By snoadmin
We’re only a week away from the sweet feeling of summer, and that dreadful week that separates us from freedom consists of tests, projects, essays and so on, making summer feel so close yet so far. The chaos going on in the news about job losses and unemployment growth, presidential elections and turmoil resulting from Osama bin Laden’s death hasn’t done anything to help stop our heads from spinning.
Even more, CSULB students received news last Wednesday that yet another possible tuition increase may be implemented for the upcoming school year. To be more specific, a 32 percent increase, or as much as $1,566. Perfect, now there’s even more pressure to do well on finals.
Cal State University officials introduced the tuition increase Tuesday after deciding upon a contingency plan to prepare for a possible $1 billion cut in state funding to the 23-campus CSU system.
What’s worse, if the CSU system faces the agonizing $1 billion cut, CSULB students could be paying an estimated $6,450 for tuition.
President F. King Alexander told the Daily 49er in an interview that this significant of a cut could result in discussions regarding closing California’s smallest CSU campuses. Luckily, CSULB does not fall under this category.
Students are now under such a vast amount of pressure to pass their classes with decent grades to avoid any additional cost to repeat courses or enroll in yet another semester, and for many, it all funnels down to finals week. With news such as this, it’s easy to become discouraged about today’s education, and for good reason. However, for those of us that are enrolled in CSULB already but are struggling to stay motivated each semester, just keep in mind that the college degree that awaits you will be well worth it.
According to the CaliforniaColleges.edu website, “Someone with a bachelor’s degree is likely to ear $1.9 million more than a student with only a high school diploma,” and this is most likely especially true now, with college requiring much more means than before.
In a 2008 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate of those with only a high school diploma was shown to be 5.7 percent. Compare this number to 2.8 percent for those with a Bachelor’s degree, and 2 percent flat for those with a Doctoral degree.
The same report also demonstrated the correlation between degrees and median weekly earnings. A Bachelor’s degree holder’s median weekly income was set at $978, a Master’s degree was $1,228 a week and a Doctoral degree was $1,555. The median weekly income for those with only a high school diploma was set a staggering $591, only a little more than half of the median income for individuals with a Bachelor’s degree.
So, as strenuous and demanding as receiving an education is now, it will all be worth it in the end. As the CaliforniaColleges.edu website described it, education is an “investment.” It may entail making sacrifices or taking out loans, but all of this will lead to much better and bigger things.
Not only is a college degree important to find a job, but the experience itself is also an important one. Students attending college are usually between the ages of 18 to 25, and for most, this is a period in life during which the most growth and maturity takes place. Essentially, it’s the phase in people’s lives where the bridge that divides our teenage years from our adult years is fully crossed, and a student’s college experience plays a big role in this transformation.
This being said, don’t let the stress of finals, graduation or next semester deplete you. After all, people perform better when under less stress. In a few months, another semester will begin, and hopefully not at too much higher of a price. But, let the quality of a college degree and college experience serve as motivators rather than discouragers. You were accepted into CSULB because administrators believed you could prevail, and, despite our budget crisis, you still can.
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