Cost of Not Attending Colleges

Traditionally college education is considered to be quite expansive and hardly affordable, especially for representatives of lower income groups. Nonetheless the necessity of attending colleges is obvious and the role of college education will increase in the nearest future due to the rapid development of technologies and science and unprecedented progress human society has made in recent decades that opened new perspectives that are more attainable for people with higher education.
In order to underline the importance and even necessity of attending colleges, it is firstly necessary to briefly discuss and criticize stereotypes that people’s consciousness is influenced by. One of the main reasons is the price of college education that is considered to be very high especially in relation to private colleges.
However, in actuality, being high enough this price is still quite affordable for representative of different layers of society. At this respect it is worth to mention that “there is over 60 billion dollars available to students in financial aid from federal, state, local, and institutional sources to help meet college bills each year” (Dunn 2004:310). In such a way it is quite possible to get such a kind of help and attend successfully a college.
Another problem may refer to the personal level, it is the problem of students knowledge. At this respect this problem is really hardly solved without some efforts from the part of students themselves.
On the other hand, the decision not to attend a college is an obvious mistake one may regret about for entire life. In fact, the price of not going to college turns to be much higher than that of going to college. In actuality, an investment in high education may double or even triple lifetime earning power. According to the Economic Policy institute, “the average college graduate will earn nearly one million dollars more during his or her working life than someone with a high school education” (Stewart 2000:441). The labor market of the future will call to creativity and high-level thinking skills developed in liberal arts programs, which are, by the way, at the center of independent higher education. For instance, last year, 97 percent of the graduates of Iowa’s independent colleges and universities were employed or engaged in further education six months after graduation.
Furthermore, attending colleges provides not only better educational and professional perspectives but it also gives students an excellent opportunity to perfect their personalities because college education leads to a fuller and more productive life. Moreover, college education contributes to the formation of a better, advanced society and the society in return responds respectively. It is not a secret that society pays the highest cost if its members are not educated because education produces the leaders, the teachers, the scientists, the thinkers who are so critical to a democratic society.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that college education is essential if an individual wants to get a better and well-paid job, have more perspectives, be morally and intellectually better developed while not attending colleges leads not only to more difficult life of an individual but also it influences the society at large since the better educated its members are the more advanced the society is.

Bibliography:
1. Dunn, C. (2004). Financial Aid: The Price of Not Getting a College Degree is Much Greater in the Long Run. New York: Touchstone.
2. Rebore Ronald W. (2001). Human Resources Administration in Education. LA: Allyn and Bacon.
3. Stewart, J. (2000). The Perspectives of College Education. New York: Routledge.