light, it can be pretty blinding. The adjustment to living in the real world can be difficult \u2013 practically and emotionally. Young men often graduate without the life skills and decision-making abilities they need to navigate the next part of their lives. They may find themselves floundering in new responsibilities they have no experience in shouldering. Acute nostalgia for their undergrad days can set in, leading them to attempt to recreate those conditions to increasingly diminishing returns.<\/p>\n Ideally, one\u2019s teenage and early twentysomething years should be like a gradual on-ramp to adulthood, where you slowly accumulate the life skills and mindset you need to thrive as a grown man. Instead, moving from college to the real world now more often feels like getting shoved off a cliff. Many employers have said that the problem with the economy in this country is not necessarily a lack of jobs, but a lack of qualified people to fill those jobs. In fact, a survey by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools revealed that less than 10 percent of employers believe that colleges do an excellent job preparing students for the working world<\/strong> (whereas well over 90% of provosts believe their graduates are prepared \u2013 boosterism at its finest). And 50% of employers noted that it is difficult to find qualified prospects for the positions they\u2019re trying to fill<\/strong>. Rep. Virginia Foxx, the chairwoman of the U.S. House of Representatives higher-education subcommittee, says, “Colleges and universities are pandering to the students and giving them what they want, instead of what the employers want. I don’t think you have to make a distinction between getting skills and getting an education. We need to do both.”<\/p>\n Our colleges are simply no longer qualifying our students for gainful employment. The loosening of academic standards mentioned above not only negatively impacts the quality of the critical thinking and reasoning skills acquired in college in a general sense, but in a more tangible way, it makes students ill prepared for the job market.<\/p>\n For instance, in our tech-obsessed world, many students want to be trained in using social media or developing their technology skills. But only 5% of business executives (the ones making the decisions) believe that to be a top-three skill for entering the business world. Those top three skills? Problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking.<\/strong><\/p>\n Another major deficiency is writing and oral communication; a hefty 80% of employers wish schools would put more emphasis on those skills.<\/strong> Not all students are required to take basic writing classes, but absolutely should be, based on the needs of the marketplace. I can say without a doubt that the single best class I ever took \u2013 the one that helped my professional career the most — was PR Writing, and letter grades were docked for each grammatical mistake. (Thanks, Professor Bodensteiner!)<\/p>\n Again we circle back to the insidious effects that placing education in a consumer\/customer framework has wrought. Students have come to expect their education to be tailored to their own personal pace, likes, and abilities<\/strong>. This most definitely is not how it works in the business world, where your supervisors are catering to the market and to their customers, not to you. Students graduate as consummate consumers who are wholly unprepared to switch roles and take on the mantle of producers<\/a>.<\/p>\n People mature at different ages and different rates. Some students are ready for college at 16 and 17 and go on to do very well. Some, however, are thrown out the door at 18 into a totally new world, and just aren\u2019t ready for it. Even Brett details that experience in the introduction to Heading Out On Your Own<\/i><\/a>; after floundering in his first semester at the University of Oklahoma, he had to move back in with mom and pop. Transitioning from the cocoon of home to all of a sudden living on your own and being entirely responsible for your life can be a bewildering experience.<\/p>\n There is actually quite a high dropout rate for college freshmen that doesn\u2019t get enough attention in the media. One in four college freshmen drop out in that first year, and half of all college freshmen won\u2019t ever earn a degree. Reasons cited do include academic skills, but the greatest factors are social and emotional \u2013 self-esteem, self-care, anxiety, depression, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n The company that administers the ACT test has found that students aren\u2019t actually academically ready for college, either. They hold certain benchmarks to be \u201ccollege ready\u201d in the four subjects of the ACT test. Students deemed college ready in a particular subject have a 75% chance of passing a college course in that subject. In 2012, they found that more than 25% of students fell short in all four<\/i> subjects, and over 60% fell short in two subjects<\/strong>. While this is a problem more related, perhaps, to our elementary and secondary school systems than the students themselves, the fact remains that many 18-year-olds simply aren\u2019t ready for the rigors of college, either academically or socially\/emotionally.