Monica Perry

Gail Richard
Composition 2
22 February, 2016

Annotated Bibliography.

"The Importance and Value of a College Degree." The Importance and Value of a College
Degree. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
This article, dated 02/03/2011, highlights the importance and value of obtaining higher
education. Specifically, it illustrates the average salaries of different educational levels. For
example, a person with a Bachelors degree, on average, earn $1,025 per week. This compares to
$626 dollars per week which is earned by persons with a high school diploma. These figures
were compiled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, this article points out that the
unemployment rate of people with higher degrees of education is considerably lower than people
with lesser education.
Commentary: On this webpage, the author was able to outline the importance of
obtaining a college education by using specific data. For example, she researched and found that
persons with a Masters, professional, and doctoral degrees had the lowest unemployment rate of
any educational class at the time of her research. She also used other data to support her position
such as a person with a Bachelors degree on average earns more than $14,000 per year
compared to someone with only an Associates degree.

Leonhardt, David. "Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 26 May 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
This article was written on May 27, 2014. For one point of interest, this article does focus
on how much more a person with a four year degree earns over a person without one. For
example, in 2013, a person with a four year degree earned ninety eight percent more per hour
than a person without a degree. However, this article really examines whether it is advantageous
to attend college, considering the escalating costs of education. There is one fact by an economist
that states not going to college will cost a person a negative $500,000 over their lifetime.
Commentary: In this article, the author not only uses data to support his argument that
higher education pays more in the long run, he also uses a graph to illustrate his findings. He
goes on to argue that college is actually cheaper than free. In other words, he hammers home
the fact that not going to college will actually cost you about a half a million dollars. He goes on
to state that the wage premium for people without a Bachelors degree has not been rising.

Peralta, Katherine. "Benefits of College Still Outweigh Costs." US News. U.S.News & World
Report, 24 June 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
The author wrote this article on June 24, 2014. In it, she outlined several facts that prove
the advantages of obtaining a degree of some type of higher education. For example, Americans
from age 25 to 32 with a college degree made an average of $17,500 annually than people with
just a high school diploma. This statistic is from the year of 2012. Conversely, in 1979 college
graduates only made $9,690 more than people who only had high school diplomas.
Commentary: This author also uses a vast amount of data and graphs to support her
position that obtaining a higher education is critical for long term wage earning capacity. She

points out that college degrees are stepping stones for post graduate degrees which offer even
bigger salaries. She also quoted a source in her article that people with higher educations that
took out student loans could cover those loans in 2.4 years because of the higher income they
would earn.
Altucher, James. "10 More Reasons Why Parents Should Not Send Their Kids to College."
Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
James Altucher wrote this article in 2011. In the article he lists ten reasons of why parents
should not send their kids to college. He takes each reason and provides information and his own
input on the subject matter. He tries to take the statistics on why many people feel kids should go
to college and twist them to fit his argument on why they should not.
Commentary: The author, James Altucher, takes a strong position on why he feels that
sending kids to college is not worth the costs. Altucher feels very strongly about his position and
wants to relay to the reader that his position is the right position. He does actually put together a
list of ten reasons to support his argument including topics such as his own personal experience,
parents are scammed, and lists alternatives on going to college.

Gordon, Jillian. "Why I'm Telling Some of My Students Not to Go to College." PBS. PBS, 15
Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
This article was written by a teacher from Ridgeway, Ohio by the name of Jillian Gordon.
She points out that a four year degree is not always the best choice for some students. She
illustrates that the under employment rate for young college graduates is 44%. In other words,
almost half of the recent college graduates in the U.S. are employed in positions that do not
require a college degree. She gives an example of one of her students whose dream was to

become a news reporter. Gordon knew that this student did not have the academic background or
grades to complete a four year degree. Other teachers and peers still encouraged her to pursue
her dreams. Not long after starting college, the student had to drop and move back home because
of her grades.
Commentary: This article was written by Jillian Gordon. Her position seems to be is
college really the best option for specific people. She is not totally against college per say but
readily points out that it is not for everyone. She contends that a Bachelors degree is not a piece
of paper that says, Youre a success! She also points out that the lack of one doesnt say
Youre a failure!

Price, Michael. "7 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Go To College and 4 Things To Do Instead." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 June 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
This article was written by Michael Price in June of 2014. In it, Price outlines seven
reasons of basically why going to college is a waste of time and money. Some of his reasons for
not going include: preparing for the real world, student loans, job readiness, and a waste for time.
He argues that by dropping out of college he gained four plus years of experience in the work
force and also brags about having no student loan debt.
Commentary: This article, written by Michael Price, really goes over his own personal
story and why college may not be the way for many people. He prepares an actual list of seven
reasons why one should not go to college. After he goes over his list in detail, he then created a
list of four things a person should do instead of pursuing a higher education. His list of four
things to do instead of college include educating yourself, building a business, building a brand
and going to a vocational/trade school.

GreatSchools Staff. "5 Reasons Your Child Should Go to College | GreatKids." GreatKids. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
This article was written by the GreatSchools staff. The article lists five reasons that
support parents to encourage their kids to go to college. Among the reasons listed include making
more money, having more opportunity, making connections, living a healthier and happier life,
and starting a family tradition.
Commentary: This website article was written by the GreatSchools staff. It is a very
simplistic article and gets straight to the point. The authors list five reasons why parents should
send their kids to college. They do use a few facts including in 2009 there were 9.7 million
unemployed high school graduates compared to only 5.2 million college graduates.