GREENSBURG (February 9, 2012) – Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas today issued the following statement about his opposition to the 2012 county budget, approved by the Republican majority on the Board of Commissioners:
‘I cannot in good conscience vote for this budget. The path we are on is unsustainable.’ ‘We need to maintain our fund balance and keep it as high as possible. If we continue what we’re doing it will be gone.’
“Those statements were part of the script Commissioner Chuck Anderson read last year in voicing his opposition to a county budget that included deficit spending. The hypocrisy of his words is obvious.
“This budget replaces a balanced budget with one that contains an $8 million operating deficit, and we’ve all been told repeatedly how bad deficit spending is. In fact, my colleagues spent tens of thousands of dollars last fall to convince voters it was wrong to have a budget deficit. Now it’s one of their first orders of business.
“They were either lying then. Or they’re lying now. And I cannot go along with it. “Sadly, this budget is the worst of both worlds. It spends more than we have, and the priorities in it are misplaced.
“It restores funding to political appointments, yet cuts for energy efficiency. It funds a vacancy in the Jury Commissioners office – a position we’ve determined is obsolete – while cutting funding for conservation. It ends funding for projects that were nearly complete – wasting past efforts and expenditures. It hires consultants, yet slashes funding for public libraries. And it will force tuition increases at the community college at a time when affordable education is more critical than ever.
“My colleagues’ defense of this budget will no doubt include blaming previous Boards of Commissioners. And amazingly, it will come from my colleague, Commissioner Anderson, who has held office longer than me.
“Finally, this budget reminds us all that empty campaign promises about balanced budgets and hollow slogans about deficits are no way to lead.
“This is a bad budget. It spends too much and in the wrong places. It’s hypocritical and perpetuates a fraud on county voters and taxpayers. I cannot support it.”
Do you want to go to college? Do you think it will be worth it to go to college? Maybe you don’t have plans to go to college? Why? Say you don’t want to go to college. What will you do? Many jobs require a college degree. Yes, you could potentially start your own business, but in fact, a small percentage of people actually succeed at this when they attempt it. College graduates on average make more money. They also have a much lower unemployment rate than those who just have a high school diploma. While it is true that some people can do fine without going to college, this group of people is extremely small compared to those who cannot. While college may not definitely be for everyone, there is still a large value in gaining a college education and it is worth it.
First of all, as an average, college graduates make more money per week than the average student with just a high school diploma. The average weekly income of someone with an Associate’s Degree is $777, and the average weekly income of someone with just a high school diploma was only $651. (BLS) Just this statistic right here shows why college can really be worth it. On average, you will make more money by gaining an Associate’s Degree or higher than someone with just a high school diploma. According to staff writer Danielle Kurtzleben, “Among millennials ages 25 to 32, median annual earnings for full-time working college-degree holders are $17,500 greater than for those with high school diplomas only. That gap steadily widened for each successive generation in the latter half of the 20th century.” This 2014 statistic demonstrates the fact that you will almost most definitely make more money if you go to college. The reason for this is that when one has a college degree then that allows them to acquire a higher paying job because businesses see them as more qualified than those people with only a high school diploma. On average someone with a college degree will make 63% more money in hourly wages than with only a high school diploma. (Collegeboard) The evidence shows that even if you don’t work as many hours per day as someone with just a high school diploma, you could still make just as much or more than them if you have a college degree. To conclude, going to college and obtaining a degree there will greatly increase your average annual earnings.
Next, like previously mentioned, you have a greater chance of a higher paying job if you have a college degree. But what about just having a job in general? What about unemployment? How will having a college education affect your chances of that? And also, what about the benefits you can attain from your job such as health insurance? How is that affected? According to Collegeboard.org, those with a college degree are less than half as likely to be employed as those who do not go to college. This is just another good reason why attending and graduating college would be a very good idea. If all else fails, at least your chances of not having a job will be much less. As of April 2015, the unemployment rate for those who only graduated high school and had attended no college was 5.4%, while the unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was only 2.7%. (BLS) This evidence demonstrates that your chances of being unemployed will be significantly decreased by attaining a bachelor’s degree or higher. Also, building off of the fact that you are less likely to be employed when you attain a bachelor’s degree or higher, you are also ? times more likely to be insured by an employer. So, not only does college decrease your chances of being unemployed, it also increases your chances of having benefits provided by your employer. Go to college. You can have a job.
Finally, college something most people should consider because, surprisingly, it can have a positive impact on your health. “Americans with fewer years of education have poorer health and shorter lives, and that has never been more true than today” (“Education: It Matters More to Health than Ever Before”) This evidence demonstrates that, in America particularly, while it may not be a direct result of our level of education that makes us healthier or unhealthy, it still does affect us. “Americans with less education are—now, more than ever—more likely to have major diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. By 2011, the prevalence of diabetes had reached 15 percent for adults without a high school education, compared with 7 percent for college graduates” (“Education: It Matters More to Health than Ever Before”). This evidence demonstrates the relationship between education and people having life-threatening diseases. As previously mentioned, this is not saying that if you don’t go to college then you will have diabetes. It is simply pointing out the relationship between college students and those with just a high school education. A study by the American Journal of Public Health states, “Among respondents with no degree, a high school diploma, or a post-high school certificate at 25 years of age, attaining at least a bachelor's degree by midlife was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better self-rated health at midlife compared with respondents who did not attain a higher degree by midlife. Those with an associate's degree at 25 years of age who later attained a bachelor's degree or higher reported better health at midlife” (“Effects of Timing and Level of Degree Attained on Depressive Symptoms and Self-Rated Health at Midlife”). This study demonstrates the correlation between those that attend college and their health compared to the health of those that do not. It explains that those with an associate’s degree or higher reported to have all-around better health during their midlife than the health reported by those that just had a high school diploma. To sum things up, going to college may, in fact, lead to positive impacts on your health, and therefore, most people should consider going to college.
One way people might try to argue that college is unnecessary is by giving examples of people that didn’t go to college. They will probably say something along the lines of, “Well, Bill Gates was a college dropout and look at where he is now,” or “Steve Jobs dropped out of college and then started one of the best companies ever.” The reason this is pointless to use this argument is because those two men are two of the most brilliant men to ever live- geniuses if you will. Also, what about all the millions of people who work for these men’s companies? The vast majority of these people are college graduates. The opposing argument might suggest that college just quite simply isn’t for everyone, and this is completely true. Some people out there simply just already have their future planned. An example of this is someone who plans to just work on the family farm when they are old enough and that will be their job. Or possibly they want to start their own bike shop of fishing shop. These are all good reasons why someone might not need to go to college. But what if said person’s plans all fall through? Then what will they do? If they want greater chances of having a higher paying job, then they will need a college degree. “There is nothing wrong with choosing not to go to college. The bad idea is thinking you no longer should spend time learning new skills and expanding your world view” (Earnest). This shows that while some people may not need to go to college, we should always continue learning and planning ahead just in case our life plans don’t work out the way we hoped they would.
Attending and graduating college greatly increases your chance of having a higher income than you would if you only had a high school diploma. The unemployment rates of those with a college degree are much lower than those of people with only a high school diploma. It could lead to positive impacts on your health. Yes, college is not for everyone. But research is constantly showing us that the vast majority of those who attend college have a distinct advantage over those that do not. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.