Chadderdon 1

Dalton Chadderdon

Mrs. Layton

English 1010

11 January 2019

Summary of “Is It Still Worth Going To College?”

In the article, “Is It Still Worth Going To College?” by Mary Daly and Leila Bengali,

they prove that going to college is still a worthwhile investment. Although there has been

controversy as to if the education is worth the price, and if getting a degree really matters,

extensive research has shown that going to college is better than not.

The authors show through many factors why getting a four degree has significant long

term benefits to most students. Coming out of high school the average student has two options:

attending college or not. Daly and Bengali display data which clearly shows that college

graduates with a four-year degree are much better off financially in the future than high school

graduates with no college degree. In fact, “the average college graduate earns over $800,000

more than the average high school graduate by retirement age” (Daly). Over the course of a

person's lifetime, at least financially, a college degree is still valuable.

The authors also discuss how getting a degree opens up job opportunities. In any case,

having a degree would be better than not having one. Although some research shows differently,

there will always be jobs available, and having a degree in some cases can guarantee you

employment. The benefits to getting a college degree outweigh the possible deficiencies in

getting one, such as debt. In the end, “earning a four year degree remains a worthwhile

investment for the average student.”

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I completely agree with the article, especially with all the data it shows. One point I

especially noticed was how it contradicted the claims made in the article we read “Two Years

Are Better Than Four,” which stated that getting a two year degree could prove beneficial over a

four year degree. One chart in the article disproved this (in a financial perspective) by showing

that people who get a four year degree earn much more over the course of a lifetime than people

who only get two year degrees. Although this does not discount the claims that you can still get a

good education from a two year university. I also thought about the article “Blue Collar

Brilliance,” and how it talks about blue collar workers who maybe didn’t go to college being

brilliant, and having just as much capacity as someone who attended college. After reading

Daly’s article, I conclude that being brilliant is not the same as being educated, and really, being

educated is equally important as being brilliant if you want to be successful in life. So, it is still

important to go to college. Not only that , but it is worth it.

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Works Cited

Addison, Liz. ​ Two Years Are Better Than Four.

https://read.activelylearn.com/#student/reader/218423/notes

Daly, Mary, Lelia Bengali, “Is It Still Worth Going To College?” FRBSF, Economic Letter; May

5, 2014, Web.

Rose, Mike, “Mike Rose's Blog,” University of Pennsylvania Press, Spring 2011, web.

http://mikerosebooks.blogspot.com