Reuters – Liz Weston
” For a nation that needs more college graduates, we seem oddly hellbent on discouraging as many people as possible from getting degrees. We have not been able to contain the ever-rising cost, simplify needlessly complicated financial aid forms or protect lower-income aspirants from the for-profit colleges that want to fleece them. Then there are all the media stories questioning the worth of a college degree. The latest headlines, prompted by a multiyear survey on attitudes toward college conducted by pollster Gallup and Purdue University (bit.ly/1N8ByY6), provide breathtaking examples. “Less than half of recent grads think college was worth the cost.” “Just half of graduates say their education was worth the cost.” “Recent grads doubt college’s worth.” You might be surprised to learn, then, that the actual poll of 30,000 college alumni found that the vast majority of college graduates agreed that their education was worth the cost. Recent graduates were less enthusiastic than older graduates, but only the recent graduates who took out more than $50,000 in loans were unlikely to agree that their degrees were worth what they paid.”(more)