Hello again, this is Rajkumar Rao with lesson number one, college is not worth it. One of the most important decisions that a high school student has to make is whether or not to go to college. As lesson titles go, our title must sound pretty dramatic, even controversial. It almost seems to answer our students question right off the bat. It seems to suggest a definite path to take. But that's not what we are saying.

The fact is that the state of higher education in the United States is a mess. Many high school students often come to this conclusion and, unfortunately never pursue college ministry. enroll in college and then drop out for this very same reason. Let's so examine why so many million hardworking students never end up earning a college degree. One issue is that college takes too long. You would think that students who enroll in a four year college finish up in four years, right?

Well think again, the truth is actually shocking. Most students in fact, nearly three fifths do not complete college, even in five years. They actually take six years to complete a four year degree. And for the remaining two fifths, the government does not even keep records of how long things stick, right might take seven, eight, or even nine years. No one knows exactly. There are many reasons for this.

Students take too few credits because they're forced to work to make ends meet all are not too sure about graduation requirements and end up taking unnecessary courses towards graduation or change majors midstream. One common complaint is that many colleges do not provide counselors to guide students to graduate on time. Studies have shown that with a little bit more hand holding students do much better with graduation rates. We will learn about the financial impact of delayed graduation in later lessons. But it is important to note that the United States is really alone where it takes this long to complete and undergrad degree. Next, we will learn about another major issue that comes in the way of person's college plans.

This complaint is the most common is just too expensive to go to college. And it has a lot of merit. tuition at public colleges and universities has nearly quadrupled since the 1980s and tripled at private ones. According to Paul Campos writing in the New York Times, if over the past three decades, car prices have gone up as fast as tuition, the average new car today would cost more than $80,000. There are of course many reasons. Public Schools are getting less money these days from state taxes and they need to make up the shortfall by raising tuition and fees.

Many universities have expanded university administration staff much faster than faculty. You may have seen news stories about three star dorm rooms and college luxurious student activity centers and gyms. One State University has built an $85 million leases Do a recreation center with water slides. But whatever may be the reasons, high college costs make it harder for people to consider college. Next, let's consider another big issue. The college debt burden is too high.

This may be alarming, but 69% of all college seniors had some student loan debt with an average of $28,400 per borrower that scares many high school students away or may even cause current college students to drop out. They know that student loan debt cannot be generally retired even in personal bankruptcy. Just look at this chart and see how overall student loan debt has steadily climbed to $1.3 trillion. There are many reasons for this. Life issues after graduation, unemployment, sickness, divorce, alimony payments are all major contributors to high student loan debt. But incorrect student choices also drive that up pursuing a feeling that offers few career opportunities studying in a college which is too expensive, delaying graduation, inadequate discipline to manage borrowing, not taking advantage of friendlier loan repayment programs including loan forgiveness.

The summary is that high debt burdens are a drag on student optimism about college. And there is a fourth major reason for many, the return on investment ROI in going to college is not high enough. Too many degrees are a waste of money, some degrees pay for themselves, others do not. This was from the economist in 2013 48% of employed us college grads were in jobs that require less than a four year degree. This was a McKinsey report. So is going to college not worth it?

We have considered major issues that may make us want to come to this conclusion. But to be fair to ourselves, we should also consider the other side of the argument before we can come to a decision one way or another. And this is what we will do in the next lesson. If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you.