With tuition and fees rising, and online courses becoming more and more available, the college experience is undoubtedly going through a transitional phase. Undergraduate degrees are becoming less of an advantage and more of a requirement, and in the minds of students, physically attending schools or universities, where they will have to either commute or pay parking, housing and meal plan fees, is looking less and less necessary.
Students around the country are starting to opt for online courses over traditional ones. These changing concepts, and more online courses being added over time, will inevitably lead to students asking, “Is attending a college or university for an undergraduate degree even worth it?”
A college degree is practically a necessity these days, as the job market is so contested that having an undergraduate degree is typically the first step to narrowing down the number of possible employees to hire. But the method of attaining a degree is more up in the air than it has ever been. Students can decide which universities to apply to, or to start at a community college, or to stay at home and take some classes online. The traditional 4-year degree plan is on its way out the door, being replaced by a much more relaxed and individual style, where students can opt to take summer courses, spread out their degree plan, and shuffle around majors.
As a result, schools are taking advantage of the laws of supply and demand, raising tuition and fees every year. Students need to be financially responsible with their study plans, and if they live on campus, they will probably feel rushed to finish school as fast as possible to avoid piling on more debt between student loans and housing costs.
Online courses with a supplement of on-campus classes offer students a chance to stay at home or find a cheaper place to live, wile commuting maybe two or three times a week. This also allows students to work their way through college at a more flexible pace, only taking courses they feel they can afford to at that moment.
While things are transitioning in the school environment, students have a chance of being robbed of the truly maturing experience gained from living on campus. Students make new, often stronger—and stranger—friends in college. The people they meet aren’t all from the same background or area, as was the case in high school. You get a taste of how being independent feels, and housing and student programs ease young adults into living on their own.
Schools and universities should be responsible for trying to nurture this idea, and take steps towards helping these young adults grow into maturity, but patterns of rising tuition costs and college fees discourage this.
Students who refrain from living on campus will be thrown into the real world after earning their degree, and will be immediately responsible for learning how to be independent, living on their own, finding and keeping a real job, and paying their own bills. Thrusting this kind of responsibility without any preparation or experience would be absolutely terrible for any young adult, but on a college campus, students get prepared for this.
Students get much more out of living on campus as opposed to staying at home, and compared to the arbitrary piece of paper that says you have been a good student (the degree), the experience you get from meeting close friends and growing real relationships, as well as learning to live away from home, is the most important part of being a student.