<\/p>\n Now that we covered the bad news, let\u2019s move on to the positives of attending a 4-year college.<\/p>\n While the sticker prices for a year\u2019s worth of tuition at college can be quite shocking (New York University takes the cake at a whopping $62,000\/year!), over 80% of all students receive some sort of financial aid<\/b>. Between government Pell Grants, school-specific grants, and scholarships, there\u2019s a lot of free money to be had that doesn\u2019t take the form of student loans (and therefore debt).<\/p>\n The average student (at private universities) receives about $17,000 in financial aid, with about half of that being student loans and half being grants\/scholarships. This means that out-of-pocket costs are lowered to an average of just over $11,000 per year, per student. That makes college much more manageable for families and individuals.<\/p>\n Many will complain that hours of filling out scholarship forms for a \u201cmeasly\u201d thousand dollars isn\u2019t worth it, but when you\u2019re out of college and paying back loans and trying to figure out how to balance your budget, you can be sure that that thousand bucks means a world of difference. With over $3.5 billion in yearly scholarship money available, it\u2019s worth your time to go for it.<\/p>\n It should also be mentioned that many colleges have scholarships based on merit. If you do well, you\u2019re more likely to receive scholarships without having to fill out any forms at all. After a rough first year of college, my GPA went up each year, and much to my surprise, when I was junior I was given a scholarship that all students in my degree program received with a GPA above a certain level. The better you do in school, the more financial aid you\u2019re likely to receive<\/b>. (It should be noted this is true of high school, too. If you\u2019re on the honor roll in high school, you\u2019re much more likely to receive automatic scholarships and grants.)<\/p>\n All of this is to say that the sticker shock of college prices doesn\u2019t have to be so shocking. With the right financial aid package, many schools (including elite private colleges) become affordable \u2013 relatively speaking, of course.<\/p>\n What\u2019s interesting in talking with people about the benefits of their college experience is that it\u2019s often the intangibles that take center stage. Whereas with the negatives, you can point to stats and specific institutional problems, there\u2019s just something about college that people really love.<\/p>\n One of those somethings is certainly the unique relationships you make. At a four-year school, you\u2019re surrounded by friends in the dorms at nearly all times;<\/strong> you have classes together, you eat all your meals together, you hang out playing MarioKart every night until 3am (was that last one just me?). When you spend that much time with people, you\u2019re going to form very tight bonds. And because of that \u2013 spending so much time with friends \u2013 you end up having about the most fun on a daily basis that you\u2019ll ever have. You don\u2019t have the responsibilities of a full-time job or of owning a home, so you\u2019re free to just hang out pretty much all the time with the people you care about. That\u2019s a recipe for having a good time.<\/p>\n The reality is that outside of close environs like that, it\u2019s harder to make friends.<\/strong> If you\u2019re working full-time, living by yourself or with just a roommate or two, you\u2019ll have to put in more effort to create those lasting relationships.<\/p>\n This is especially true in the dating world. Why do you think online dating has become so popular? Because outside of college \u2013 where you are no longer surrounded by people of roughly the same demographic \u2013 it\u2019s just hard to know where to look for that special someone. You have bars, your workplace, and\u2026that\u2019s about it. So, people turn to online sites just because they don\u2019t know where else to meet people. Connecting with your future spouse at college may save you from spending years surfing Match.com.<\/p>\n One of the great benefits of college, especially in regards to your professional career, is simply the astounding number of very smart, successful people you\u2019re surrounded by, be they professors, advisors, deans, etc. Most colleges have internship programs, job boards, and entire staffs devoted to helping you land a job. Beyond that, professors often end up being the best connections and mentors you may ever have<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In talking with various people about their college experience, you often hear the fact that college \u201copened doors\u201d for them. While not always articulated, this usually means they had some type of networking connection that got them in a door somewhere. My first internships related to my major came through professors who recommended me for those positions. Those internships gave me experience that led to full-time jobs. Doors opened.