College for All - Aggravate the Social Inequality Through Increasing Financial Stress on Students

  Attending college has become a default option for most Americans in the past several decades. Most high school graduates choose to attend college because they recognize the higher education as mandatory step to get in the middle-class life with a good career. Although the initial motivation of attending college may be varied by racial, gender, and financial differences, the increasing trend of college enrollment suggests that there is a strong sociological influence on this individualized academic choice. Contrary to the common belief, the "college for all" may aggravate the social inequality through increasing financial stress on students and the waste of educational resources.

  Taking a deep analysis of the cause of such dramatic increase in college enrollments enabled us to understand the essential intention of college students better. According to April Yee's article "Degree by Default," "Students are going to college today because they feel they have to—not because they want to" (Yee 47). Their feelings are accurate: the modern society requires a higher credential for the same work than several decades ago. It means that people must complete higher education to achieve the same life quality as their parents. They have to accomplish higher education than their parents to have the same social-economic status. But should they? The answer is negative. If everyone has college degrees, their credentials will not give them an advantage in the competitive job market. In the lecture, this phenomenon is referred as credential inflation. The credential inflation that caused by the college for all ideology not only devalues college degree but also distorts the true cause of education. In her article, Yee indicates that very few students consider attending college as the way to explore themselves, gain new experiences, or develop intelligence (Yee 49). Instead of the actual learning, most college students just dawdle away their time in the class and work merely to past the test. Their only goal is to get that piece of credential and find a satisfactory career. An important fact is that this "job-oriented" academic atmosphere is not a personal choice: it is the consequence of societal pressure.

  In addition to above, the college for all philosophy brings students severe financial pressures. Due to the increasing tuition fee of American colleges, more and more students have to apply for student loans. In the lecture, I learned that nearly 2/3 of the U.S. students take out student loans which constitutes the largest part of tuition. Neither drop of school nor declare bankruptcy can save a person from this debt. The education systems, legislation, and banks formed a for-profit industry which squeezes the money from economically disadvantaged students. As I discussed before, most of the college students enrolled for a better career. The problem is that many of them may not get a job that not only satisfies their interests but also allow them to earn enough to repay the loan. Especially when the average graduation rate of American college is only 50%, those who failed to get the credential will have to face a significant amount of debt because they cannot find well-paid jobs. According to Andrew Ross's "Anti-Social debts," Two-thirds of U.S. students graduate with loan debt, averaging $27,000 (Ross 29). So if the society views college as an investment, student loan makes it a high-risk investment.