Our economy has shifted toward a path that our past generations never experienced before. Diplomas are starting to lose their value as we see a constant rise in tuition paired with increasing college debt, yet we still haven’t been able to see a significant hike in wages in recent years.

Most of the recent college graduates find it hard to find employment by the time they get out of college. This begs the question, are college degrees still even worth it anymore?

“About 48 percent of employed U.S. college graduates are in jobs that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests requires less than a four-year college education,” according to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.

I’ve always been instilled of the values my parents taught me, and one of them was that education is one of the most important things life can offer you. Therefore, I believe that the education you gain is going to be more important than the diploma itself.

Being a college student in today’s time, I always ask myself whether I’d be better off paying lump sums of money toward getting a college degree or simply finding a job now before I get myself into more debt.

However what I have realized while applying for college internships is that not only do these internships and potential employers value the piece of paper you receive, but more so the skills and experiences you gain while studying the courses for your particular major.

Being a college graduate not only shows that you are willing to invest thousands of dollars into your future, but also you are willing to put yourself in a tough position in order to be able to succeed later on in life. It shows that you are serious and confident about your knowledge and proficiency early in your life.

“Those with bachelor’s degrees, no matter the field, earn vastly more than counterparts with some college ($1.55 million in lifetime earnings) or a high school diploma ($1.30 million lifetime), indicating that no matter the level of attainment or the field of study, simply earning a four-year degree is often integral to financial success later in life,” according to the U.S. News.

Even as times have shown that college graduates find it harder to gain jobs nowadays, these studies explain how obtaining at least a bachelor’s degree will aid you in the long-run and will more than likely pay off sooner.

“The fate of workers with less than a college education is deteriorating even more rapidly than the fate of their college-educated peers,” said CNN Money.

The need for even more willingness and determination among our generation has been at an all-time high considering the gap between average wages of college grads and non-college grads are closing in on each other, according to payscale.com

But nonetheless, attaining a higher level of education is still very worth it. Having a college degree is not only beneficial for your future employer, but for even more for yourself.

College degrees manifest the skills you have gained, and show that you are capable of putting in the effort of succeeding for the benefit of your career. This is why it’s always been easier for employers to hire college graduates over non-college graduates.

“As far as from a headhunter’s perspective, most businesses want to have a certain set of skills that have to do with critical thinking, writing, reading, and interpersonal skills,” as professor Kapp Johnson said.

The education you acquire as a college student is completely different from the education you learn in the workforce. A college education simply puts you in a better position to excel when you are given the opportunity to showcase and apply your gained set of skills.

Being in the workforce is the only way you may have the chance to truly experience how it is to be in a work environment. It’s a given that they are lessons that you can’t learn by simply sitting in a classroom.

Although employers are the ones who show you what needs to be done, but education teaches you how and why those things are needed to be done in a bigger perspective.

As Johnson said, “From a non-economic perspective, education is always valuable.” College might seem less and less beneficial due to its increasing costs, but you could never put a price on the success of your future.

Elroy Pineda
Freelance Writer
Published May 6th, 2015