College may not be the right choice for everyone out of high school, but one can never know until they try. Those who choose to attend college should prepare themselves for a long and exciting ride full of experiences that will build character. Any level of higher education is beneficial to not only the way an individual perceives the world, but also the way the world perceives the individual. An education opens the mind to new ideas and allows students to gain access to opportunities that were not accessible prior to a formal education setting. College can be a short or even a long-term investment that results in significant debt, but it is worth every penny towards a successful future.
In the essay, "A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely," by Robin Wilson, it breaks down the benefits of educational debt and provides quantitative facts about the reality of college debt. Wilson starts the article by firmly stating "despite stories of a large number of students who face gargantuan debt, about a third of graduates leave college with no debt at all for their education. Of the 65 percent who face debt, the average they owe is around $20,000" (257-258). One third of people attending college is a significant number. Meaning not everyone leaves in debt. Wilson also goes on to highlight the fact college is a great financial investment that will help build your credit with low interests rates compared to for example, a car loan that would include high interest rates. In fact, Wilson goes on to quote a professor of economics, " 'College is a good investment, and most students take out too few loans, not too many'," (259). A lot of the dramatic viewpoints on debt come from the confusion of graduate school debt with undergraduate school debt. A Masters degree would be an example of a graduate education, which costs more, because it is a higher form of education.