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Kyle Drum English 101 Mrs. Duffus November 11, 2013

The argument I chose is the issue of the price of college compared to the amount of money that an individual will make after completing their college degree. This topic is highly debated in todays society as many people are leaning towards skipping school to join the work force straight out of high school. Many students are tempted to believe that college is no longer a value proposition for them. After all, costs have risen over 1,100% since 1978, far outpacing the inflation of dollar. I find it saddening that some individuals who would like to further their education wont be able to because the lack of pay in certain fields of study. This is the main point in my argument, that in the long run that the ability to pay back ones debt to the government for school is based on the field of work that person will go in. One of the problems is the massive amount of federal debt that students will obtain while looking for a way to pay for college. For example, about $110 billion in federal student loans were distributed in 2011 (Zimmerman 1). Frank Bruni, a writer for the New York Times who also wrote an article about the costs of college, stated that college prices are ridiculous leaving kids and parents left with a large sum of money to pay back. (Bruni 1)

Education is known as the backbone of the country. Without it, our country would be in ruins and would most likely be similar to some of the third world countries we see on television. Another point of education is that people can grow up poor, in an urban or rural setting, but with education they can hope to pull themselves up out of poverty. It is said that with a college degree that one will have the ability to earn at least a 20% higher income (Shaw 2). With this being said, the higher cost of college is making it harder for people to further their education. Also the type of field one enters will affect their pay and if they can pay back their college debt. For example, the healthcare field has much higher pay then if you wanted to enter the law enforcement field. Im not saying that people should not be police officers, preachers, or any low paying job because these jobs must be done but that the pay is much different. In a recent healthcare magazine, the average salary for a nurse practitioner is $125,000 (Oland 1). On the other hand, the average salary for a police officer, by the end of their career, is only $55,000 (Shaw 2). If these two individuals were to attend a private institution, whose average costs are $25,000, the one in the healthcare field would be able to pay their debt more easily. The main reason of salary difference is the demand for people in healthcare because people are always getting sick and having to go to the doctor (Lowman 1). I think that every job is important and I believe it is unfair that college costs can sometimes determine the type of field people will go in. If a young man or woman wants to enter the criminal justice field, for example, the he or she should be able to without collecting a large amount of debt. Also its somewhat unfair that two important jobs like police officers and nurses/doctors are such different in salary but have similar job skills. I hope universities will try to lower prices but even then, if salary and overhead increases continue at the current pace,

universities will price themselves out of the reach of most Americans. Perhaps when college prices get out of control administrators will be forced to get serious about cost control.

Bruni, Frank. "College Costs." N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Lowman, Carrie. "How Much Money?." www.nytimes.com. N.p., 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Oland, Chris. "The Facts of College." N.p., 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Shaw, Terry. Is it worth it?. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. Zimmerman, Daniel. Money, Money, Money. N.p., 20 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.