The Research
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CostofCollegeEducation.docx
Cost of College Education
Abbiati and Barone evaluate whether university education is worth the investment input based on the rationality provided within societies (Abbiati & Barone, 2017). Abbiati and Barone establish that there are expectations of upper secondary school seniors to gain a quality education that would enable them to have an opportunity to be advantaged in terms of career and social status (Abbiati & Barone, 2017). Moreover, the study finds that family background is critical in the investment made in college students to ensure that they get a quality education. Most privileged people in society tend to admit their children to Ivy League colleges to ensure they get a quality education. The purpose of parents to undertake the intensive investment in college education allows their families to embrace their social status and position their children for lucrative job opportunities upon completion (Abbiati & Barone, 2017). Thus, the students admitted to the Ivy colleges derive the worthiness of the courses they pursue. Thereby, the study by Abbiati and Barone justifies the costs involved in college education to have a positive correlation with the worth of investment made on the students (Abbiati & Barone, 2017). Some of these families aspire to maintain their family prestige and enable their children to obtain the best education that can be offered.
According to Elengold et al, a college education can improve the economic prospects of a graduand since it offers them exposure to economic opportunities such as employment and personal advancements (Elengold et al., 2019). Further, Elengold et al, postulate that a college education has the potential of opening college students' economic potential by offering them the skills that would allow them to exploit the emerging opportunities in the economy (Elengold et al., 2019). However, in their study, Elengold et al. state four factors determining the economic prospects of attaining a college education. They include the view of college education as a financial investment that would provide its dividend after a student graduate from an institution and the contemporary financial situation, which is unsatisfactory (Elengold et al., 2019). Moreover, another implication of the economic prospect of a college education is student debt which can exacerbate the financial insecurity that college students can experience upon completing their education. Further, college education has an intrinsic value despite unrealized financial returns, which need to be prioritized to ensure that the value of education is derived from the investment made. Therefore, a college education is worth it based on the program that a person is involved in at the institution and the impact their life after school will contribute on them.
According to Lobo and Burke-Smalley, the cost-benefits of the value of college education to the students are based on the financial value of a college degree attained (Lobo & Burke-Smalley, 2018). That is the ability of students to graduate from the institution and get an opportunity that would ensure they realize their full life potential. Lobo and Burke-Smalley state that investment in college education is beneficial when college students are enrolled in programs that would allow them to attain their maximum potential in terms of financial value (Lobo & Burke-Smalley, 2018). Moreover, college programs that would not expose the students to opportunities to realize the potential of the skills attained through the programs make college education regarded as having no value to the individuals (Lobo & Burke-Smalley, 2018). Therefore, the cost of a college education is determined by the financial implication of the program on a student upon graduation.
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References
Abbiati, G., & Barone, C. (2017). Is university education worth the investment? The expectations of upper secondary school seniors and the role of family background. Rationality and Society, 29(2), 113-159.
Elengold, K. S., Dorrance, J., Barnard, J., & Ansong, D. (2019). Was It Worth It: The Complexities and Contradiction in Assessing the Value of Higher Education?
https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1479&context=faculty_publications
Lobo, B. J., & Burke-Smalley, L. A. (2018). An empirical investigation of the financial value of a college degree. Education Economics, 26(1), 78-92.
