College has been the norm for students to attend after they graduate from high school.The students’ decision to obtain a higher level of education is discussed by parents or school counselors. Typically, high school senior students would think and prepare what college they would like to attend in the fall, but times have now changed! According to education data.org, the U.S has 49.8% of college graduates that earn a bachelor’s degree, while 23.5% of those graduates took more than four years to complete their program. Since the past decade, the number of graduates has only increased 2.8% annually! Less and less adults are graduating from college. Why is it that now a college degree isn’t a priority for most adults? It is a mixture of economic, social, and cultural issues that prevents an adult from pursuing a college diploma. Thus, in this piece we will go through why young adults do not end up with a college degree.
The whole world underwent a catastrophic pandemic that led to many adults not to pursue a college degree. The pandemic has changed the way education is now presented. Remote learning is now, for most adults, the norm to receive education in the present time. The motivation to learn has significantly declined because of this new way of learning. For example, “in dozens of interviews with The Associated Press”, many students felt that remote education has impacted their way of learning due to “largely being left on their own” thus “many took on part-time jobs”. These students felt that the “idea of four more years of school, or even two, held little appeal”. (Pathe) Thus, the pandemic has impacted adults when it comes to learning, specifically after remote learning. It greatly affected adult’s decisions to commit to college and to earn a higher degree of education.
Economically, not many adults can afford a college degree because of their financial status being affected by covid. As well, specifically like people of color and people of low-income. This affects how adults have to get jobs to be able to afford to pay college tuition. This could be a stress factor when it comes to deciding to attend college.A way that students try to keep up financially while in college is they work while in school. An example of this “The US Department of Education reported that, in 2017, 43 percent of all full-time undergraduate students and 81 percent of part-time students were employed while enrolled.”(Perna) The cost of college has gone up in price. For example, “In comparing the 2021-2022 school year to the 2022-2023 academic year, the average price at all ranked private colleges increased by about 4%, according to U.S. News data.” This part shows how the cost of college tuition has increased and this also shows how college education becomes inaccessible for people that want to go but can’t afford it. College cannot always be successful for people that can’t afford it because tuition can be expensive and if tuition continues to rise it will be accessible for people.
College is a decision that can impact the person in many ways and especially with family depending on your background. According to Charles, talks about how the cultural background can affect the academic performance of college students. Another reason why cultural backgrounds can affect a decision when getting a college degree. Depending on the institution many students can face racism while on campus such as schools that are predominantly of white students. According to Harwood, students on campus, specifically in shared spaces can sometimes face microaggressions that can make students feel unwanted. Another example of Harwood, says how constant microaggressions can wear down students of color. Coming from different cultural backgrounds can impact how you feel about completing a college degree and how your environment affects it.
Through this paper we have discussed three reasons such as social, economic, and cultural, that can influence someone not wanting to complete a college degree. It’s important to not judge what others want to do instead of college because college degree does not define you. As someone who debated whether or not college was for me, I think it’s best to say that it is an amazing decision to take on going to college. As well that is not for everyone, one might say ‘I want to go to college’ but end up not graduating and taking a different path but they are still successful. In all, college is a decision and depending on the decision everyone should not judge.
Works Cited
Charles, Camille Z., et al. “Racial Inequality and College Attendance: The Mediating Role of Parental Investments.” Social Science Research, vol. 36, no. 1, 2007, pp. 329–52, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2006.02.004.
Hanson, Melanie. “College Graduation Statistics [2023]: Total Graduates per Year.” Education Data Initiative, 12 June 2022, https://educationdata.org/number-of-college-graduates. Accessed 3 May 2023.
Harwood, Stacy Anne, et al. “Everyday Racism in Integrated Spaces: Mapping the Experiences of Students of Color at a Diversifying Predominantly White Institution.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers, vol. 108, no. 5, 2018, pp. 1245–59, https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2017.1419122
Pathe, Simone. “Why are fewer people going to college?” PBS, 29 September 2014, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/why-are-fewer-people-going-to-college. Accessed 3 May 2023.
Perna, Laura W., and Taylor K. Odle. “Recognizing the Reality of Working College Students.” AAUP, 2020, https://www.aaup.org/article/recognizing-reality-working-college-students#.ZFMMcfzMLre. Accessed 3 May 2023.
“See the Average College Tuition in 2021-2022.” USNews.com, 12 September 2022, https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/paying-for-college-infographic. Accessed 3 May 2023.
