While it’s true that college may not be for everyone, there is an argument to be made that is just might be right for anyone. While getting into a profession or training might be right for some, numerous studies indicate that life’s winding road may improve overall when one gets a diploma, including increased happiness odds. There are some serious free speech/hate speech and safety concerns on some campuses in 2024, but that’s also true far outside the hallowed halls- in the real world.
We enjoy myriad choices when shopping, choosing friends, picking life partners, deciding where to eat, etc., and college can provide fertile ground for seeding life-altering choices, as it teaches large lessons beyond the basic course load- like being reliable, independence, time-management, inter-dependence, prioritizing, enhancing self-esteem, learning resiliency, and increasing control over one’s own life- all attributes hopefully reinforced while attending post-high school institutions.
The University of Hawai`i Economic Research Organization (UHERO) recently published “A Case Study of the University of Hawai`i System”, based on a decades worth of administrative statistics. The information, corroborated in numerous other studies, concludes that college grads earn substantially more money over their lifetimes than those who do not graduate (or attend) college.
Of course, happiness is not defined through money; it’s a personal sense, and ultimately decisions about pursuing a college path must consider family situations, costs, health, and other individual items, but college has the potential to provide the impetus for career/life paths going forward. Options…
The price tag at too many schools is far beyond many people’s reach. An ever-present debt cloud hanging over one’s working head for 20+ years (post-graduation) is understandably a deterrent, but between scholarships, grants, community college, online courses, work savings, and other opportunities, continuing one’s education may provide the best chances for finding a career of professional fulfillment (rather than simply working “a job”) and maybe even enhance one’s ability to stash valuable retirement funds away for 45-years down the line.
As teens research tomorrow’s career opportunities and their abilities to adapt to morphing business needs, ups and downs, roadblocks, and the other barriers that affect work, UHERO’s report provides more evidence that post-high school studies can make for greater enjoyment over the next 50-years, especially when one lives in America’s most expensive state. Attending college provides academic/career options, independence, maturation opportunities, and social lessons that simply cannot be gleaned via textbooks.
Think about it…