<\/p>\n Beyond just getting opportunities for jobs, you may also meet incredible mentors in college that serve as life advisors for decades, and will help you shape your own life philosophies<\/strong> (see below). Their benefit cannot be measured, and there are few opportunities outside of college for those types of relationships to be formed and fostered.<\/p>\n While as mentioned above, college won\u2019t necessarily<\/i> expand your mind, it certainly has ample potential to do so. I know college was definitely a time for me of expanding my horizons and learning to think on my own. While vague, that\u2019s without a doubt one of the most important things college did for me. Had I stayed close to home, or just gone right into the working world, I\u2019m not sure how much I would have grown intellectually or emotionally. My worldviews changed quite dramatically over four years in college, and I\u2019m quite thankful for that.<\/p>\n I was able to have my religious and political and philosophical views that I\u2019d carried from my parents and my hometown really torn down, and then built back up again by what I found in my independent thought processes. Brett and Kate, and subsequently this blog, were greatly influenced by Professor J. Rufus Fears at the University of Oklahoma, who taught them the importance of extracting life lessons from history.<\/p>\n While tapping into the mind-sharpening power of college requires a student to be self-motivated and leave the path of least resistance by intentionally seeking out talented professors, rigorous courses, honors classes, and small seminars, the rewards can be incredibly worthwhile and truly unmatched.<\/p>\n The honing of your mind is not always something that can be done completely on your own. We often need a gentle push to do so. College was that trigger for me, and for many other people. While it takes the individual being in the right mindset for growth, if that\u2019s in place, there are few better places than college for shaping a perspective and philosophy you\u2019ll carry throughout the rest of your life.<\/p>\n Although a college degree is not necessarily the investment it once was, or is promised to be, it still provides a better opportunity for employment and higher income than not having a degree.<\/p>\n The national unemployment rate is at around 6.7% right now. For college graduates (all<\/i> college graduates, not just the recent<\/i> grads I mentioned above in \u201cCons\u201d), that rate is just 3.4%. For those with just a high school diploma, the rate is more than double that at 7.3%.<\/p>\n I mentioned earlier that the ROI of college in terms of lifetime earnings over high school graduates, according to a PayScale.com report, was closer to about $500,000 than the $1 million often cited and touted. Their methodology is a bit complicated, though, and doesn’t include many small business owners, those who are self-employed, or freelancers\/contractors. The real, tangible difference to me is in average yearly salaries. For college graduates, it\u2019s $55,700. For high school grads, it\u2019s $33,800.<\/strong> When doing the math over a 40-year career, that comes to a $876,000 difference over a lifetime.<\/p>\n While grit and hard work will go a long ways in the working world, the best bet for many people is to couple that determination with a college degree.<\/p>\n There are a huge number of jobs in this country that require a college degree. More likely than not, it\u2019s actually just what will get you in the door for an interview rather than getting you the job itself. Is that chance for an interview worth up to $100,000 in debt? It certainly could be, if the job is well-paying and a great fit for your goals.<\/p>\n This is particularly true of \u201cSTEM\u201d fields \u2013 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. If you\u2019re going into one of these fields, college is likely the right choice.<\/strong> Job postings in these categories outnumber all other job postings 3 to 1<\/a>. Sure, you could become a master coder, drop out of school, and start Facebook. But that\u2019s not likely. In these fields, a college degree is largely not only required, but crucial to understanding the work you\u2019ll be doing on a daily basis. And these categories aren\u2019t done growing \u2013 they\u2019re expected to outpace normal job growth by about 10% in the next decade.