Most students enter colleges with the aim of increasing their future earnings and having more career options, but not every student manages to successfully graduate the college. Dropping out of college has been attributed to unpreparedness to the life in college and to the level of education, overwhelming work, and under-funding (Kokemuller).
For a number of reasons, societies demand that most people graduate because of the greater economic returns. However, the cases of leaving college education by students continue to be a growing trend because of the financial and personal problems that most students face during their college life (Lawrence 287).
The rising cost of college education has been identified as one of the major contributors to college drop outs. In most developed countries, for example, in America, a college degree stands at $365,000 for the American, non-inclusive of all external costs. Most scholars have been forced to take loans to sustain their college education because families cannot afford to pay such huge sums.
Another cause is the work/life balance, which forces students to multi-tasking including their family commitments, jobs and course load (Lawrence 288). In several cases, such students decide to abandon college because they cannot allocate the proper time for activities, and they resort to working to support their living.
In some instances, students enroll in courses they have not been prepared to appropriately. These students later discover that they were academically unprepared for the course and resort to ending their learning. In addition, the academic climate does not favor some students in cases where such students suffer from complicated medical conditions or learners who find it impossible to operate in such environments. This can include extremely warm or cold environments. A personal family event has been identified as another reason for quitting education. Such topics include the death of a family member or relocation to a new geographical area (Kokemuller).
Dropping out of college should never be viewed as a hindrance to realizing one’s full potential and thus, attending college should be democratized (Kokemuller). Above all, leaving college has several effects to a person. First, it results in wasted investment because the student had paid some fees before deciding to change course. This puts a financial drain on the student or the parent, forcing them to incur such a loss. Such people remain under the burden of having to pay huge student loans (Lawrence 290).
In addition, college dropouts suffer higher unemployment rates than the average college graduate. With inflation and harsh economic conditions, most employers have opted to give priority to graduates leaving most of the dropouts unemployed. Finally, termination of college education leaves one with limited career options. Such a person cannot even please a panel for an entry-level position in several careers (Lawrence 293).
In conclusion, one can only say that though the society recommends higher education, different forces like finance, academic preparedness, work/ life balance, environment and personal issues determine successful graduation.
The most crucial factor for everyone should be ensuring that they can meet their full potential, whether they possess a college education or they decide to stop learning. With the harsh economic conditions and the rising prices, dropping out of college puts one in a position of limited career opportunities, wastage of investment, and increases unemployment levels. Above all, people should recognize that success in education does not guarantee success in life.
Works Cited
Kokemuller, Neil. Effects of Dropping Out of College on Students. 2008. Web.
Lawrence, Andrew. “Student dissatisfaction with college and the college dropout: A transactional approach.” The Journal of Social Psychology (1967): 285-295. Print.