The SPARK Initiative

Paying for college has become an increasing problem through the years. Many students have been graduating from college with a significant amount of debt that is restricting their freedom for years afterward. The purpose of going to college has remained as wanting an extended education after high school. This education granting you access to a huge variety of careers to partake in. With the rise in college expenses, the negative effects have outweighed the benefits, of ever seeking further education.

Over the past decade, it has become evident to the students of the United States that in order to attain a well paying job they must seek a higher education. The higher education, usually a college or university, is practically required in order to succeed. To be able to attend these schools and receive a degree in a specific field it means money, and often a lot of it. For students, the need for a degree is strong, but the cost of going to college may stand in the way of a successful future. Each year the expense of college rises, resulting in the need for students to take out loans. Many students expect to immediately get a job after graduation, however, in more recent years the chances for college graduates to get a well paying job

Some graduates don’t want to go to college because they already make enough money at their current job or they’re not sure what they want to do with their lives just yet. However, there are several graduates who want to go to college but simply can’t afford it.

Did you know that getting a college degree can financially destroy your future and put you deep in debt for many years? Not going to college can literally give you a brighter future than going in the first place. Also, most college’s cost way too much and people have to get thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of loans just to get their bachelor’s degree. Many of the people that just get their diploma have become very successful in life, in some cases even more successful than people with their degrees.

Studies suggest that fifty percent or more of new jobs that will appear in the upcoming decades will require their employees to have a postsecondary education (America’s Promise). However, the rising price of a college education is preventing many students from achieving their goal. This only adds to the number of unemployed young adults and the number of Americans living in property. People always say if you’re tired of being poor then do something about it but it is not as simple as it used to be. In the past thirty years the cost of getting a college degree has increase by 1,120 percent (Mosbergn). Not only that, but if you do manage to get a degree after you graduate you are often left paying off student loan debt. As of 2013, the amount of student loan debt to be paid off has surpassed one trillion dollars. Another reason why many student opt out of going to college is because they believe it is a waste of time. While that may not be the case for all students a recent poll showed that forty percent of college graduates are unemployed and left struggling to pay off a student loan alone with no job

A College degree doesn’t only require hard work, but also a lot of money which can lead to conflict. Students might get discouraged to continue with their education because of how much it costs. Having a college education provides the benefits of better job opportunities, higher salaries, and improves

In today’s society, so many people are continuing their education beyond high school. We realize that in order to make a decent living, a degree is most likely a requirement. In some cases even a bachelor’s degree is not enough to qualify for many positions. Nevertheless, thanks to technology, we now have the option to learn online or in a traditional classroom setting. There are very few differences between the two, and students need to understand that as much time and energy will need to be devoted to the online courses as on a campus. “A 2010 meta-analysis and review of online-learning studies concluded that online learning was as good as or slightly more effective than traditional face-to-face instruction” (Mendenhall, 2011).

1. More and more students have to pay for college on their own, or with little assistance from their parents. Learning how to live on one’s own and today’s complicated financial world is stressful, and it’s no wonder that some students would rather drop out and get a job rather than continue studing.

With high speed internet available to potential students of all economic levels, schools are opting to implement online classes into their traditional teaching curriculum. As a result, our society is divided in two different ways of thinking on the education. Some believe the modern method is better than the traditional method of teaching. Personally, I believe both methods should balance one another instead of attempting to substitute one another; this way their purpose of educating will be far more successful.

Technology is changing every aspect in our lives, even the way we learn. Online classes are a rapidly growing trend it today’s society. Online classes are a cost-effective substitute for traditional courses and more convenient for many, so more schools and universities are offering this option. Due to the increase in online course enrollment, people are questioning if students truly learn something from online classes because it’s not a traditional learning environment. Online classes are just, if not more, effective as traditional classes because grades have increased and online discussions provide students with the chance to interact through networking while earning a degree for less than what it would cost to enroll at the same university.

On the other hand, an online course permits students the option and availability to enroll in a vast array of course choices regardless of their location. In so doing, it allows a student a unique opportunity to further their education anywhere in the world. After all, if one is in the United States or on a military base in Japan students can still attain an education from their home country and in their mother tongue via the Internet. However, lessons that take place in a physical classroom are confined to that location. Thus, students situated within the nearby vicinity of the school building typically can access the instructor’s lessons. Consequently, this creates a clear disadvantage to any student residing outside of the classroom’s surrounding area.

It has been proven throughout history that students are almost always automatically discouraged to further their educational careers when faced with thousands of dollars in debt as a cost for knowledge. They’re dissuaded by taking out loans and working part time jobs all while studying to maintain their preliminary

Education has undergone significant changes because of the development of information and communication technology over the 21st century (Lin & Jou, 2012:2). As a convenient and inexpensive way to gain knowledge while pursuing higher education, online learning, a form of training or teaching that takes place over the Internet, has been considered as an alternative to traditional classroom learning (Zhang et al, 2004). This essay will argue that even though online learning has benefit such as flexibility which could outweigh traditional learning, traditional classroom learning might still not be entirely replaced. This essay will discuss positive and negative aspects of online and traditional learning in terms of four criteria:

The digital era has created a revolutionary structure to higher education using the internet. Technology has changed the way students can interact with their instructors and classroom instruction through portals that institutions have created on their specific websites for degree and non-degree seeking students. The benefits of online courses range from different avenues to create an educational environment that provides more options to classroom instructions. Online higher education is an exceptional alternative to traditional classroom learning due to the convenience, peer interaction, cost, and self-pacing aspects of the institution.

Obtaining a college education in these times is more than being sure you don’t stay out too late partying so you aren’t late for an 8 am lecture; many students are balancing full-time lives on top of a full-time course load. When it’s no longer a wild night out hindering one from making it to the test on time, but a 7 month old baby demanding a diaper change at 3 am, that’s when alternatives start to become appealing. While traditional learning options alone have been successful for many years, these days, online courses offer the busy student flexibility and control over their education, at the same time sacrificing beneficial in-person communication and demanding a certain degree of self-discipline to succeed.