College Economics By Jason Spears

Look to your LEFT ......now look to your RIGHT  ..... I’m sure we all remember those words during Freshman Orientation while we were either trying to hit on the Cutie wit the booty or wondering WHY THE HELL this chick wore Booty Shorts and a Tank Top in the Chapel! But instead of wondering which classmate will not make it to graduation or who’s on the 8yr plan  we must now ask ourselves who is gonna be in some serious DEBT or have a JOB!

The recession is recalibrating the economics of higher education. Whether college is worth it depends on how much you pay for it. College costs are rising fast, as are student debt loads. Clearly college is not for everyone, but statistics and studies still show a college degree usually translates to a higher income. People with high levels of education make more money on average. But be warned that whether a diploma means more income or a better life depends on the individual. “A college education is no guarantee.”

With money scarce, many newly cost-conscious families are trying to work out the math

They swallow hard when they realize that, based on the current estimated cost of tuition, room and board, four years at Harvard costs $188,860. Even the $60,236 four-year cost for an in-state student at the University of Kansas can be daunting. The average student debt after four years is $22,656. A bachelor’s degree doesn’t earn what it used to. “After adjusting for inflation, the earnings of male college graduates are no higher than they were in the early 1970s, and the earnings of female college graduates have increased only moderately,” according to a College Board study of educational benefits. Fewer than 1 in 5 students in the class of 2009 had a job at graduation.

But there is hope for us College Students /Grads studies indicate that college graduates are healthier, donate more blood, vote more often than other Americans and are more open-minded. They smoke less, exercise more and, a 2005 Pew study found, were 25 percent more likely than high school graduates to say they’re very happy.