The costs of a college education outweigh the benefits

=Monetary Benefit=The average cost of college tuition for a State school is roughly $15,000 a year for a 4 year program. [1] This averages out to $60,000 total in college costs after 4 years. The average salary for someone with just a high school diploma is $23,000 a year. [2] The average salary for someone with a Bachelor's degree is $45,500 a year. [2]With a college education you're making $22,000 a year more than if you didn't go to college.If we average this out, say you get out of college at age 22 and you work until age 65. That's 43 years of work. Say you're unemployed or injured for (a generous) 5 of these years. That's 38 years of work. Over these 38 years a college graduate will make $890,000 MORE than his counterpart that did not go to college.Subtract out the $60k for college costs and you've still got a net profit of $830k that you would not have made if you didn't go to college at all. =Social Benefit=There is a huge social benefit to going to college. Not only do you make lifelong friends and connections, you learn to live on your own. You have to feed yourself, go to class, work, pay your bills, do your laundry etc without your parents help. Those who leave (or don't leave) at 18 will have the penalty of not having the beneficial college transition into life. After college, students are usually prepared and willing to go out and live and work on their own, completely independent. While social benefit doesn't have a numeric value attached to it, it is extremely valuable. You can't replace the "college experience" with work experience. The friendships, job connections, skills and social transition are all invaluable and give those who finish college a huge boost over those who did not. =Opporitunities= My opponent keeps claiming that college is "too risky" and that many people shouldn't even try. But if you don't go to college at all, if you don't try for fear of failing etc then you'll forever shut out the opporitunities that a college education can bring you.Many jobs REQUIRE a college education. If you don't have one, you'll forever be barred from applying for them. Even if you don't get a job right out of college you'll always be able to apply for college degree jobs. Those who don't attend high school will never be able to apply for these, ever. My opponent claims the value of a college education is dropping - then how worthless is not even having one to begin with then? It is silly to forever shut out ample future opporitunities for better employment, better pay and greater experiences due to the fear of failing. Even if it doesn't pay off immidiately after you graduate, you'll always have the degree and the experience to use for the rest of your life. " Individuals with only a high school diploma were twice as likely to be unemployed as those holding bachelor’s degrees." [3] You're more likely to be unemployed...always, without a college degree. "Statistics project that 75 percent of future positions are expected to require at least some type of certification or licensure, and professions that require a bachelor’s degree are projected to grow nearly twice as fast as the national average, making a college degree a good investment." [3]All of these positions are forever barred to you without a college education. That severely limits your opporitunity of employment and careers. =Conclusion=* There are tangible and large monetary advantages for those with college degrees vs. those without.* College has social value and provides you skills and experiences that are valuable throughout life.* A college degree is a permenant asset and a long term plus. You'll always have it. * College degrees open up and hold far more opporitunities than just a diploma. * The costs of a college education are easily outweighed by the abundant benefits. [1] http://nces.ed.gov...[2] http://www.cesdp.nmhu.edu...[3] http://www.back2college.com...;