Is the Price of College Worth It?

For a couple of years, I was dual enrolled at both UNR, and the neighboring community college (Truckee Meadows).  I took about 75% of my classes at UNR to maintain full-time status, and took a few classes here at there at TMCC. I found that the courses at the community college were much easier to get into, were less expensive, nearly always had smaller class sizes which gave you more interaction with the professor.

I have been blessed by generous parents who have paid for my education. When I was enrolling in my classes at the community college, my parents were going to transfer money to my account so that I could pay for it. While on the phone with me my mom said, “how much are your classes, $5 a credit?” I paused for a bit, because I didn’t want to ask for more money when they were already being so generous in paying my tuition. “Umm… no more like $110 a credit…” This ends up being about $330 each class, at the community college. Now, I should mention that it is slightly higher than most student’s tuition because I am paying out of state fees as well. I should also mention that these rates are considerably cheaper than my courses at UNR.

This brings us to an important question: Is the price of college even worth it?

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

According to this article, the average salary one can earn with a high school diploma is about $35,000 per year. This jumps up to about $41,000 with an associates degree, and nearly $60,000 with a bachelor’s degree. Let’s say that the “average” price of a public college is $10,00 per year (knowing that there is an incredible range), and you are lucky enough to get out in 4 years. In this situation, college would be an investment of $40,000. But, you also have to consider lost wages during that time. Let’s say that instead of working 40 hours per week (as you would if you were not in school), you work 20 hours per week, at $15/hour. That is $54,000 total of lost wages, also known as your “opportunity cost” for those with a mind for economics. 

Back to the wages based off of education, those with a college degree make on average $25,000 more per year. If we use 40 years of working, we are looking at $1,000,000 more that you can make over the course of your life with a bachelor’s degree. But… we have to subtract the cost of college and those opportunity costs. $54,000 in lost wages, plus $40,000 from college equals $94,000.

So: with all things considered, college is very worth it!! Taking out the cost of college, and your opportunity cost of not working as much during that time, you have the possibility to make, on average, $906,000 more during the course of your working life!  Now, I know everyone is motivated differently, but most for most people that I know… money is a strong motivator!

I will be the first to admit that college is challenging! Many people I that I know, continue to work full-time while balancing their education and other commitments. However, I hope that by discovering these statistics, you have new motivation. Your hard work will pay off, my friends.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!