<\/p>\n Aside from STEM fields, a degree is also a requirement for many mainstream jobs out there today. Be it non-profit, corporate, small business \u2013 owners and HR professionals will often throw out resumes that don\u2019t list a college degree<\/strong>. Unfair? Certainly. Reality? Absolutely. A former supervisor of mine said it thusly:<\/p>\n \u201cI have written job descriptions. I have written the hiring qualifications for various positions. There have been times that one of the jobs I was hiring for had the qualification of \u201cDegree Required.\u201d More often than not, this means a four-year degree required. Yes\/No. Black\/White. It\u2019s a toggle switch. \u201cYes\u201d means the candidate moves to the next pile of potential hires. \u201cNo\u201d means\u2026 well, it means no. No, you don\u2019t have an opportunity to interview for this job. No, you don\u2019t get to talk to someone to show them how much experience you have. No, you don\u2019t get to demonstrate that your actual experience in this exact field is possibly much more beneficial to the company than another person\u2019s 4-year degree in General Studies or European History. Is it fair? Not always. Is it right? Not always. Is it in the company\u2019s overall best interest? Maybe.<\/p>\n As an employer, here\u2019s what a four-year college degree signifies to me, beyond subject knowledge:<\/p>\n 1) You know how to set and achieve long-term goals (i.e. ‘graduate from college’).<\/p>\n 2) You know how to prioritize and have the ability to put off the need for immediate gratification and see the bigger picture \u2013 at least sometimes.<\/p>\n 3) You know how to be a part of a team \u2013 not necessarily sports related (there are few college graduates who have not had to work on at least one team project).<\/p>\n 4) You are often self-motivating.<\/p>\n 5) You probably know how to speak in front of a small group.<\/p>\n 6) You probably know how to make a simple presentation.<\/p>\n 7) You understand the concept of deadlines and consequences for missing those deadlines.<\/p>\n 8) You know how to study and take notes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is how employers think, and how they perceive college graduates. Will this change in the future? Perhaps. But for now, this is the reality of the business world. I can say without a doubt that my own college degree opened doors that would not have been present otherwise.<\/p>\n There are more sides to this coin than expected, aren\u2019t there? While many of these discussions surrounding college center on money, that\u2019s not the whole story.<\/p>\n Even if it\u2019s not \u201cright,\u201d the college experience is part of the American experience<\/strong>. Most people you encounter will have some amount of college under their belts, whether they earned a degree or not. Dorm life, cafeteria food, sporting events \u2013 these are all things we wax nostalgic about when thinking of the \u201cgood ole days.\u201d There\u2019s certainly something to be said about that. If there truly was no value to college, people wouldn\u2019t do it. No matter how you look at it, the decision to go to college is a weighty one \u2013 one that 18-year-olds have a hard time processing.<\/p>\nRead the Series<\/em><\/h3>\n
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The Cons of Attending a Four-Year College<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
Tuition Costs Are Skyrocketing <\/b><\/h3>\n
A Degree Isn\u2019t Yielding the ROI That It Used To <\/b><\/h3>\n
Loans and Debt are Crippling College Grads (and the Economy)<\/b><\/h3>\n
College Doesn\u2019t Necessarily Grow Your Mind <\/b><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nCollege Doesn\u2019t Necessarily Prepare You for the Real World <\/b><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a><\/p>\nCollege Isn\u2019t Preparing Students for the Job Market <\/b><\/h3>\n
Not All 18-Year-Olds Are Ready for College <\/b><\/h3>\n
The Pros of Attending a 4-Year College<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
The Vast Majority of Students Don\u2019t Pay Full Sticker Price<\/b><\/h3>\n
You Often Make Great, Lasting Personal Relationships<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Four](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2014\/03\/students3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYou Often Make Great, Lasting Professional\/Mentoring Relationships<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Vintage](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2014\/03\/student2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCollege Can<\/i> Expand Your Mind and Your Horizons<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2014\/03\/students.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA Degree Still Provides a Better ROI Than Just a High School Diploma <\/b><\/h3>\n
A Degree is Required for Many Jobs (Even Relatively Menial Ones These Days)<\/b><\/h3>\n
Conclusion <\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Advertisement](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2014\/03\/nextstop.jpg\")
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