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Do you really need a college education to succeed?

Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder of Bersin by Deloitte, wrote an article stating that, “Today more than half of US graduates are looking for work, college cost has risen by 40% in the last ten years and college graduates now have more than a trillion dollars of debt” (Bersin). After all we are spending tens of thousands of dollars on our education and we should heavily weigh all of our options objectively before taking on such a huge task as a four year degree and lots of credit card and student loan debt (Bersin).

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, not all college students are out of work. Your chances of finding work after graduation will increase if you pick a major that will be in demand in the work force. Could this be the sign of the lack for a need of a college education in our county or just the ineffectiveness of a higher education? As college students we should really consider if a college education is absolutely critical to our success. 



The general idea of what the author is trying to convince the reader of is that a college education may or may not be essential in today’s economy in order for one to succeed. Mr. Bersin sites Richard Aruma, sociologist at New York University, stating that “36% of college students show no improvement in critical thinking after completing four years of college” (Bersin).

Statistically speaking, the Bureau of Labor still shows that people with college degrees are employed at half the rate of those who do not have a college education.

Today, according to couple students in Schools, an average price for an in state college education for the 2013-2014 school year is about over twenty thousand dollars. This includes tuition, fees, housing, meals, books, and school supplies. Multiply that over four years and you have a grand total of nearly one hundred thousand dollars.

College costs have been and continue to be rising every year along with the cost of living, and of course the price of gas. As far as wasting time, that may be more up for debate. So is college still worth it?

The millennial generation with a college degree earned, on average, $17,500 more than those with just a high school diploma. Public opinion says that for most individuals a college degree may be essential for success. However, this truly depends upon one’s my opinion that it depends on your definition of success. Who do you look up to? Who are your role models? Are they college educated? Does money define success to you?

The questions remain, do people really do need a higher education to succeed? We looked at the comments of the article and found some people are for the side saying “no” such as Bill Gates; he is probably one of the most currently used examples of successful college dropouts. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, or Steve Jobs all three dropped out of top notch ivy-league schools only to later become billionaires and revolutionize the technology industry.

We also have Richard Branson; at 16 years old, Branson founded The Student, a magazine he distributed to his fellows at Stowe School in England. He barely graduated and chose not to attend college, instead he opted to sell popular records out of the church in which he ran the magazine and started Virgin Records (Bersin). In addition, we can include many more actors, musicians, philanthropists, businessmen and former presidents to the list who would further illustrate Mr. Bersin’s point that higher education is not a necessary step towards becoming successful.

While Josh Bersin also argues that the “value of higher education will never go away” he also thinks that rather than just looking to see if an individual has a college education, recruiters such as himself should take more time and evaluate things such as experience, your overall ability to learn or level of goal, and problem solving skills. A survey taken by WealthInSight dispels the myth that college dropouts regularly make it to millionaire status. Only 1% of the millionaires surveyed did not obtain a degree, the other 99% depended on their diploma at least in part (Bersin).

Most people will tell you that you need a college degree to be successful and that very well may be true for most people. Josh Bersin says “People who know how to learn (and are motivated to learn) consistently outperform their peers.” So if you want to be a success it is highly recommended along with Josh Bersin that if you want to be successful, you should learn how to study (in or out of college) something that will inspire and motivate you otherwise you may never become a success.

“Do people really need a higher education” tries to convey that you may or may not need a higher education to succeed and that you should keep an open mind to the many possibilities that you have as an individual. Again it is not necessarily your education that will make you a success but your level of ambition, ability to learn, and experience or skill sets. An education may or may not afford you experience and the ability to learn but definitely has no effect on your level of ambition that is something you must get on your own.

You can really tell that Josh Bersin has taken some time here to think about this top based on his use of statistical data and citation sources. He has also gained a lot of actual hands-on experience in research-based information, professional development, and advisory consulting services for strategic, talent management which adds more real word feel to his arguments. Based on his arguments, one can easily conclude that before jumping into a college program, it is important to evaluate what one’s definition of success is and what he or she wants to complete in life. After that one must analyze whether or not a college education is worth the money for what it will give him or her to succeed in this area.

Works Cited

Bersin, Josh. "Do People Really Need Higher Education to Succeed?." Linkedin. Bersin by Deloitte, 18 Mar 2013. Web. 25 Feb 2014.